Richmond Times-Dispatch
March 11, 2005
By Michael Paul Williams
I can only imagine how tough it is to be a gay or lesbian teenager.
Plotting a course through the storms of adolescence is difficult enough without a sexual orientation that isolates you from your peers.
“All youth are struggling with coming to terms with some sort of personal identity,” said Scott L. Lowther, executive director of Richmond Organization for Sexual Minority Youth. When teens identify themselves as gay, lesbian or transgender, “Will we provide positive resources for them, or will we leave them to their own devices?”
Chesterfield school officials sent a less-than-definitive answer last week in canceling the scheduled appearance of a gay author at Manchester High School.