Early this summer, I was a part of something no one should have to go through. My friend, who will go unnamed out of respect, came out of the closet as lesbian on June 17, 2011. Throughout that night, she received literally hundreds of comments on Facebook, through text and email, and even phone calls. Comments varied from "You don't deserve to live" to "We don't want you here" to "Get out of our town". It all came to an end when her parents found her hanging in her closet, called 911, and she was pronouced dead shortly thereafter. She had killed herself.

Now this girl was one of my best friends. I had known about her sexuality for about two years, and she finally brought up the prospect of coming out to me, and I said go for it. I never knew that people would be this insensitive and unwelcoming, and to this day, more than two months later, I can't help but wonder if my advice has caused her suicide. I've talked to friends, counselors, even her parents, and I'm still confused about this. 

But I'm not confused about one thing. This should never happen again. This summer at Camp Tel Yehudah (campty.org), the premier Zionist leadership camp in the United States and part of the Young Judaea Movement (youngjudaea.org), I started an LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) movement. I was able to get more than 300 signatures on a petition, have a march with more than 90 kids, and even travel to Washington DC to talk to Senator Al Franken (D-MN) about this issue. We were even able to have an in-camp rally that included all of the camp, more than 600 people, 430 of them 14 to 17-year-olds. I don't know if you understand how hard it is to keep two young adults quiet, let alone 600, but it's difficult. However, when we held this rally, we were able to put all 600 people in one room, and keep them silent for 90 minutes. I mean silent. I shuffled my feet while leaning against a wall and every one of the 600 people stared at me for interrupting. 

A friend of mine from camp and myself have made it an initiative to continue this group year-round. Our organization's name is LGBT IS SAFE: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Involved Straight Students of America for Full Equality. We are currently an unfunded organization with no profit, but we don't care. We currently gather using Google Groups (groups.google.com/group/lgbt-is-safe), and you can subscribe to our weekly newsletter by sending a blank email to:

lgbt-is-safe+subscribe@googlegroups.com

Our weekly newsletter is sent out every weekend and includes a story, a group update, an initiative that you can take in your community, an LGBT quote of the week, and an LGBT celebrity of the week. Last week's was Neil Patrick Harris Jr., I'm thinking this week will be Adam Lambert. 

We will appreciate if you would subscribe, and even if you don't, spread awareness. If you do, tell people about it. The more people on board, the better. 

Comments and criticism are welcome, but anti-LGBT hate comments are not welcome and will not be tolerated.

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