Most of us, I think, end up finding that, freakish though we felt, there’s a place for us and people like us and other people who can see us for who we really are and respect it. Of course, some don’t find that, which sucks, I wish our society has a more core ethic of differences being OK.

What’s f&#*ing criminal is that whole groups of people are told consistently loudly and clearly that their feelings and who they are are not OK and not respected. We are all told with everything from subliminal messages to overt violence that it’s not OK to be a teenager (or adult) who doesn’t conform to some phony irrelevant preconceptions about who you can love and about gender roles. Our teenagers pay the price for these lies. They pay the price if they’re straight. They pay the price if they’re butchy men or femmey women. But they particularly pay the price if they’re gay or lesbian or in some form outside of our pathetic little ‘models’.

I’m glad snail has this blog to read. I’m glad my kids get to see and hang out with you, LD, every day. And I know that your gentle example and eloquent writing will help them and many others know the truth. That they get to be whoever they want to be, whoever they really are, and that that’s a great part of the fun.

Happy Baba’s day, it was fun to be able to share a piece of it with you.

I’m a teenager, *was* a high school student until yesterday’s graduation, and before I came out this past year was trawling the blogosphere desperately, looking for My Kind and perhaps some assurance that lesbianism wouldn’t consign me to some dreadful lonely life with cats and blaming the patriarchy and such. Not that I dislike cats, and I do sort of blame the patriarchy. All the more reason for my concern.

But anyway, found your blog, and it was so interesting, and so funny, and so eloquent, and so *normal*–god, I just almost cried. Normalcy. Imagine that.

I feel as though I’m awkwardly peeking into your family sometimes, and I hope you don’t mind, it’s just…so lovely. So happy, so positive, so healthy and normal. Gives me a lot of hope, and a lot of courage, and a sense of community that I just don’t have ’round these parts.

Thank you, so much, for blogging; and again, Happy Baba’s Day.