I had the wweeeirrdest coolest day today at this glbt youth group

[Mouse]

I had a strange, wonderful night.

Every Wednesday from 7 to 9 there is a gay youth group hosted in the Unitarian Universalist church in downtown Bethlehem, PA. I've been wanting to go for a while but a) have been too shy b) haven't been able to convince my mom to go. But, finally, I worked up my courage and decided to go tonight.

My mom HATED to take me. I argued with her the whole way there because we got lost, she thinks they're going to 'make' me gay (she still thinks I'm going through a stage) and she doesn't like going out of her way for me... ever. So this was really STRAINING on her, but after a while we found it, and we pulled up to the side of the church and two older guys were standing around on the steps, and my mom asked if this was where the meetings were held, and one guy walked over to the car and said yes, so I got out, my mom left, and the guy brought me into the room.

This little room and there were two couches, a bunch of chairs, some posters and stuff hung about. I introduced myself, and sat down on the couch next to this queer guy. A bisexual couple were on the other couch. I sat in the corner of the couch and sort of curled up shyly. Haha.

There were two adult coordinators, and when the second one came in we started the meeting. First we have to go around, say our name, and talk about how our week went. It was awkward for me at first and I found myself talking mostly about my mice. I felt pretty awkward. But everyone was very nice to me.

Then another group came in, a lesbian couple, another gay boy and a bisexual girl. They said the group was small tonight and usually there are so many people attending that some of them sit on the floor.

But I'd never felt such calm in a group of people before. Towards the last half hour I was joking and laughing with all of them and it was a great time. I got handed a packet by one of the coordinators and it basically has the informationabout the group, a GLBT newspaper in it for the area and some contact information for the local PFLAG and numbers I can call if I have to talk to someone.

I'm so happy, guys, really. My area is notorious for having a very oppressive baptist influence and to finally be thrust into the GLBT community in the area is so refreshing and calming. I felt like I was around friends and there was nothing to be ashamed of anymore.

I got along great with the bisexual girl that was with her boyfriend at the meeting. We laughed and joked the whole time. We sang the Goldfish commercial jingle together, and the ongoing joke tonight was WATER ALLERGIES.

Because when I first came in she was talking about how her allergies were bad during the summer, and her boyfriend mentioned that he heard about a girl that was allergic to water and died. Like sweated and broke out in hives. And we talked about how weird it would be. Cause saliva is water and people are like 80 percent water and yeah. O_o;. Weird conversation.

But when the lesbian couple came in the butch one said her name and talked about her week, and said how her mom cooked a barbeque sauce with vinegar and that she's allergic to vinegar and how miserable it was. So at the same time me and the bi girl were like - "AT LEAST YOU'RE NOT ALLERGIC TO WATER! " And everyone 'in' on the joke laughed.

And then later on the bisexual girl was like, "Oh, I can't travel because I'm afraid of the ocean D:" and I was like
WHY ARE YOU ALLERGIC TO WATER? And everyone laughed again.

It was just a hadtobethere ongoing joke. xP

Also, she had a 'question of the week' for everyone, and this week it was if you had to pick a superhero name with like a dirty undertone, what would it be?

And the funniest one was the femme girl of the lesbian couple, she was like. PMS GIRL. And her weakness was Midol, and her archnemesis was Tampon woman.

It was so great. I'm in a great mood.  I can't wait to get mor einvolved in the community and stuff =).

[frenchpat]

Mouse,

your post made me smile, and I am happy for you that you've found a group of people that you are comfortable with. I am delighted that young people today have this opportunity to be what they are and get support when needed. We've come a long way.

Enjoy your day and keep us posted

Pat

[MoltenStorm]

That is friggin' AWESOME, Mouse. I really wish I would have had something like that when I was your age (I can't believe I just used that phrase). Take full advantage of it.

Please do keep us posted.

[Nadine]

How very cool....I'm glad you found this group.

You sound so happy...take full advantage of it 

[Mouse]

I think the weirdest part was probably just walking in there the first time with everyone just sitting there, and they just stopped talking and looked up and STARED at me before saying hello.

I was like


eep.

-freeze-

xD

But I was so surprised at how friendly they were and how geniuinely happy they looked to see me, even though they didn't know me. like they were just happy to have someone new there and didn't feel like I was invading anything at all. I was scared how I would fit in with a bunch of people that probably all know each other by now. But it was fine. Looking back on it today I'm still surprised at how natural it was to just sit with a group of people and laugh and stuff. a lot of them talked about how rough their week was and how miserable things were, but it was always 'but things are getting better' with them.

and it was okay to talk about ANYTHING. one guy went into really graphic detail about stuff and iw as kinda taken back, but no one else even blinked.

but, i dunno. i was glad that everyone could just sit around and talk about EVERYTHING. it wasn't just because we're all gay, it was just, like, we're all kids and apparently all kinds of odd and strange.

i tried to explain 'Charlie the Unicorn' to them and halfway through my explanation i looked to my left and right at everyone staring at me and iw as like
"..... I'm not crazy." and everyone laughed.

[JeffInNYC]

I think the weirdest part was probably just walking in there the first time with everyone just sitting there, and they just stopped talking and looked up and STARED at me before saying hello.

Did they at least offer you a drink of water?