Hi Travis,

Thanks for submitting your question to Alterheros. Meeting other people who share your interests and find places to make friends that you connect with and have fun takes some effort, and creativity! Sometimes it can be a bit of a lengthy process to find a good circle of friends, but the good news is that the results are rewarding, totally worth the effort, and also the journey can be enlightening- allowing you to discover more about yourself and the other type of people that exist out in the world. Meanwhile, any effort, whether they fail or succeed, will undoubtedbly bring you closer to establishing your own identity, and what you want in your relationships. So I just wanted to give you a heads up about that, because finding a community, and set of people you relate to is an up and down process- the important part is to keep trying no matter what, and remind yourself that you are worth the effort to find fabulous, honest and trustworthy friends, as well as to be in a relationship you’re excited about with someone who you have fun with, and who cares about you. = )

As for places to meet other people, I understand as a 16 yr old, available resources can seem scarce. However, there are places nevertheless! At many high schools, there are gay-straight alliance groups, which are student organizations intended to provide a safe and supportive environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth (LGBT) and their straight allies. (LGBTA). The main goal of straight alliances is to make their school community safe and welcoming to all students regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. Your high school might have one of these groups, or if not, you could also start one up, or join an online community. The nice thing about clubs like these, is they are at once a community to meet other people like yourself, as well as meet people you know who will be accepting of you regardless of their or your sexual orientation.

Here are a few other related websites you can check out:

https://www.studentorganizing.org/login/index.cfm

http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/home/index.html

http://www.gaystraightalliance.org/

http://www.gsanetwork.org/

Through these websites, and their resources, you can meet people in an online community, as well as find local events, summer camps etc. For someone at your age, these sorts of resources are safe, pretty well established and the best part, full of other people like you and that are of similar age.

I hope that’s helped you somewhat Travis, if you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

For Alterheros,

Evelyn.