I was in Wilmington DE once reviewing medical records and in the same building found a gay youth club offering health services to kids from 12-18 that was actively telling kids who were confused about their sexual feelings that they were gay, born that way and provided homosexually oriented fiction for them to read.

Hmm, now that doesn’t sound like good mentoring; my website (I’ve finally put up) about being gay, the one thing I emphasise is his ( http://www.geocities.com/thegaykiwi/ ) :

“This isn’t a “yes” or “no” service, only you can answer that question as only you know your true self.”

Too many kids want the ‘yes’ or ‘no’ solution – for many it may take two years for them to find out themselves; and if it means they ‘play’ the relationship field a little, then so be it, better to keep an open mind that simply to pigeon hole oneself into a box and say, “well, now that I am an zyx, thats it”.

RE: ck

And regarding “recruiting” I meant that term in a non-pejorative sense, as in “The YMCA is recruiting volunteers.” This was not (if you’ll look at context) the same as saying “The Gay Movement is recruiting members.”

Ah, I see what you mean, lol, if I were used as the poster boy for the ‘gay community’, I’m sure my photo would be enough to turn anyone straight 😉

I used the word recruit taken from ck’s post. I do not believe many kids are capable of being recruited, although some are and have told me these stories in counseling.

kaiwai – You’re experience is not the only standard. Others have had different experiences. Just because you have not seen ANYTHING like this does not mean it does not occur.

Despite nojam’s reassurances, there is still a need to for all youth organizers for all groups to be incredibly careful about the messages they send off regarding sexuality. I was in Wilmington DE once reviewing medical records and in the same building found a gay youth club offering health services to kids from 12-18 that was actively telling kids who were confused about their sexual feelings that they were gay, born that way and provided homosexually oriented fiction for them to read.

It appears from the Mpowerment Project’s website that the project focuses on “young gay/bisexual men, ages 18-29”. ROSMY focuses on sexual minority youth “between the ages of 14 and 21”. So, it would seem ROSMY’s primarily involvement in the project would be young adults ages 18-21 unless they extended outreach to people ages 21-29 specifically for this project.

I assume the “boys” the website refers to would be young adult gay men — not literally boys. Although it is confusing since ROSMY does serve boys under age 18 and at first glance the statement “men and boys” is alarming.

I think Dwane was probably the victim of unhelpful stereotyping and a shallow understanding of homosexual attraction.

Or he simply made it up; believe me, having been around the internet; there are enough people, who know that they’re anonymous, that they’ll throw out any old random story and claim it as their personal experience.

I’ve NEVER seen ANYTHING like what he mentioned; the gay youth groups I have been involved in work in these areas:

1) Dispelling myths – that you must be or act a certain way if you’re gay; for many people they *think* they’re gay simply because they don’t fall into the stereotype of the ‘bloke’.

2) Provide role models – someone who they can talk to if they’re having problems; someone who has ‘been there, done there’ and are able to offer helpful advice.

3) Provide a way to meet other gay/lesbian and trangender youth and young adults – so that they don’t feel like they’re the ‘local freak’, that there are others out there who share the same feelings.

4) Provide advice on how to form healthy, long term relationships – relations aren’t just about sex, procreation or ‘who is hot’ – many kids get a warpped sense of what a relationship is when they see their pairs, their parents and what is shown on television.

As for the ‘recruiting’ myth – an old wives tale spawned off an article from 20 years ago, written by a guy showing how the ‘oppressed becoming the oppressors – look at the number of times THAT article has been used!

Maybe a fundie around here can inform me how one recruits, maybe I’m not doing by job as a ‘fellow gay’ in recruiting – or is it the fact that I was never ‘recruited’, I simply acknowledged my same sex attractions and acknowledged my homosexuality.