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Good People

 

Matt

Unlike many of my mentors in Winston-Salem and Greensboro, I grew up in an age where LGBT acceptance was a continuously growing phenomenon. When I came out at age 14 in 2000, a host of friendly LGBT role models came out of the woodwork to help me reconcile with my parents, my conservative faith community, school and peers. When I started a gay-straight alliance at my high school and took my first foray into what is now looking like a life-long career of LGBT advocacy and activism, I received the warm and encouraging embraces of those who in much harder times had seen and done it all.

My four years of activism in high school, for safe schools and for an affirming and welcoming environment in the Boy Scouts of America, taught me many lessons about the world in which we must all live. Perhaps those lessons came too early in my life, but I have certainly been made better because of them. After all, as one of my good mentors told me many a time, “that which doesn’t kill us only makes us stronger.” Now, at 22 years old, I can say that I am proud to be a part of this community and humbled to be in a position of privilege and influence.

When I am older and I look back on my life, I want to see decades full of honest living, integrity and service to my fellow brothers and sisters. Most of all, however, I want to see a life full of love for my family and friends. I want to see a society in which my life, love and humanity are recognized as valid and just.

 
  Triad Equality Alliance ● P.O. Box 19842 Greensboro, NC 27419 ●  info@triadequality.org
 

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