From age 12 I actively sought out contact with gay men

I am a gay male, 25 years old. From age 12, I actively sought out contact with gay men, especially for sex. Although I did fantasize about my peers, it was always older gay men who taught me - not only about sex, but about being proud of myself, being socially aware and compassionate - in short all the things that my conservative, deeply religious (and loving) parents could not teach me. These men, throughout my teen years, ranged from 28 to 58 - and I am grateful to each of them for taking a risk with me. I don't think I understood at the time how severe the risk was; I'm starting to learn. It wasn't limited to legal risk. They risked being shunned and called 'scum' and 'child molester' by other gay men and lesbians. I know; I've now marched in the Gay/Lesbian Freedom Day Parades with NAMBLA, and both times have been hissed and booed by men and women who should have known better.

Were none of these people ever teenaged, gay, and alone? Am I the only gay person to have learned a sense of identity from a 50-year-old man - who just happened to be great sex as well?

Does the gay community have collective amnesia? From the reactions of Christopher St. West, one would think so. Intergenerational love 'is not a gay issue'? Think again, CSW. Or more accurately, think. Think about your own pasts, and the lonely present of our future generation. Think about how much love a gay youth needs, so that he does not grow up hating himself. And think about learning a little more about love.

source: Article 'CSW vs NAMBLA: The Rage Of Consent - Scott O'Hara and CSW'; NAMBLA Bulletin, vol. 7, n. 7; Reprinted from Gay Community; 20 July 1986