Approximately one in 100 American women and two in 100 American men identify as homosexual, with another four percent of Americans identifying as bisexual. Homosexuality is still a controversial topic in the United States, but polls and surveys regarding its moral acceptability or the legalization of same-sex marriage show an obvious trend towards acceptance and tolerance of the LGBT community among the American population.

It’s no secret that we’re everywhere. The gay community has vastly grown in the last twenty years due to the expanding social acceptances of the united states. Young people are developing in groves, and it looks like the world is understanding. However, in a great deal of cases, it just isn’t…

Cities like Los Angeles and New York have an enormous population of gays, and also to the individuals who live within these areas, it’s hard to believe that in other parts of the country, it isn’t welcome. Until we go to small cities, we neglect to realize how much we take for granite. Being able to walk together with your partner rather than feel the fire and brimstone stare; expressing yourself openly and outwardly without feeling judged; talking freely about kids and the everyday problems with dating – we fail to see that we city-folk have it made.

When an incident like the death of Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming happens, it brings the ugly truth to the forefront: we are not accepted almost everywhere! Perhaps that’s why homosexual people move in herds every year to the big cities – who can blame us, really?

Not that small towns are bad places – I’m from a small town and I loved it. The sense of community made me a far more caring and loyal individual, and due to this attribute, I feel for the ones who have experienced a different aspect.

In most small towns, there is usually only one gay bar. More often than not, it is placed far away from the activities of the town, only policemen and homophobic radicals knowing about it. Nightly, the pub owners are worried about the safety of their patrons. Most of them keep a shotgun behind the club, and you can bet that they’ve used it at least once.

Why is it so greatly different for Middle America to catch up to the times? We can sit and twiddle our fingertips till our generation’s “more taking” youth grows up, but how long will that be? Ten, twenty, thirty years?

With websites such as this, we can actually make a difference. To have a refuge for gay people in small towns to escape on will give them hope in dealing with the day-to-day adversities. When you surround yourself with people that are like you, the fear fades away. Don’t reside in fear.

It really is this dread that causes infectious pain. We see prime examples in the press – the closeted gays who are too frightened to turn out and force themselves to have socially acceptable relationships, i.e. marry a woman, have children, buy a house and a dog – it never works out. Shame: it’s a habit that’s trained to us by our community. Shame is learned, and it could be broken. It just takes time.

Recent surveys have shown that depression among gays in small cities have lessened because of the numbers of safe havens and counseling centers which have spawned. Groups of gays are coming together with the commonality of discrimination in their areas. Maybe us city-folk can learn something from this – it seems that the number of guidance centers have been dwindling in metropolitan areas. Funny huh?

We are scattered throughout the united states, yet our lives are so different. Living in a place where you are even the slightest bit more accepted can affect your self-esteem in astronomical ways. If you’re reading this somewhere in Middle America and you are feeling like you are all alone… guess what. You’re not!

10 million American adults identify as LGBT (4.1%)

LGBT millennials up from 5.8% in 2012 to 7.3% in 2016

LGBT identification higher among women