Gaypon -- the gay alternative to "Groupon" -- is based in West Bloomfield, Mich., and founded by Michigan radio personality Rob Graham.

Before becoming a Gaypon merchant, businesses are put through a background check of sorts, where they are investigated for any bad marks, like complaints of discrimination from customers and employees, poor hiring practices, etc. Gaypon says it also uses various tools, like the Human Rights Campaign’s “Corporate Equality Index” that rates American workplaces on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality.

Gaypon plans to donate a portion of proceeds to charitable organizations, and those that support the gay community, like The Trevor Project, which focuses on crisis and suicide prevention amongst LGBTQ youth, and Affirmations, which is one of the largest LGBT community centers in the United States. The exact percentage of those donations, however, is unclear.

Techcrunch

"Gaypon gives you the opportunity to receive awesome discounts on everything from dining, nightlife and entertainment to the latest gadgets, fashion and fitness," Graham said in a released statement.

"You don't have to be part of the LGBT community to participate with Gaypon. Our online community is a place where individuals who believe in equal and fair employment practices can find great deals and support businesses that share the same philosophy."

Initially, most of Gaypon's deals originate from it's suburban Detroit home base, but Graham said deals are forthcoming in New York City, Atlanta, San Francisco, Chicago, San Diego and Phoenix.

On Sunday we reported that shop owner Donna Saber at “Here Comes The Bride” in Somers Point, N.J. told customer Alix Genter that she wouldn’t work with her because she is gay, and in a voice message, that what Genter was planning is “illegal” and that “we do not participate in any illegal actions."

At the time, there were more than 850 negative reviews and single star ratings, most of which condemned the shop owner for her anti-gay attitudes.

The reviews swelled to over 1,200 before Yelp began deleting them.

According to a statement by Yelp, as reported by CNET:

"While Yelp does not support any sort of discrimination, reviews of businesses on Yelp should be about the customer experience not the views of a business or its employees. This policy is clearly stated on our FAQ. Reviews that go against these guidelines are regularly removed by our Customer Support Team. That said, Yelp DOES encourage dialogue on the site via Yelp Talk; just not on business reviews."

Yelp spokesperson Chantelle Karl told CNET, "As is our normal procedure, we'll be working to pull these reviews and notify the reviewers in the coming days."

One of the 46 reviews that remain is that which was posted by Genter herself:

Donna, the woman in charge at Here Comes the Bride, refused to sell me a dress because I am gay.

After spending a day trying on dresses with my family and friends, she called me to say that she didn't realize I was gay and would not work with me because that's "wrong." She also said she was shocked because my family and I seemed so nice, and that my being gay is a "shame." Then, presumably to counter my accusation of discrimination, she said that what I am doing is illegal and she does not engage in illegal activity. I guess she is unaware that civil unions are legal in NJ (where her store is) and same-sex marriage is legal in NY (where I am getting married), and that anyone should be able to buy a wedding dress if they'd like, even if they're single and just want to dress up at home by themselves.

Please do not support this bigot. She is a rude, judgmental, self-righteous homophobe, and from what I've read in other reviews, her bigotry does not stop at gay people. Her listing on Merchant Circle has complaints of racism, ageism, and other forms of degradation and harassment.

The Daily Kos reports that there is a 1991 amendment to New Jersey's civil rights statute that makes it illegal to refuse to sell something to someone on the basis of their "affectional or sexual orientation."

Genter and her partner are planning their wedding ceremony in New York where gay marriage is legal.

"Can't say we didn't warn them.

"Back in May, as part of our Don't Filter Me project, the ACLU sent a letter to the Camdenton School District informing them that the web filters they use on school computers were unconstitutionally blocking access to hundreds of LGBT websites, including sites that contain anti-bullying information and other resources for student gay-straight alliances. We informed them that if they failed to disable the filter, they would be 'subject to legal liability and the expense of litigation...'

"The school district brushed us off. So today, we filed a lawsuit on behalf of four of the organizations whose sites are being blocked by the district's filter: PFLAG National (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbian and Gays), the Matthew Shepard Foundation, Campus Pride and DignityUSA, a Catholic LGBT organization. At the same time, the filter does not block access to comparable anti-gay sites.

via: ACLU

A spokesman for the ACLU noted that the Camdenton school's web filter software was classifying all LGBT topics, grouping them into a "sexuality" category, which are then instantly blocked.

Camdenton school's superintendent, Tim Hadfield, disputed the ACLU's assertion that the filter that his district technology administration's system employs specifically filter sites promoting "alternative" lifestyles. Hadfiled went on to say the district's filters only blocks sites that are inappropriate, and would continue to do so.

The Camdenton school district has more than 4,200 students with nine school facilities on three campuses. There are more than 300 teachers and 600 other employees in the district.

Jody Huckaby, executive director of PFLAG National, said in a statement released Monday:

Our Safe Schools program resources, coming-out guides and other support and education resources that we have been providing to LGBT young people nationwide for nearly 40 years are all blocked. Many LGBT students either don’t have access to the Internet at home or, if they do, they don’t feel safe accessing this information on their home computers.

In order to ensure the physical and mental well-being of LGBT youth — especially given the wide access to negative information on LGBT issues — these resources must be accessible.

A comprehensive 2009 study of over 7,000 middle and high school students reported that nine out of 10 LGBT students say they had experienced harassment at their school in the past year based on their sexual orientation or gender identity, and two-thirds said they felt unsafe at school.

via: Anoka-Hennepin GLBT website

The website is intended to answer questions about actions taken by the district in areas of training and support and will also provide a link to policies regarding Harassment, Violence and Discrimination; Bullying Prohibition; and Sexual Orientation Curriculum.

Anoka-Hennepin is the subject of media reports and national interest group pressure on issues related to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) students.

Anoka-Hennepin is a public school system and we accept every student regardless of real or perceived sexual orientation. We also do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, socioeconomic status, marital status or for any other reason outlined in our Equal Educational Opportunity Policy. [...]

Anoka-Hennepin School District

Over the past two years, a total of nine teens in the Anoka-Hennepin district have committed suicide, and many more students have reportedly attempted to take their lives.

State public health officials have labeled the area a “suicide contagion area” because of the unusually high death rate. Some of the victims were gay, or perceived to be by their classmates, and many were reportedly bullied.

Investigators from the U.S. Justice Department and representatives from the U. S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights are looking into “allegations of harassment and discrimination in the Anoka-Hennepin School District based on sex, including peer-on-peer harassment based on not conforming to gender stereotypes," according to a CNN report.

The district has also been named in a lawsuit filed by five gay and lesbian students over its policy regarding the teaching and discussion of sexual orientation in the classroom.

The suit alleges that the district’s current policy on neutrality regarding sexual orientation amounts to nothing less than a “gag rule,” and effectively constrains teachers from dealing with the harassment and bullying of the district’s LGBT students.

GOP presidential hopeful, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has also been criticized for her silence on the teen suicide problem in Akoka-Hennepin, which is located within her congressional district.

Historically, Bachmann has not supported anti-bullying legislation. Slate reported that in 2006, Bachmann told the Minnesota state legislature that passing an anti-bullying bill would be a waste of time.

Source: The Washington Post

Bill Graber, reportedly the fake lesbian blogger aka "Paula Brooks."

The Washington Post reports:

“Paula Brooks,” editor of Lez Get Real since its founding in 2008, is actually Bill Graber, 58, a retired Ohio military man and construction worker who said he had adopted his wife’s identity online. Graber said she was unaware he had been using her name on his site.

Brooks’ identity came under suspicion after news broke that a woman called Amina Arraf on the blog “A Gay Girl in Damascus” might not really be a Syrian lesbian.

Graber said he started the site with "the best of intentions" after witnessing the mistreatment of close friends who were a lesbian couple.

"Paula Brooks" came under suspicion of Washington Post reporters as they investigated the alleged disappearance of the Syrian blogger. At one point, Post reporters suspected that Brooks was actually the person behind the "Gay Girl in Damascus" blog.

Over the three years since founding "Lez Get Real," Graber maintained Brooks' online persona as a deaf lesbian mother of two children living in Washington D.C.

Graber said he hoped the truth of his identity would not hurt the site he had built or set back the causes of the gay and lesbian community.

He said he didn't start the site -- which bills itself as A Gay Girl's View on the World -- using his real name, because he thought "people wouldn’t take it seriously, me being a straight man."

Tom MacMaster (aka Gay Girl in Damascus)

A married man vacationing in Istanbul, Turkey, is behind an elaborate internet hoax in which he posed online as an oppressed Syrian-American lesbian blogger who was abducted by government security agents.

Posing as "Amina Araf" on the blog "A Gay Gril in Damascus," news of the alleged kidnapping quickly became an Internet and media sensation.

On Sunday, the truth spilled out: The gay girl in Damascus confessed to being a 40-year-old American man from Georgia.

The persona he built and cultivated for years — a lesbian who was half Syrian and half American — was a tantalizing Internet-era fiction, one that Tom MacMaster used to bring attention to the human rights record of a country with severe media restrictions that make traditional reporting almost impossible.

MacMaster, a Middle East peace activist who is now working on his master’s degree at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, posted an "apology to readers" on Sunday, but added, "I do not believe that I have harmed anyone."

Apology to readers

I never expected this level of attention. While the narrative voıce may have been fictional, the facts on thıs blog are true and not mısleading as to the situation on the ground. I do not believe that I have harmed anyone -- I feel that I have created an important voice for issues that I feel strongly about.

I only hope that people pay as much attention to the people of the Middle East and their struggles in thıs year of revolutions. The events there are beıng shaped by the people living them on a daily basis. I have only tried to illuminate them for a western audience.

This experience has sadly only confirmed my feelings regarding the often superficial coverage of the Middle East and the pervasiveness of new forms of liberal Orientalism.

However, I have been deeply touched by the reactions of readers.

Best,
Tom MacMaster,
Istanbul, Turkey
July 12, 2011

The sole author of all posts on this blog

MacMaster's story unraveled quickly after a woman in Britain said the photos on the Facebook account of the blogger known as "Amina Arraf" were actually of her.

Araf had claimed to have been born in Virginia to an American woman and Syrian father, but a State Department investigation was unable to verity.

Image via a Facebook support page

The mystery surrounding the kidnapping of a lesbian blogger in Syria deepens as media outlets report they are unable to verify the woman's identify or the facts surrounding her disappearance, fueling speculation of an elaborate internet hoax.

Earlier this week, bloggers (including LGBTQ Nation) and the mainstream media reported that Amina Araf, an American-Syrian lesbian and author of the blog “A Gay Girl in Damascus,” was reportedly been kidnapped by armed men in Damascus.

But three days after word was posted about Araf's alleged kidnapping, American officials say they have no record of an American by that name and no one appears to have ever seen or spoken to Araf directly, and on Wednesday, a Croatian woman living in London said photographs circulating on the Internet were of her, stolen from her Facebook page.

"That is absolutely my picture taken in the last year in Paris," Jelena Lecic told the BBC Wednesday night.

More via The New York Times:

Andy Carvin, an NPR journalist and expert at debunking Internet rumors, pointed out that none of the reports of the arrest of Amina Abdallah Arraf appeared to have been written by journalists who had previously met or interviewed her. A few hours after Mr. Carvin asked his network of followers on Twitter, “has anyone met Amina (Gay Girl In Damascus) in person?” he observed: “It’s just odd that I can’t find anyone who has actually met her in person.”

Although it remains possible that the blog’s author was indeed detained, and has been writing a factual, not fictional, account of recent events in Syria, readers should be aware that the one person who has identified herself — to The Times, the BBC and Al Jazeera — as a personal friend of the blogger, Sandra Bagaria, has now clarified that she has never actually met the author of the Gay Girl in Damascus blog.

Ms. Bagaria told [The New York Times] that she had also never conversed with Ms. Arraf face to face via Skype, but had conducted an online relationship with her since January entirely through Internet communications in writing, including more than 500 e-mails.

NPR also pointed readers to a previous blog Araf had allegedly written several years ago. The blog explicitly stated it was her intention to post both real stories and fiction on her blog -- and not tell readers which was which.

Araf had claimed to have been born in Virginia to an American woman and Syrian father, but the State Department has not been able to verify.

Word of Araf's alleged kidnapping was first reported Monday on her blog by someone identifying herself as Rania O. Ismail -- Araf's cousin.

As suspicion has spread worldwide over the past three days, the blog has been quiet and "Ismail" has not posted any further updates of Araf's abduction, or made any attempts to clarify the mystery.

The site has tips on travel, estate planning and even dating for the 50+ crowd.

According to the AARP site, the portal "is designed to spotlight articles on news, personal finance, relationships, travel and other topics of concern to older gay Americans, and their family and friends. It also provides information about AARP’s positions and advocacy efforts in this arena."

Update: The mystery surrounding the kidnapping of a lesbian blogger in Syria deepens as media outlets report they are unable to verify the woman's identify or the facts surrounding her disappearance. More here.

Amina Araf, an American-Syrian lesbian and author of the blog "A Gay Girl in Damascus," has reportedly been kidnapped by armed men in Damascus.

Araf, who is known for her candid posts about her sexuality and open criticism of President Bashar Assad's autocratic rule, has been on the run since security agents in the anti-gay Arab country attempted to detain her weeks ago.

Activist Rania O. Ismail -- Araf's counsin -- reported the kidnapping on her blog on Monday:

"Earlier [Monday], at approximately 6:00 pm Damascus time, Amina was walking in the area of the Abbasid bus station, near Fares al Khouri Street. She had gone to meet a person involved with the Local Coordinating Committee and was accompanied by a friend.

"Amina told the friend that she would go ahead and they were separated. Amina had, apparently, identified the person she was to meet. However, while her companion was still close by, Amina was seized by three men in their early 20’s. According to the witness (who does not want her identity known), the men were armed. Amina hit one of them and told the friend to go find her father.

"One of the men then put his hand over Amina’s mouth and they hustled her into a red Dacia Logan with a window sticker of Basel Assad. [...]

"The men are assumed to be members of one of the security services or the Baath Party militia. Amina’s present location is unknown and it is unclear if she is in a jail or being held elsewhere in Damascus."

Araf gained prominence after writing on April 26 about two plainclothes security agents who came to her home to detain her and were argued into leaving by her father.

"We had a visit from the security services: it was late at night, in the wee small hours. Everyone was fast asleep. I woke when I heard the clamor and immediately guessed what had happened [...] they were here for ... me ..."

Soon afterward, Araf and her father went into hiding, changing location frequently in Damascus, the Syrian capital, reported Associated Press.

CNN said that the claims made on the blog could not be verified and that attempts to contact Araf’s family and officials in Damascus and at the Syrian embassy in London, have failed.

Homosexuality is illegal in Syria, gays are frowned upon by the country's conservative society and it is rare for gay Arabs to speak openly about their sexuality.

Syria's human rights situation is among the worst in the world, according to Human Rights Watch. Authorities frequently arrest democracy and human rights activists, censor websites, detain bloggers, and impose travel bans. Arbitrary detention, torture, and disappearances are widespread, according to a 2008 report.

The action comes following a warning by the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia back in April, advising the suburban Washington D.C. school district, to stop censoring websites that advocate LGBT rights, while at the same time allowing access to anti-gay websites that promote reparative therapy.

In a Prince William Public Schools news release, Keith Imon, the associate superintendent for communications and technology services, said that the school system was able to remove the filters and still keep students safe from other content.

“Internet filtering is difficult, sometimes imprecise, and constantly evolving. It is nearly impossible to find the perfect balance between the protection of students, freedom of speech, and equal access,” Imon said in the release. “However, the decision to discontinue the use of the LGBT filter is within this balance.”

According to the ACLU, the school district blocked students from accessing most LGBT websites, including: GSA Network, the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Network (GLSEN), Day Of Silence, and the It Gets Better Project among others.

However, the school system permitted access to several anti-LGBT websites, including: People Can Change, the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), Exodus International, and Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays.

Launched in 2005 by internet entrepreneur David Hauslaib, Queerty reportedly grew to reach an audience of more than one million visitors each month, and was frequently quoted by mainstream media outlets.

Visitors to the site on Monday were greeted with this notice:

After more than five years of serving the LGBT community with news and entertainment, Queerty has come to a close.

The decision to shutter the site was not an easy one to make, and it is with great pain that we say goodbye to our loyal readership. From all of Queerty's writers and contributors, from our first unto our last day, thank you for spending some time with us.

"As many of you know, last year Queerty partnered with the folks at 353Media to handle its operations," Hauslaib said in a letter to staffers. "Sadly last week, in a scenario that began with some technical headaches, has ended with 353 opting not to continue operating the site."

According to ACLU-Virginia Legal Director Rebecca Glenberg, the school district uses Blue Coat filter software, which is manually configured, and which currently blocks Prince William County students from accessing most LGBT websites, including: GSA Network, the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Network (GLSEN), Day Of Silence, and the It Gets Better Project among others.

However, the school system permits access to several anti-LGBT websites, including: People Can Change, the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), Exodus International, and Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays -- which is currently undertaking concerted efforts this week to counter the national Day Of Silence on Friday, by asking students to distribute ex-gay literature to their friends in support of equality for the ex-gay community.

A spokesman for Dr. Steven L. Walts, the superintendent, refused to comment other than to acknowledge that the county uses the filter software to comply with a federal mandate under the Children's Internet Protection Act or CIPA, and that officials would be reviewing the ACLU's claims.

In a letter, the ACLU warned school administrators that the Blue Coat software, as currently configured under the school's acceptable use policy, violates both the First Amendment rights of the students, and federal equal access statues.

Copy of the ACLU's letter is here (PDF).

Glenberg warned school officials that blocking access to websites that express acceptance and promote tolerance, while allowing sites that urge LGBT persons to change their sexual orientation or gender identity through means of reparative therapy, was unconstitutional.

In a footnote, Glenberg wrote that "reparative therapy" is a practice denounced as dangerous and harmful to young people by professional groups such as the American Psychological Association and its counter part the American Psychiatric Association as well as the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Glenberg advised Walts to disable Blue Coat's LGBT filter before April 25 or face a lawsuit by the ACLU.

Ken Blackstone, Prince William County Public Schools Communications Director told WJLA-TV that the schools have "employed the filtering software for a number of years," and did confirm that the schools do currently engage the blanket filter of all things "LGBT."

Meanwhile, a New Jersey school board has agreed to discontinue blocking LGBT websites on high school and middle school computers, after two Vineland High School students complained to the ACLU that the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and GLSEN websites were being blocked by their filtering software.

Elizabeth Cucinotta said she created the website as a place for people a place to vent, and to offer a forum where they can express themselves.

But the website, launched March 19, has caught the attention of school officials. Among the categories to vent in -- "Bad Teachers" and "Bad Students."

The Queens Chronicle reports:

“This is not a cyberbullying site,” she added. “I’m a gay woman and I’ve been bullied and spit on and I would never tolerate it.”

She noted that if someone is defamed wrongly and it’s reported, the post will be removed from the website. “Names are used in every social network,” Cucinotta said. “We can examine a post and delete it if it’s warranted.”

She came up with the website’s name “because that’s what you say when you’re angry at someone” and “anything else I thought of was already taken.”

The school district told WNYW-TV, "Miss Cucinotta has been suspended pending an investigation for a potential violation of the school's mission and the teacher's obligation to fulfill that mission."

On Friday, Cucinotta said school officials told her to expect a letter of termination in the mail.

The principal said that staff members are now working with students to explain “why a great teacher is not teaching anymore,” adding that she is entitled to create a business on the side, “but there are ramifications when teaching at a Catholic school.”

Cucinotta said she has received some hate mail from "religious zealots," but that overall the response to the website has been very favorable. She said she has no plans to take down the website.

Jeff Egnor

Lt. Jeff Egnor, posting under the screen name "Abu Mybutt", allegedly made hundreds of postings websites operated by KMGH-TV and KUSA-TV, according to Undersheriff Tony Spurlock.

KMGH-TV reports:

Egnor commented on various stories from police shootings to the elimination of the "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy that will let gay soldiers serve openly in the military.

"New miltary slogans: The few, the queer, the Marines! Butt Rangers lead the way! Be as gay as you can be! Aim for a high hard one, Air Force! Join the Navy, see naked men!" Egnor posted on Dec. 20, 2010, misspelling military.

Two similar posts: "Now we have a new weapon against our enemies: the sissy slap! :-P" and "I hear the Army is forming a new division: The Rump Rangers! :-D."

Egnor also made comments about religious figures and attacked liberals, saying Democrats are ruining the United States.

The Sheriff's Office investigation began Monday following a tip from KMGH-TV, which discovered that the IP address of the computer was traced back to county government offices. The station was responding to complaints by users about the inflammatory remarks being posted on its website, thedenverchannel.com.

"It was determined it was Lt. Jeff Egnor's computer," said Sgt. Ron Hanavan, a sheriff's spokesman.

On some days, Egnor had more than a dozen posts during work hours, which Spurlock said violates the county policy that says work computers are for performance of official job duties.

Although the allegations are not criminal in nature, the Sheriff's Office does not condone expressing personal opinions in public forums when the employee is working and using office equipment, said Hanavan.

After meeting last year on the website, The Gay Youth Corner, Brad, Robert and Ben decided they wanted to do more. Brad had the idea to start a blog and, with a little help from Jim from OutSports.com, Brad called on Robert and Ben to kick things off.

Brad Usselman, 16, is a runner from Washington state in the Pacific time zone. Ben Newcomer, 16, is a soccer player from the Southeast in the Eastern time zone, and Robert, 17, is a soccer player from the South in the Central time zone. Robert doesn’t use his last name due to his conservative surroundings, but his photo and writing is up for the world to see on the blog.

All three guys have different backgrounds and live on the west coast, east coast and midwest, providing some pretty different points of view on how life is in their respective parts of the country.

What draws them together however, is the fact that they all love sports, and they’re all gay.

Their mission is to change the way LGBT teen athletes are viewed in the sports world, and to help others "who also have had trouble accepting, questioning, or becoming comfortable with their sexuality because of sports or other activities that they feel force them to stay hidden from the world."

Ben

Combing the blog, you’ll find everything from normal teenage-angsty journal entries from Ben:

“I remember being a child, when the grass was green on both sides,
when snow meant snowmen,
when adults really had all the answers,
and I didn’t care to know anything else.
Now I’m swept up in self-acceptance, self-destruction,
and self-everything-else-
  I’m-told-I-have-to-worry-about.”

Robert

To poetic introspection from Robert:

I’m a jock.
I’m a jock who likes guys.
I’m a jock who likes guys and cars.
I’m a jock who like guys and cars
and poetry.
I’m a jock who likes guys and cars
and poetry and is a dreamer.

Brad

To inspiring proclamations of pride from Brad:

“I know by coming out in the world of varsity
high school sports that I put a target on my back every time I race because people do not want
to be beaten by the 'gay' kid.
I accept that challenge.
Now, if you are also an athlete on any sporting level will you accept the challenge as well?
It has fueled my competitive drive to push myself every single day.”

Above all, the new blog is a window to the soul for some young kids growing up gay and bravely breaking stereotypes -- the potential to inspire hundreds of other kids is incredible.

This week, the guys took some time out of their busy schedules to chat with TalkAboutEquality.

TAE: When did you realize you were gay?

Robert: I knew from a pretty early age I liked guys, however I never accepted it until 5 – 6 weeks ago.

Brad: I realized I was gay in late elementary school, but i never fully accepted the fact that i was until late middle school. I always tried to deny the fact to myself.

Ben: When I was in eighth grade and in ninth and tenth and eleventh. I’m still realizing quite a bit, but it began in eighth grade.

TAE: Are you out of the closet at school and if so, what was the first reaction you got from your friends at school?

Ben: I’m out of the closet for the most part. My friends just don’t care. (Of course they care about my well-being and how being gay affects me). I think I would get a similar reaction if I told my friends that I had black ancestors. I’ve only told a few friends so I’ve only known a few reactions, but many more people know (I am in high school after all.)

Robert: I’m not out at school, but I’ve told one person (biggest mistake -– he turned out to be some creepy closet-case himself and threatened to out me, but when he realized that I didn’t care he couldn’t do much -– that’s a different story though.)

Brad: I am not out of the closet yet at school but I will be on February 9. My student government is doing an anti-bullying week and I am part of the video that is being shown on that Wednesday. Most of my friends do know though and the only thing they really did was smile and give me a hug.

TAE: When it was toughest, when you maybe thought there was no one to turn to, was there a person who inspired you and gave you the courage to be who you are?

Ben: I’m not sure I have a single “hero.”

Brad: I met a guy named Evan in the beginning of 2010 over the internet. He goes to Yale now but he has always been the person who has helped me through my hardest times. I always know he is there if i need to talk to someone. He is also gay.

Robert: Easy -- Ben. I was texting him about what I should do; should I tell my mom, or should I stay where I was in my comfort zone? Prior to the day that I wrote my mom, I had thought of running my car off the side of the road, thinking it would end my problems, but I decided not to and for that I am a much happier person for that.

TAE: Why did you start your blog?

Robert: Brad came to me with the idea of starting a blog. Even though we didn’t have a specific direction we wanted to take it in, we were lucky enough to have the help of Jim from OutSports help us out quite a bit. It’s still a learning process and will continue to change as progress does. I personally want to have the feeling that I can be heard and at the same time, help someone –- even if it’s only one person.

Ben: Brad asked me and I saw an opportunity to write, to voice my thoughts. Isn’t that a dream of every teenager?

Brad: I started the blog to make sure that the younger generation does not go through the same internal struggles that i went through. I want all LGBT athletes to know that there are other people like them. I hope this blog will provide a place for everyone though to come and feel comfortable as well as a place they can turn to if they need someone to talk to.

I hope the country realizes that the decisions they are making about marriage equality is effecting the younger generations and maybe even some of their children. Hopefully once we realize that everyone deserves the right to marry their loved one our country will help lead a path to were everyone in the world will be able to marry their loved one.

The boys have never all met, (aside from a quick handshake between Robert and Ben), but they have a dream that they might meet on the Ellen DeGeneres Show soon. In fact, someone even built them a Facebook page to help try and make that happen.

In a time when so many young people are reaching out for help, when their words are so frequently falling on deaf ears, I can’t think of something more inspiring than the work that is being done by these guys.

Great work... Hope to see you on Ellen soon!