Kids and sex are a combustible mix: Ask any parent -- or middle-school dean who's had to break up a clinch in a hall sweep. But kids' sexuality is real, and complicated.
This week, Newsweek explores the human cost of coming out at a school in Oxnard, CA. Across the country, kids are self-identifying as gay years earlier than they did a generation ago. We can debate whether a hyper-sexualized culture hurries these declarations, or whether someone as young as 12 can be certain of their sexuality -- but the personal risk that's involved is beyond doubt: Kids who out themselves face ostracism, bullying, and worse.
Lots of NYC high schools have LGBT clubs, for gay, straight, and questioning kids, and one small, transfer high school offers safe haven to non-hetero high-schoolers. But what of middle school? Could what happened in Oxnard happen here?
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