It Gets Better: Accountant, Judge, Marine

Some moving testimonies from the It Gets Better Project.  The first one particularly resonates with me; as I've blogged about, when I was in the middle of my college career, I thought I wanted to be a CPA, and Ernst & Ernst (as it was then known) was one of the major accounting firms that my university had an internship program with.  Like the guys and gals in this video, I too had a dream of making big bucks and even seeing the world by working at their overseas offices.  But it was not to be:  thirty-five years ago, I couldn't imagine how I would relate to my peers as the solitary (so I thought) queer in the corporate office, so I dropped out, and majored in something totally different. 

Which perhaps was for the best, after all; it allowed me to indulge my queer faggot homo expressive side a bit more than accounting ever would have. Still, it would have been better not to live in fear and isolation.  And to have a choice.

I also at various times thought quite seriously about becoming an attorney, like my father, and about joining the military, ditto.  But again, a large part of what held me back was the fear of being different, of not fitting in, of not measuring up - of being shunned, or bullied, or even beaten.  And I simply couldn't imagine - had no clue - that there could possibly have been others like me in the same fields, to pal around and find support with.  Videos like these might have made a profound difference in the direction my life's course followed.

All water under the bridge now.  But I'm so glad the young generation has more and better choices.

Ernst & Young employees:




Judge Angela Bradstreet:




Corporal Andrew Stevens, USMC: