Top Ten Lessons From Hear Us Out!

Bella Roberts
1. Categorizing is just a block to discovering the truth. In the fifties and all the way to
the present we categorize people for their interests, color, and religion. In fact, just about
the only people who knew then that the word gay means homosexual as well as
happy were gay themselves, or were in the arts, where I was glad to discover that wed
found a measure of acceptance. (Garden 9). People in this time period and the present
have grouped each other from their likes and what they wear and it just conceals and
blinds us that people are all unique in their own way but we are all
the same.

2. Some people just are afraid, and its okay. Citizens in

the US had little to no support in the GLBTQ community
and no one cared for them. There was little support for
the GLBTQ people in those days- no gay- straight alliances, no gay pride marches, and
no openly gay celebrities- publicly to be gay. (Garden 10). Teens and adults of all ages
that were gay or lesbian did not come out to be openly gay or lesbian because they were
afraid of the consequences and what might happen to them. They are afraid of what might
happen and people that are straight are just the same so it shouldnt matter what interests
GLBTQ have.
3. Life has bumpy roads, and we just have to overcome them. Teens and adults were
unaware of what was about to happen to them in the next year. For most gays and
lesbian teens, the fifties were bleak and lonely. It took enormous courage and optimism
for them to sustain hope for a bright future. (Garden 12). The gay revolution was
beginning and teens and adults will have a bumpy future but we all have bad days, we
just have to get over them.
4. Decisions that we make can affect
everything in our life. We all have people
that make us want us to make bad decisions
and make us hurt ourselves. Elizabeth, Ive
read that you should take it seriously when
people talk about suicide. It scares me that you
mentioned wanting to die. (Garden 25). Even if
things arent working out the way you want it to
dont look to the bad side of things and just keep everything in control.

5. Labeling isnt an answer. It shouldnt matter what you like and who you like as in
gender or anything labeling people and putting people in boxes, when people go around
and label everyone on everything and separating people just because they are different.
Despite that, gay bars were often raided by the police, many of whom had few scruples
about beating up the people they arrested or about calling their employers to notify them
that they were gay. (Garden 48).
6. Violence shouldnt be the answer for everything. Gay people and Lesbian etc. have
been harassed, bullied and abused for who they are. Up till then, the gay communitys
protests against mistreatment had been largely verbal and nonviolent. (Garden 53). This
shows progress on how people in LGBT communities they are being less mistreated for
which they are and what they are.
7. Progress takes time. Throughout the years of
being hurt and waiting for people to stand up and
protest it takes time and patience for a bright
future and guidance. As we stood there
watching, I suddenly felt tears in my eyesexited, happy tears- and I thought of the
race riots Id heard about that had gone on in New Jersey and other places where black
people were so angry at the cops and at how slowly they were getting their civil rights
that they were tearing their own neighborhoods down. (Garden 76).
8. Patience might be boring, but its a great gift you get in the end. In the gay
community it took time for them to get legally married in any state but not yet in every
state quite yet. The first couples to apply openly were in California, Neva Joy Heckman
and Judith Ann Belew. In California at the time, two people who had lived together for
two years, as these women had, were allowed to have a church wedding, receive a church
certificate attesting to that, and be considered married by the state. (Garden 82).
9. Family is Family no matter what. Other parents of gay kids formed a group that began
holding regular meetings. Similar groups formed in a number of states and were the
forerunners of PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays). (Garden
85). Families are starting to help them and finally understanding that it shouldnt matter
who they like.
10. Running away is hard but it is an option for some people. Teens that were either gay
or lesbian or bisexual would run away because they didnt have anyone that could help or
would help. As in the sixties and earlier, gay teens that ran away from home and had no
source of income often supported themselves by prostitution. (Garden 85). Hard
decisions do not come easy for people who are put in boxes and treated differently.

Garden, Nancy. Hear Us Out!: Lesbian and Gay Stories of Struggle, Progress and Hope, 1950 to
the Present. New York; Farrar Straus Giroux, 2007.