By Stratton Wayne St. Clair

You don’t have to be gay in order to sympathize with gay people over the prejudice and hatred they face, or with any other discriminated against minority for that matter. Just a modicum of charity and simple human decency will do.

The amount of abuse that gays receive just for being who they are, both as children and as adults, is terrible. I have witnessed it firsthand, and nobody should have to go through that.

The depression and suicide rates among gay teens are appalling. I knew a boy who blew his brains out after his good, church-going parents disowned him for being gay.

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St.Clair is a retired chef and part-time graphic artist who lives in Roanoke.