Good for you for being proud! It can be such a struggle growing up straight! When did you first realize you were straight? How long did it take you to realize you weren’t gay like everyone else? What lengths did you go to in order to hide the fact you were straight from everyone else? How many dates with someone of the same gender did you go on because you didn’t want people talking about how you never went out with another guy/girl? Were you worried about telling your parents that you liked people of the opposite sex? Did you ever overhear your dad talking with friends and saying how any kid of his that was straight he’d kick to the curb? Did you have a straight friend who wound up homeless after he told his parents that he liked girls? Or was he just beaten at school and called a pussy-lover or boob-chaser or fish-packer? Did you ever try to Pray Away the Straight? Get sent to Straight Camp to try and fix your feelings for the opposite sex? Did you ever have to sit and listen to political and religious leaders on TV talking about how you, yes you specifically, for liking the opposite sex, where not only doomed to hell and eternal hellfire, but were also solely responsible for the destruction of America, the modern world, marriage, and any natural disaster that occurred? Who was your favorite straight character on TV? I mean, they probably weren’t -written- as straight, but who did you watch and feel that, even though they’d been written hooking up with someone of the same gender, they just had this.. air about them, this connection with an opposite-sexed costar that just… Well, they -had- to be straight. And it made you feel less alone to imagine that they were. That they could be like you. And thus, you could be like them. Did you ever promise God that you’d do anything you’d want him to if He’d just let you fall in love/lust with someone of the same gender, so you didn’t have to be so different? What’s your most notable scar? The one you got from your dad’s punch when he found out you were straight? The one you got from some random kids who jumped you and your boy/girlfriend as you were sneaking out of a straightbar one night? The ones you gave yourself after you found ‘Straightmo’ spraypainted over your locker and none of the teachers did anything about it? Are you lucky enough to live somewhere you can be openly straight and walk hand in hand with your boy/girlfriend? Or do you have to pretend that you’re just roommates and put up pictures of someone of the same sex whenever your parents come to visit so they think you’re in a proper relationship? I know it can be hard answering these questions, but that’s what Straight Pride is all about. Taking all the hurt and abuse and terror of the world, and forging it into a kind of strength. Remember, we’re right there with you. There’s nothing wrong with being straight. In fact, it’s something to be proud of. And maybe someday, your opposite-sex relationship will be as natural and accepted as same-sex ones. Probably not in your lifetime, admittedly, but someday…