[m~dgray]

Brave Soul. I did an ethnographic study of Lynchburgers, by residing there from 2003 through 2007. I found it to be one of the most oppressive, stiffling & backwards cities I ever lived in. I documented stories from LU students and alumni that are horrifying. Over 35 years ago, when I graduated from high school, there had never been any GLBTA group. In 1999, for the 1st time in the history of our high school, I started a private GLBTA list for graduates, allies, teachers & staff. We're still going strong & growing all the time. Even though our school was in a DC suburb that was, & still is, way multi-cultural & open-minded, when I 1st started the list & needed to advertise it on our high school's online newspaper's home page, there was a fundamentalist-supremacist rebellion against even putting 1 little link on the page so that the GLBTA could find each other. Fortunately, the newspaper's editor-in-chief is a way dear friend of mine who's Chinese-American, as well as an ally. Our school mascot was a Husky. He laid the law down stating that "a Husky is a Husky. Period." Thank heavens for straight allies!