Even if that means jumping out of a sports car that's speeding along the Pacific Coast Highway in the middle of the night with no way home. It forces youth to hide who they are and it does so without considering that “Silence = Death” or that kids will do anything to avoid drowning in shame. That's what Florida's so called 'Don't Say Gay' bill does to kids: prioritizes parents' comfort over a child’s safety. So, I avoided them and buried myself in adults who were eager to take advantage of my need for affection. Unfortunately, my parents impressed upon me that I was to stay silent and spare them any details that failed to align with their idea of who I was supposed to be. And that, no matter what happened, they would always be there for me. There’s a chance that I would still have used online hookup sites, but there’s an even higher chance that a healthy dialogue around sex would have taught me to avoid situations that made me feel uncomfortable.
If we’d had an open dialogue, maybe I would have recognized why I was pursuing sex with adults as a teenager. I’d like to think that this wouldn't have happened if my parents had made it safe for me to discuss my sexual desires with them―given me an opportunity to approach them with any questions I might have had.
