HELL FROZEN OVER: Frostburg, Maryland (Bryan)

Frostburg, Maryland is about two hours away from Gettysburg. It's a town a tad smaller than Gettysburg, without a liberal arts college to balance things out in very, very western Maryland. I’ve been there all my life.

“How large was/is the population of openly gay citizens?” If they’re here, I don’t know where they’ve been hiding all my life.

“How accepting were people at my high school?” NOT accepting. Completely homophobic. Frankly, my family and I were concerned that I would be beaten up and alienated if I had come out during high school. Outside of the school, the area’s pretty conservative and homophobic. Given there isn’t even a sizable out population here of “townies,” I would say my town isn’t accepting at all.

I’m not proud of my hometown in the least. In fact, I’m supremely disappointed and truly, truly wish I could have grown up somewhere else.

“Did I come to Gettysburg to "escape" my hometown?” YES, yes, and YES! What kept me going for the past 3 years was the thought of going to college and finally being able to be open and with other GLBT people my age. I know people say that there are very few GLBT students, but compared to knowing NO GLBT students in my high school, Gettysburg is a small paradise.

I didn’t feel safe or comfortable being openly gay in school, and that’s why I didn’t come out there.

Frankly, I hate this town. Minus a few dozen friends and family members, I would be happy to never set foot here again. I tend to get sad and irritated if I’m here too long. I will never live here again. I just can’t… It’s been really hard staying here even over this break [3-week Winter Break]. A huge part of me just wanted to stay on campus and hang out with my international friends. I would have been fine seeing family members and friends for a few days and then leaving. Sadly circumstances prevented me from doing just that.

I’m completely open at Gettysburg. And it’s fucking awesome. I feel totally comfortable in being who I am. For the first time in my life, all my friends know and we can joke about it and everything. It feels pretty amazing, honestly.