Bay Windows, April 6-12, 2000
631 Tremont St., Boston, MA 02118
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The bravery of the young and not so young

by Jeff Epperly

Let us this week sing the praises of Corey Johnson, a senior last year at Masconomet Regional High School. Corey came out to his schoolmates and teachers in a big way, with positive results that suggest how far we have come on the subject of homosexuality.

Corey's part of an ever increasing number of young people coming out at ages that lend hope to those of us who, mostly with good reasons, never thought of doing such a thing when we were seniors in high school. What made Corey's story in last week's newspaper unique was that he was also co-captain of the MRHS football team and he came out mid-season to his coaches and teammates - with surprisingly touching support in a jock milieu not known for its sensitivity to those who are different.

Associate Editor Peter Cassels' story struck a chord with many of you, based on the letters we've gotten from as far away as South Africa and Australia. We've gotten requests for reprints from a variety of sources, and the television news magazines are now sniffing around the story.

As uplifting as Corey's story is, however, let us also remember those efforts that made stories like his possible.

By all accounts, Corey is a pleasant, self-assured young man with a warm relationship with his parents, friends and teachers. No doubt the palatability of his coming-out message was affected by the confidence and affability of the young man delivering it. He has learned what so many of us have learned - and are still learning: There come certain times in your life when self-respect ought to be chosen over lies. Hiding takes a deep and hidden emotional toll, no matter what temporary comfort it may bring.

Equally as important as Corey's self-determination, however, are the sea changes that have happened in society over the relatively short history of the gay rights movement. From those now obscured doctors and researchers who first suggested long ago that, just maybe, homosexuality wasn't a defining pathological condition, to the countless activists alive and dead who came out at times when it was nearly universally dangerous to do so, Corey's story of integrity and bravery is bound up inextricably with their earlier, painful struggles.

But more recent history in Massachusetts must also be singled out for praise. Staff members from the Massachusetts Safe Schools program went to MRHS to help the process along, as they often do, when a student decides to come out, offering advice to school teachers and administrators on what to do - and what not to do - if problems arise.

This service ought not be undervalued. Safe Schools, along with the Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth - along with the unwavering support of two successive Republican governors - has made Massachusetts a beacon amongst the 50 states on how to handle gay and bisexual issues in the schools.

We will thank them generations hence.

Some religions believe that when you die, you are asked to account for your life, summed up perhaps in a simple question: Did you, in some way, make the world a better place? I have so many faces in my head of people I've met who could answer that question well. With their efforts, the members of the Safe Schools program and the Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth have assured their answer would be pleasing, as well. Corey Johnson and the many youths working to make their schools safer for those who come after them are also doing their part.

That leaves this: If the rest of us are so confronted, what will our answer be?

[Corey Johnson is online at CoreyJohnson2000@aol.com]

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