It’s something people just don’t talk about. Society has taught our young ones it’s wrong.
Sexuality is a very touchy subject, but not just in America. It is controversial all over the world. People of the LGBTQ community are beaten in the streets and are verbally abused for just walking while holding hands. Why does the world treat the LGBTQ community differently?
As a student at Big Sky High school I have had my share of ridicule from those that aren’t as accepting of my sexual orientation. I identify as bi-sexual, meaning I like both girls and boys. My sophomore year I came out to my friends and they we very supportive. However, some students weren’t as embracing as them. I am happy I came out, I have made more friends with other LGBTQ students and I encourage other students who are still in the closet to come out when they think it’s safe for them to do so.
Model, student, son, grandchild, food server. These are the labels put on a seventeen year old high school junior, Layne Tripp.
Tripp is just a student who likes to read books in his spare time and wants to become a model and move to L.A. after graduation. Tripp has done ten workshops for modeling and has a healthy social life. His mom and grandma are his biggest supporters. Models, Neel’s Visser and Alex Lange are his biggest role models. He has a smile when he looks into the cameras that makes the girls swoon but he isn’t looking at the girls.
Tripp, openly gay, started in the LGBTQ community his freshman year at Big Sky. ” They [his friends and family] reacted very well, and supported me.”
When asked if being openly gay affects his career in the modeling industry, Tripp said it doesn’t. Still, Tripp’s goals have changed for after high school, he now wants to serve his country and join the Army reserves. He will be pursuing his modeling career after basic training this next year.
Some of Tripp’s friends, who are part of the LGBTQ community also have feelings on his coming out and how they personally experienced life at Big Sky.
Kristen McGuire, sixteen and a junior at Big Sky, is bisexual and has known Tripp for over a year. She says her friendship with Tripp hasn’t changed at all because she has other gay friends.
Big Sky was supportive to her coming out, to a limited extent. “Not a lot of people know because I’m not that open about it yet,” McGuire says.
Aspen Dawson, is a Junior at Big Sky and has known Tripp for three years now. His coming out hasn’t affected their relationship.
When they came out as LGBTQ+ they had struggles, just as we all will. We have to fight for our own right. “We are not a danger to society. All we want to do is love who we love,” McGuire says.
So for all people out there scared to come out at school it’s okay Big Sky is a friendly place and open to whatever and whomever you like. Please accept yourself and come out to us when you feel safe and it is the right time for you. You are not broken, you are perfect the way you are and no one will be able to change that.