Gay, 17, highschool kid bullied

Matt age 17, Casey age 17

Matt is seventeen years old. He is a popular kid in school. He is funny and he is on the football team. He also plays other sports and it seems that all the girls like Matt.

Casey is just the opposite. He has never been as outgoing as Matt. He is pretty quiet and isn’t involved in sports. He is an average student. Casey does not have a girlfriend. He just isn’t interested in girls at this point in his life. He likes to play video games and hang out with his friends in a quiet setting.

Although they seem to be opposites, Casey and Matt have lived on the same street since kindergarten and they have always been very good friends with each other, both away from school and at school. No one seems to notice Casey hanging around with Matt, since he is the quiet type.

One Friday night after a football game, Matt offered to drive Casey home since they lived so close. Casey listened to Matt talk about the girl he was dating and began to wonder if there was something wrong with him since he wasn’t interested in girls at all. He took a deep breath and asked Matt. Matt just gave him a strange look and brushed it off.

Two months later, Casey was approached by a student from another school. This student was openly gay and was obviously flirting with Casey. Casey liked it. He was a little scared about his feelings now. He had never considered that he might be gay. He had never known anyone who was gay. He wasn’t sure that he liked the idea of being gay.

Casey called Matt and told him about what had happened and how he was feeling. Matt was shocked. He was also scared. He didn’t want to risk his reputation at school by being known as someone who was friends with a gay man. He didn’t talk to Casey for a few days. After much consideration, Matt decided that ignoring his friend was the wrong thing to do.

A few weeks later, Casey was dating Shawn, the openly gay man from the other school. They went to the local movies together where they were seen holding hands. Casey could hear the others talking and whispering about him. Since Casey was always shy and quiet, he was very uncomfortable with this.

At school the next day, someone had written “Fag” on Casey’s locker with a marker. Hurt, Casey tried to get it off, but with no success. Matt came to help Casey clean his locker and console him. When other students saw this, they began to tease Matt as well. They taunted them both asking if they were sleeping together and other hurtful things.

Never being the target before, Matt wasn’t sure how to act. He and Casey walked away from the situation and talked later that night about what happened. They agreed that they wouldn’t let it bother them and try to go on like normal. Of course this didn’t happen. In the locker room at school, after football practice, Matt was teased again.

Casey saw Shawn that weekend and told him about the incident. This was not new to Shawn. He had seen it before. He told Casey about the gay/straight alliance at their school and how it was started by a gay teacher. After hearing about the details of the program, Casey told Matt all about it. Casey and Matt asked their Spanish teacher if she would be willing to help set up this program. She was hesitant at first about how the school would react to a sexually oriented club on campus, but seeing the real need for the program she presented it to the school board. It was approved.

While the teasing still happens at Matt and Casey’s school, they now have a support system. And they are recruiting more and more members. The more students who join the alliance, the stronger they are and the less teasing that occurs.