Subject: Re: HELP!!
From: [email-masked] (Joseph M Reilly)
Date: 9 Dec 1994 11:01:45 GMT

>	I am a nineteen year old gay from South Carolina, and i just saw
>this disturbing letter on the net from a 17 year old guy struggling with
>the pressures of being gay in rural America. Perhaps I am ignorant of the
>services availible to glb youth, but it seems to me that asides from Gay
>Youth programs in larger cities there is no nation wide service for those
>of us who are having a particularly traumatic experience coming out.

Reid Fishler at [email-masked] and [email-masked] is starting an 
on-line e-mail "help line" for youth coming out.  It sounds like he has 
some needs in getting the project started.  If anyone is interested, 
please email him and find out how you can help.

Also, [email-masked] is a contact on the net for !OutProud!, an 
organization that gets resource information to youth about referrals in 
their area, hopefully, appropriate for them.  Thay ask for:

- your city
- your state
- your zip code
- your area code
- your age
- your gender
 
When you e-mail this information to [email-masked], they claim to
usually get back to you within a couple of days, or the same day, with
your customized electronic referral package.  Their address info:
 
!OutProud!,
The National Coalition for Gay, Lesbian & Bisexual Youth
PO Box 24569
San Jose, CA 95154-4589
Telephone 408-269-6125
Fax 408-269-5328
Executive Director Chris Kryzan [email-masked]

Also, as you may have seen, a new newsgroup, called
soc.support.youth.gay-lesbian-bi has started up almost three weeks ago.
This newsgroup is a moderated newsgroup whose sole purpose is for the
support of transsexual, transvestite, lesbian, bisexual, gay, and
exploring youth.  It's six co-moderators (including me) attempt to create
a safe space for young people to support each other and learn from people
who have been through "it" before.  I encourage anyone to stop by and
participate.  It's for youth of *all* ages. 
 
>Being from what i refer to as "The Buckle of the Bible Belt," i have seen
>and experienced being a homosexual in what i feel is one of the harshest
>moralistic enviroments in this nation, and if it weren't for friends from
>larger cities like Orlando and Atlanta, both with established Gay Youth
>groups, I think it would be qutie accurate to say I might not be here
>today. In closing, I would like to make a plea to the glb community-
>PLEASE ESTABLISH A NATIONAL GAY YOUTH CRISIS LINE. I only hope there are
>more people out there who think this is a problem and are willing to act.

I volunteer on a line in Seattle [if there are any Washingtonians who need
to talk to someone or find a resource, call 1-800-5-B-Proud (in-state
only) or (206) 282-9307 Mon-Fri, noon-9pm] and would love to see more
outreach to rural areas.  Our line went state-wide this year and the
response from outside Seattle has been reportedly minimal.  Hopefully, the
number will get around the state as time passes.  More than anything, I
would love to see a line based in the midwest (i.e. Omaha) that could
serve the Dakotas on down until smaller regional lines were developed.  

Maybe !OutProud! could take on the project of a national line.  They seem
to have the resource lists.  They would just need to be equipped with
trained phone counselors and a phone line.  Or maybe they could supply 
information to the line based elsewhere.

Hmmmmm.....
			joe, going to bed.