Stories from the Helpline Filed by: Guest Blogger November 23, 2008  2:00 PM   Editor's Note: "Stories from the Helpline" is a recurring feature on The Bilerico Project, bringing in the personal accounts of Helpline counselors from The Trevor Project. The Trevor Project is a non-profit organization that operates the only nationwide, around-the-clock crisis and suicide prevention helpline for LGBTQ youth. This installment comes from Daniel Sherman, a volunteer Helpline counselor on The Trevor Helpline. He volunteers at The Randy Stone East Coast Call Center in New York City.
Our teenage years can be an awkward, confusing and lonely time. Gay youth face extra isolation when they receive the indirect (and sometimes very direct) message that their very core - what they feel, and whom and how they love; essentially who they are - is somehow wrong. Even loving and supportive friends and family aren't always able to help. Discovering that so many gay youth attempt or even consider suicide as an alternative to the pain in their lives shocked and saddened me. Okay, yes, it also pissed me off that I lived in a culture that purported to "value our children" yet did nothing to reach those in such dire need.