Austin Wallis is a 17-year-old YouTuber, who along with his boyfriend Nicolay, has racked up nearly seven thousand subscribers since launching six months ago.
Their videos run the gambit of typical teenage musings, from Making a Gingerbread House to Cute Gay Ideas.
But it was Austin’s most recent video that’s gotten the attention of the webisphere. In it, he shares the emotional story of being called into his unnamed private high school’s principal’s office and told that his YouTube and social media presence was having a “bad impact” on the campus.
The school called in his mother, and then threatened him with expulsion if he didn’t comply with their demands. Two days later, Austin decided to leave the school rather than face expulsion.
How about we take this to the next level?
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As he explains it:
“I don’t want people to think that I left just because of the social media. It was because I can’t stay somewhere where I feel like I’m being forced into something that I’m not, or I feel like I’m not wanted by my own principal…I’m not a bad student. I really want to try and change this. I think it’s ridiculous that in this day and age you can be excluded from your own school for being gay. When I came out I knew I was going to have bullies and I knew people were not going to be okay with it. But i never expected it to be from the peole who were supposed to protect you from the bullies. Who were supposed to try to stop that. And then they themselves are the bullies.”
Here’s the video of Austin telling his story. He’s joined by his boyfriend Nicolay, whose restless right hand we find equally sweet and distracting:
h/t Towleroad
tdx3fan
I think I’m in love with the boyfriend. There is just SO much pain here. If you want to piss me off and hurt me you fuck with my partner. To have to watch your partner be in so much pain and not really be able to fix it just has to be so hard. I really applaud this kid for taking this courageous stand.
Paul Nadolski
Had I been aware of my sexuality and out in high school (mid-90s), it would have been a HUGE problem. I was teased and picked on enough as it was. Being a Catholic high school with a nun for principal, I can just imagine the reaction if I’d wanted to bring a guy to the prom!
Tackle
Oh fu@k, here we go again! Right on the heels of the boo hoo twins. Before we start accusing the Principle and school of beings homophobes,and calling for their heads, and hailing this kid as some gay hero, we should wait for both sides of the story. Personally, I think is BS. Very contrived. Supposedly expelled from school, and you do a video with a chalk board in the background. And I noticed twice, at around 3:13 snd a bit later, editing. And for me it’s very profound when someone says, “I always wanted to change things,and make a difference”. So like many in this social media age,they want celebrity, to be famous. It just seems to me they are taking a page from the twins. But soon,this stunt is not gonna work. The public is gonna get tired of gay men boohooing, on YouTube and social media, about their coming out and supposedly discriminatory experience. Funny how it’s never lesbians pulling this stunt.Seems to always be young,White gay men? But I would love to hear the principles side. And just on a side note, I know some my see it as support, but I found his bf constant touching and caressing a bit annoying. Just too much…
dannyboi2
All what you’ve said maybe true, I can see your point but, let’s not make it a double negative. What matters is we are having a dialog, I’ve had worse things happen to me and I never said or did anything about it. So, I’m happy to see these young kids use social media to express themselves. I see myself and remember I can still be very dramatic when hurt, it’s a gay stereotype I suppose. Annoying but, we need to look beyond the theatrics. At least people are taking notice and if it saves 1 person from committing suicide so, be it.
wagnerwallace
Oh God… They need to start handing out Academy Awards to these white boys that post these ridiculously contrived videos on YouTube, with their constant flow of crocodile tears – I think I lost my eyes in the back of my head from rolling them so much.
“Don’t forget to like & subscribe!”
Dev.C
@Tackle
Well shouldn’t you wait until you have all the facts before you accuse this kid of being a gay social media fame terrorist, pushing the “gay agenda”. by the way if you took some time to look at the kid’s other videos you would realize that chalkboard wall is in his bedroom. based on watching some his other videos he hardly seems fame driven; you just seemed determined to hate any gay kid on social media, good luck with your happy life!
CFBear27
@Tackle: I hate to say it but you may have a very valid point. Even though these two kids are adorable and we all want to comfort the crying boy , there is a social media culture that thrives on deceptive tactics to create a dramatic story. I have to be the first to admit that I am a sucker for cute crying boys aka “twins” or any other gay guy on the web with a sad story , but the moment that we let our guard down , someone is bound to take advantage of that to launch their careers. It is a competition out there for who has the best homemade video and the responsibility of discerning the difference between a real and a fake lies on us. Best advice …. don’t be too dismissive and don’t jump in too quickly on the bandwagon. For now I will just enjoy all the mushie feelings that I’m experiencing watching these two love birds comfort and console each other. In the end we all want to believe a good story with a lovely ending.
arjuna52
http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/davidbadash/texas_christian_school_demands_lgbt_vlogger_delete_all_social_media_accounts_and_go_back_into_the_closet
This news account has more information. He attended a private, conservative Christian school, which has the legal right to require students to conform to the doctrine and behavior codes of the school. This is guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution. I wish that these schools would evolve and accept that their students will not all be gender conforming. There certainly are other LGTBQ kids in that school, but who are in the closet so are not noticed by those in power. Let us hope that even in conservative Christian circles this homophobia/heterosexism and insistence on conformity will someday be a thing of the past.
Cam
@wagnerwallace: Kinda like I rolled my eyes when you had to point out their race.
tdx3fan
@Paul Nadolski: My partner posted his relationship status change on Facebook a couple years ago, and people started messaging him that he had gone to school with. One of the guys that messaged him asked who the new girl was… My partner replied, its actually a new guy… The guy messaged back to apologize for any and all mistreatment he or anyone else might have given my partner in high school (my partner went to an all Catholic school). However, my partner actually had a good experience.
tdx3fan
@Tackle: You are a horrible human being! Coming out to their father made them the “boo hoo twins?” Are you fucking kidding me? Seriously! That was an amazingly touching incident.
As for this case, QT has not really given all of the information, but if you Google this kids name you will find out that he was going to a Christian school in Texas. If you think a Christian school in Texas is not capable of what he is describing you are a fool.
I am sorry you feel such a need for desire and attention that you need to attack everyone that might be getting more than you!!!!
tdx3fan
@wagnerwallace: So let me guess, you are the only one that knows true pain because you are gay and black? Seriously? I did not realize pain was a competition!
NiceNCool1
I was bullied by my own school principal in high school.
NiceNCool1
Tackle, Screw you.
tdx3fan
@Cam: Now come on Cam… ain’t nobody know pain like black people know pain. When a black person gets a toothache it is more painful than when a white person gets their jaw broken.
lockerh
I’m surprised at some of the meanminded responses here (of all places). Those responders really should have some shame. How can we as an oppressed minority achieve a better and better status within our oppressive society with narrow minds such as these among us?
Austin and Nicolay are indeed heroes (even though Austin is in tears) and this was hard for them to do. I certainly support them, and I am 70 years old (these days) and long past my own heroic days (back when I was writing and publishing children’s books for minorities under the pen name Clayton Bess … look up those books; get them used.)
Let’s just do what we can. And it is demeaning to us all for these few meanminded responders to condemn these two young men; it is taking sides with the meanminded principal of that school. I hope that Austin and his mom (and the rest of his family and friends and his teachers) go to ACLU and take the school to court. Let it go up through our Democratic System and shake these bigots out of their own closets and, hopefully, make them lose their jobs and dreadful authority.
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
Is it possible to simultaneously deplore what the school did… BUT also hate this butt-clenchingly awful video (notwithstanding his and Señor Octopus’s absolutely pure motives for uploading it)…and still be thought of as a Good Gay?
Thought not.
Oh well :/
Boricuaex
The principal, the school board and the PTA should all be held accountable for the infliction of intentional emotional distress. The principal, really, should be flogged out of the school district. There is nothing, nothing worse than erasing a person’s history, a person’s identity, in order to crush their future. This poor kid is now forever scarred by his school outright prejudice. Sick, sick, sick.
I’d love for someone to out that disgusting principal and post it EVERYWHERE to shame him into submission. What a son of a bitch that principal is. Outrageous, just outrageous.
esemple
You have a great boyfriend. Love him forever. You made the right decision.
SteveDenver
@Tackle: The “boo hoo twins?” Your post indicates that YOU are a fraud with false emotions. The twins and this guy put their experiences out there and you’re insulting because you think everyone schemes and fabricates just like you.
godot515
What is wrong with some of you and what is not wrong with some of us is not the main point of this video. It’s 2015, and back in 1956 when I was in high school none of this was even given a glint of recognition. I was blessed, I guess, to know who I am, who I was and who I will always be since I was around 19, and was lucky to have a wonderful family that loved ME, an education in NY after the Stonewall Riots that made me more aware of me and my not so unique situation in the world. I was right handed, blue eyed and gay. NONE of these things were my choice, it was and is just the way it was. To hear people BULLY on this site and condemn for no other reason than their own homophobia is sad and at this point, probably completely unnecessary.
To be able to express one’s uniqueness without fear of hatred and bullying takes a great deal of courage, and I think this young man is heroic in his decision to be who he is, give the world a little taste of the fun and interesting situations that, as a human being, he is experiencing and sharing. Don’t like it? Turn off your computer.
With all the other points of derision, I still maintain that as we slowly close down freedom for some, it stretches around and bites the ass of he/she who derides and takes their freedom too.
WAKE UP. Being gay is one of the many incredible ways the human heart and psyche expresses itself. It’s not a choice, it’s not the fault of dysfunctional families…..it is just the way it is.
Your pain, Austin, is called growing pains. Seems you’ve done a lot more growing than the people who are trying to shame you. I, for one, applaud your courage and your realization that you are as valuable to the world as anyone else. I hope you find the circle of people who will support you, guide you and allow you to make more of a difference.
Curtispsf
@Tackle: That’s right, Tackle. Let’s withhold judgement until all sides have been heard. And then you proceed to go ahead with YOUR pronouncement that it’s all a fake. It must be sad being you, being such a hypocrite and all that.
I know I’m going to catch grief for this, but maybe it’s time to stop acting like a beggar at a banquet asking these so-called “Christian” schools to please stop enforcing their bs doctrines and just accept GLBTQ folks. It’s akin to asking your jailors for the keys to the cells you find yourself in. Just reject THESE folks, step back and walk away from these vile institutions of hatred. Stop telling them that “I’m” a good person. Yes, you are but they’re not so stop demanding acceptance from them.
And while we’re at it, lets talk about the biggest bullies in the Catholic Church. That’s right, the penguins with rulers. The nuns who slap you silly regardless of whether you’re gay OR straight. The slightest hint of an erection and it gets slapped down. Am I right?
onthemark
Wow, some of you guys had incredibly sheltered childhoods! (I’m jealous!) You may be uncomfortable with the racial angle Tackle brought up, but if this kid had been at my (public) high school, every black & Hispanic boy in the school would have beat the cr@p out of him on a routine basis. That’s a fact though I’m NOT defending that! – no one deserves to be f@g-bashed. But this is a relatively rich kid at a private school, he knew the rules and he broke the rules, boo hoo.
When was a law passed that requires every teenager to post all the excruciating minutia of his life online? And if that outlet is temporarily denied him, it’s some kind of human rights violation? Eek, call the freakin’ U.N.
@Boricuaex: There is no “district” or “school board,” it’s a private school.
robho3
Oh gawd!!!!! Stop crying and get some back bone
Professor Fate
Yep. Agreed. Here we go again! I just wanna be a Stahhhh!!
Ya know, the Oscars are being handed out this month and now we have more contenders besides the Boo Hoo Twins.
Cam
@lockerh: said….
“I’m surprised at some of the meanminded responses here (of all places). Those responders really should have some shame. How can we as an oppressed minority achieve a better and better status within our oppressive society with narrow minds such as these among us?”
_____________________________
So uh……..I’m guessing you’re new here?
Arcamenel
@onthemark: yes because there aren’t black and hispanic queer boys, we’re all just animals ready to beat the sh!t out of the first f@g we see. You whites are ridiculous.
Arcamenel
Don’t worry about these two, the video will garner millions of views and get them on Ellen where she’ll share their sob story and give them thousands of dollars while queer kids of color starve on the street.
onthemark
@Arcamenel: uh… way to make up something I didn’t say. Go fight with “Tackle.”
@Arcamenel: But as for your second point about Ellen, I totally agree with you!
qsw84
@Tackle: I agree, why all the touching and caressing? Its all about being famous now and celebrity status.
enlightenone
@tdx3fan: “…If you think a Christian school in Texas is not capable of what he is describing you are a fool.”
So he/his mother such not have him enrolled in such a gay (abominate/sin/”less than God’s best”) hating school or suck it up to the detriment of his health and positive, expressive social development!
onthemark
ha, they DO look like brothers so they’re like the Boo Hoo Twins in more ways than one!
enlightenone
@tdx3fan: “…I did not realize pain was a competition!”
It’s not, but the pain can be deeper if you internalize it.
wagnerwallace
@tdx3fan @Cam: I’m not black. Just pointing out a very obvious & constant pattern – if you look at these videos, where the guys are weeping about how difficult it is being gay, they’re usually (if not always) white, most of which already have a YouTube channel and have been trying to get a viral video for years.
It’s also so funny how he started this video smiling and ended it with “dont forget to like and subscribe”
Matt1961
@Tackle: well aren’t you a little ray of sunshine. This kid is being genuine. He’s putting himself out there, his emotions, his pain. His wonderful boyfriend is right there with him reminding him that not only is he loved by him, but by his followers. Who really cares if you are moved by this or not honestly. You sound so jaded by the raw embrace of this kid being ostracized by his religious school. If you don’t want to buy into the videos from this young man, others like him, quit watching them. Nobody forced you to do it, you obviously wanted to see him cry? I just find your lack of compassion embarrassing and idiotic.
enlightenone
@Boricuaex: “…I’d love for someone to out that disgusting principal and post it EVERYWHERE to shame him into submission.”
I guess that would be this hurt young man and his boyfriend. Starting there, they can begin the process of becoming two white knights for gay youth. That I totally support! This can be their “Stonewall,” a passing of the baton so to speak!
John
I am sorry he has to go through this BUT that being said. You cannot tell me he has it any rougher than any kid that grew up in the 70’s or 80’s being gay and in public high school. Where “bullying” happened and it was a fact of life and you grew a pair and dealt with it. Now it is a “buzz word and we all are supposed to attack the bully (making us the bully ourselves then, that’s right give them a taste of their own medicine)
It is a “private” high school NOT PUBLIC. Do we know what type of agenda this school has? They have the right to accept and expel anyone that does not follow their agenda. Just as Austin did, he also has the right to transfer out if you don’t approve of their agenda.
This entitled attitude that so many people have about different things in life. If one doesn’t agree with someone’s opinion anymore then they bully the person whether it be religious, sexual, political or any other topic as if only their opinion matters because they are so enlightened. Though there are organizations I do not like I do not try to embarrass or bully them into my viewpoint. WOW! Let’s make everyone and everything beige and look alike, act alike and sound alike.
enlightenone
@Curtispsf: “…The slightest hint of an erection and it gets slapped down. Am I right?”
I hope not, that’s child sexual abuse – a CRIME!!!!!!!
spiffy
First of all, this video would have been way more effective if the person sitting next to this kid was his mother instead of his hands-y boyfriend. What does the mom (or the parents) have to say about this whole ordeal? Do they support his decision to leave?
Secondly, if he really wants to make a change, why not fight the expulsion? Yes, it’s a private school; but that doesn’t mean one doesn’t have the right to bring the matter to people’s attention and try to affect a different outcome. By leaving instead (and not naming the school) he’s not really changing anything.
Lastly, how naive is this boy that acceptance and support are a given at a religious school? Has he been so oblivious that he doesn’t know how most Christian organizations treat gays in this country?
I’m starting an Ellen pool on how many days it will be before this young couple gets to be on TV. Who’s in? 😉
Cam
@wagnerwallace:
Siiiiiigh, your rational explanation has forced me to agree with you dammit! lol
jjose712
Sometimes comments on this site are vomit inducing.
Some of you are so backwards, so bitter, so cynical that i can only feel pity for you.
And some of you must be so idiot that think the guy chose to go to that school himself. He is a minor, it was his parents decision.
And no, the school can make him delete his youtube no matter how catholic it is, he needs to share some standards when he is there, not when he is not there.
djw67
I have never commented on stories on this site previously but would like to respond to the negative comments here by looking at the bigger picture of where “gay liberation” came from and where we may be at now.
Yes – we may be living in an age where social media is still pretty new and of course young people (and others) are experimenting with it as a means of communicating, telling the story of their life and even trying to change the world. We are also living in a celebrity obsessed era compounded by social media and this has good and bad points.
Having grown up in the late 1980s and early 1990s and always been aware of what gay people older than me fought for in reaction in particular the conservative post war morality of the 1950s regarding sexual orientation, looking at the bigger picture my view is let us just celebrate the fact that a 16 year old can be openly gay and has the platform of social media on which to express himself. I would argue the same about the Rhodes twins story.
Regarding the issue of the religious views of the school – I always come back to the view of whether religious views which could be argued to be immoral should be respected and upheld just because they are expressed by a religious organisation.
jjose712
@onthemark: What fucking rules? They demand him not to be himself, nobody can do that. They demand to delete his online live, and they don’t have any right to do it.
And bring a racial angle to this is simply ridiculous
enlightenone
@wagnerwallace: “…I’m not black. Just pointing out a very obvious & constant pattern.”
Whatever your ethnicity, your social intelligence is evident and sexy!
onthemark
@jjose712: “They demand him not to be himself,” well no. Making YouTube videos is not the exact same thing as being yourself (although a lot of millennials may find this confusing, lol).
It sounds like a pretty f*cked up school, but unfortunately as a private school they DO have the right to do all kinds of stuff that a public school could never do. We could all stamp our feet and say we don’t like it, but the courts wouldn’t agree. We can say religious schools are f*cked up (I certainly agree) but the kid’s parents chose the place.
Grandeja
The hands on rubbing during the whole time took away from his message
OzJosh
There is a world of difference between this kid and the Boo-hoo Twins. It is reasonable to be cynical about the twins because a) their YouTube posts are self-evidently in pursuit of fame and the promotion of their modelling aspirations, b) their coming out was such a cowering, apologetic, shame-filled act, not worthy of praise in the 21st century, c) there is no story in an educated, middle-class Dad very grudgingly accepting his gay kids, d) the media hype around them was a confected and lamentable attempt to turn fame-whores into heroes. By contrast, this kid is naive and fairly clueless. If he knew better he’d have waited an hour or two and not undermined his own message by sobbing all the way through it (dramatically speaking, an exercise in diminishing returns). His vlog seems genuine, but no more effective for that. Youtube is showbiz, so users might as well realise that and play the game to their best advantage.
His other mistake was enrolling in a Christian school to start with. They actually didn’t do anything that wasn’t clearly spelled out in the (not so) fine print. Lie down with dogs… etc. That said, they should still be publicly named and shamed. Yes, the school was within it’s legal rights and all that. But being homophobic and oppressive is still outrageous, even when it’s within the rules. The principal should be the focus of rage here, not the clueless teen, who is only doing what teens today do.
NoCagada
@Tackle: Let us know how one accuses “the Principle” and if “the Principle” is capable of caring.
lauraspencer
I’m sorry he is in pain, BUT these millenials need to get a grip and grow a pair. Another week and another crying bunch of gays.
Kudos to those of use who came out in the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s who didn’t have support from family, friends and society in general.
These kids, who every other week are crying on youtube in order to become celebs, live in a world where gays can marry, gays can serve in the military, gays are featured everywhere on TV and music. What are you crying about? Snap out of it. You are equal!!
This kid has the love and support of his boyfriend (who has a bf at 17? 25? 30? Enjoy it!!) I’m guessing he also has the love and support of his family since he has been allowed to have a youtube channel. How many people have the acceptance and love of their parents for being gay at 17???
I’m scared for our future since so many young people (and I’m not even old) can’t handle the smallest problems.
This kid looks healthy, is good looking, comes from a family who loves him and can afford to send him to a private school and has a cute boyfriend. Stop your whining and enjoy what you have!! You really don’t have it that bad. Snap out of it.
NoCagada
IF it’s true, he should post a thank you to the school on anything he posts on YOU TUBE.
xjryan
Keep it up guys, what you are doing is very brave. Don’t listen to these homophobes or the “caring” people on here telling you to grow a pair or the people siding with your principle because they’re the true cry-babies. I would love to see how they would react if one of their children was told to hide who they truly were inside or emotionally damage them because he/she was heterosexual. Sounds stupid as hell right, well it should sound just as stupid the other way around. Just because we live in a world where society is more accepting of gays does not mean they have it easy at all especially in places where all the jesus freaks think they are better than everyone because “god said so”. Ugh… barf! Its 2015 for christ’s sake.
Keep your heads up guys and more power to ya for having your bf be there to hold your hand and support you, should have had him give you a big, wet kiss in the end haha 🙂 Anyways don’t let anything bring you down, one way or another that principle and all like him will get what they have coming to them, and its brave kids like you who make it happen.
mlbumiller
Well nothing about his relationship or vblogs on hos Facebook page. Last entry was before he started his vids in June.
so if he was all over social media. …where is it?
NaughtyNastyalwaysNice
Keep Up The Good Fight..It’s Time For Homo-Phobia to End!
jon2051
At least these kids have social media to use. I also when to Catholic schools and it wasn’t easy being closeted. In fact when I attended school no one was out!
I applaud these young men(boys). I also would like to hear the parents point of view. After all, it all starts at home…………his folks are the responsible party in this story. I just hope they wise up before they loose him forever.
Clark35
@Tackle: Agreed.
@lauraspencer: Very true.
[email protected]
I certainly feel for the guys and can only image what an unpleasant experience this was however, not infrequently when hearing these stories whether we are talking students of teachers fired upon coming out, on digging deeper you find they were matriculating or employed by religious schools. Coming out when attending or employed by a christian school then complaining when the administration makes it clear they would like you to go back into the closet or evaporate so to speak is, in my opinion, akin to a jew attending a Hitler Youth rally then getting upset when the organisers demand you leave when you make your jewishness known. Of course the situation for students may be different, a student might have little choice in reference ot the school they attend… having said this seriously? The reaction on the part of the priciple though one might consider it the response of a pointless, superstitious startegically shaved primate, it can hardly have come as a surprise… goodness, a christian principle who doesn’t like queers… never seen one of those before! Expecting a conservative christian school to up and accept gays is like expecting the locla mosque to start servicing alcoholic beverages. Hope may spring eternal but dont hold your breath.
transiteer
Private School = Elites that are better than You, and have a Standard to Upheld. He was in the wrong place to start with, with elitist, ignorant Staff. He’s better off out than in, in both contexts.
Paaatrick
Well, I wish they would name the school, because it would be nice to hear the other side of the story from Mr. Dallas Lusk, Head of School, at Lutheran North High School in Houston. Just sayin’ …
Arcamenel
I have very little sympathy for these private christian school kids. Those schools came about so they could stay segregated racially and many (white) parents like that as an added incentive to put their kids in them.
ghajdik
… this was extremely difficult to watch. Not because I sympathize with Austin, but because I do not understand what he is trying to accomplish with this video. There are so many gay kids growing up in areas with absolutely no support systems in place for them. He seems to have plenty of support, especially from his boyfriend who physically seems to be holding him together or operating him like some kind of ventriloquist’s dummy. I mean, come on… I felt like I was watching a soft-core pornography video without the nudity. And crying on command? This reminds me so much of Chris Crocker: LEAVE AUSTIN ALONE!
I’m not trying to be mean, unkind or heartless… but, I’ve been in his shoes before (albeit far more worn and miles from the nearest repair shop). I came out in 2002 while attending an extremely small high school in south-central Texas because I had simply had enough of the teasing, harassment, physical and verbal abuse, public shaming, and the list goes on and on and on… I didn’t have an outlet like YouTube to whore out my personal experiences to millions of people, so what did I do? I dealt with the problem at the source. It was not easy, not even close, but for me I didn’t have a choice. After coming out, and speaking with the school officials prior to doing so, over the next couple of years other closeted gay kids slowly began to come out as well. They felt more comfortable, because there is power, and support, in numbers. If he really wants to make a difference, like he says he does, he should be working with others like him at his school. They can threaten to expel one individual and probably get away with it, but try doing that to 5 or 10 or 15 freshly out gays… that will certainly get some national attention and definitely land him a time-slot with Ellen!
My advice to Austin, and his handsy boyfriend, is to stop making these terrible videos immediately. And deal directly with the issue, at its source. Once they’ve actually accomplished something, then feel free to take to the Internet and share your stories of success! It won’t be easy, but it’ll be effective. If it doesn’t work out (probably because he doesn’t know how to do anything but press the ‘record’ button and cry into his boyfriends armpit), then find another school, opt out and start homeschooling, or work towards graduating early and moving to NYC or San Francisco or somewhere you won’t be subject to discrimination (wait, there’s discrimination present no matter where you go). If you want to make a difference, then do something about it! And, no, broadcasting your pity party is not considered ‘doing something’… it’s far more difficult than that.
This is just the beginning… so, if you want to prepare to fight for you believe is right and true, now is the time to toughen up and start making moves towards that goal. Can you think of anyone in history who has accomplished anything monumental simply by whining and crying about it? I don’t think so, and it’s not going to work for these guys either.
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
I’ve often wondered how much more effective and affecting MLK’s “I have a dream” speech could have been if augmented by generous amounts of nipple play.
PLEASE LIKE AND SHARE AND SUBSCRIBE TO MY SELFLESS SNARKINESS…I’M DOING IT FOR THE GAY KIDS OF THE WORLD 🙂
dbmyers
@Arcamenel: So blame that on the parents not the gay kids who are finally starting to stand up for themselves. Are you writing them off because they are white, the children of perhaps elitist parents, or possibly because they are gay? Look in the mirror . . . really closely!
johnplay26
There are only two things that upset me about this video. The first is the time I wasted reading all of these mean-spirited comments from a bunch of jaded bitter old queens who I can’t tell if they are more upset over the fact that the kid is getting more attention than they are, that he obviously lives in world far more accepting (but no less frightening) than the one we old guard grew up in, or that they were gullible enough to watch a video they knew they weren’t going to like. Whichever answer, it is y’all doing juvenile boo-hooing. For Pete’s sake, the kid is a newly minted 17 year-old that is terribly naive and incredibly sheltered but no less justified in his emotion. At 17, I was just as big an idiot–probably more so. A statement I imagine that most commenting here can relate to.
The second is that I am extremely jealous of the kid. I mean seriously, he is the quintessential scrawny, gay dork who just happened to bag a frickin’ football jock as a boyfriend while still in high school. They literally write novels about that shit.
Ronbo
@Paul Nadolski: Are you serious that you didn’t realize that you were gay… beating off to the thought of men?
wpewen
This is very weird. People seem to not understand-staging events and putting them on You Tube says that people are living contrived lives, period. Of course the kids should be left alone by the school, but You Tube is entertainment, not a way to plead a case. It’s as if the young generation en masse somehow thinks they should live their lives like “the Kardashians” (whoever they actually ARE). An entire group of people making utter fools out of themselves.
A culture of narcissus, and it’s being sold to everyone as reality. WRONG.
enlightenone
@ghajdik: “…If you want to make a difference, then do something about it! And, no, broadcasting your pity party is not considered ‘doing something’… it’s far more difficult than that.”
Now if you can turn your REAL painful, making it better story as an ebook and make it available for the social media boy who want to make it better for just one other person like them then we can learn of real changing happening and now serial YouTube mini soap operas!
Thank you for a story and “comment” of substance!
enlightenone
Sorry, that’s…real change happening and not serial YouTube mini soap operas!
enlightenone
@wpewen: “…A culture of narcissus, and it’s being sold to everyone as reality. WRONG.”
That would be JOHNPLAY26 and others. JOHNPLAY26’s comment borders on pedophilia-like perspective.
johnplay26
@enlightenone: Wow. Your comments make absolutely no sense, but your outrage illustrates my point number one. What or who are you so angry with. He is a dumb kid doing dumb kid stuff who has yet to realize that that the world is much larger than the bubble he wraps himself in. You’re the one who clicked play and are now outraged that the kid doesn’t have the wherewithal to start a revolution.
As for my second (tongue firmly planted in cheek) comment… Clearly you are looking for something rage against. There is an entire industry of young adult literature built on the premise of the unassuming high school nerd (male or female) being noticed by and falling in love with the high school jock–rarely is it art imitating life. When I was his age, I would have loved to have had a jock boyfriend (actually, I would have settled on any boyfriend). For you to extrapolate pedophilia from that comment only demonstrates to me your… oh, never mind.
lauraspencer
@johnplay26….if you think a 17 year old who has grown up in this technological world is dumb then I have a bridge to sell you. It’s insulting this young man calling him dumb. He isn’t. He knew what he was doing to get attention and I’m sure growing up with the internet he is aware that some people will support him and some won’t. That’s the internet.
He wants to be a celebrity and he is trying, but don’t suggest he is dumb. He knew exactly what he was doing.
On another note. Not sure where you went to high school, but the boyfriend looks itty bitty and wouldn’t be on the football team. Maybe soccer.
enlightenone
@johnplay26: “…He is a dumb kid doing dumb kid stuff”
“Outrage” is not an emotion I have experienced.
Just for the record, I don’t think this sensitive, young man is dumb by any measure. He could have just as easily been my son and I would have taken the GHAJDIK-approach, YouTube, later!
johnplay26
@lauraspencer: The blond “handsy” one is a football player from Cypress High just outside of Houston, he makes several mentions of it in other videos. I actually grew up not too far from this kid. I never said the kid was unintelligent, only that he was possibly making some foolish choices, as anyone who has ever been 17 has done, namely posting videos on YouTube for the world to ridicule and judge (don’t get me started on the dumb stuff I did when I was 17, thank god there was no YouTube then). But even that was not my point, which was that I can’t tell if most of the commenters here are more upset over the fact that the kid is getting more attention than they are, or that he obviously lives in world far more accepting (but no less frightening) than the one they grew up in, or that they were gullible enough to watch a video they knew they weren’t going to like. @enlightenone was the one who distilled it down to some incomprehensible garbage about how what this kid should or should not be doing; something about an ebook, mini soap operas, narcissism and pedophilia.
As for @enlightenone:, Maybe “outrage” was a poor choice of words, however, with all your sanctimonious declarations of social change and comment policing, one would think you were leading the charge to force this kid into become the face of your revolution when he is simply a kid being a kid. Where’s your video so that all of us can critique how you choose to express yourself? What was that? I couldn’t hear you over the constant pompous belly aching and cynical pronouncements made by folks like yourself bemoaning the fact that some little kid is getting a lot of attention and is not doing with it what you think he should or that he his living his life in a way that you don’t approve. Hypocrisy much?
johnplay26
Oi! I can’t believe I got suckered back into this “converstation.” Night y’all. I’m out.
Maude
I’d be proud if he were my son.
That said,
The affection shown between two in-love teenagers here….is endearing.
The thing that would turn off a straight person, is the Gay female-like whining, and sobbing trough tears, wiped away with bottom of hand and elbows.
Probably all of us have felt the heartache that he and his lover feel, but a straight person would only see and feel disgust about the situation, nothing for the kids, unless it’s the politically correct…….pity….which we should all reject, out of hand.
enlightenone
@johnplay26: “…@enlightenone was the one who distilled it down to some incomprehensible garbage about how what this kid should or should not be doing; something about an ebook,…”
“Ebook?” Try not to take comments out of context.
Clearly you need a sedative!
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
MEMO TO THOSE SPEWING HATE UPON THIS KID:
You are pretty fcuking mean spirited, vile, noxious, horrible beings………The kid has the balls to come out publicly and not hide in the closet like I am sure every one of you did in high school. Sure it sucks that he was in a “christian” school. He still is proud of who he is and not afraid to take a freaking stand and state he deserves to be treated the same as every other student in that school…………..
Shame, shame, shame on you petty wicked bastards………
lauraspencer
ummmmm @Plays well with others. I don’t see anyone attacking him for being out in high school. Kudos to him coming out. As for attacking others for not being out in high school I would argue that most people over 30 really didn’t have it as easy as the kids do today in coming out. In the past few years marriage has spread across the land, gays are in the military and there are portrayals everywhere on TV and in films. Certainly in this young youtube man’s life he has much more societal support than anyone in high school in the 90s, 80s, 70s, 60s, and so on.
The criticism is more geared towards putting it all on youtube. It just feels like millenial angst for the sake of attention and possible celebrity. He has the support of his boyfriend, parents and I’m sure friends at school. Why does he need a hug from the internet?
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
@lauraspencer:
He doesn’t need a “hug from the internet”……………
He needs the support of other Gay persons who say this kid has balls to be out and proud. To not hide who he is and that he is willing to take a stand against smcubag hate spewing bigoted “adults” who care more about cherry picked verses from the bible that they use to “justify” their singling a student out and telling him it is wrong to be who he was born as…………….
Captain Obvious
At first reading the title I was like “WTF is that even legal?” but then you said this was about these Youtube videos. That is VERY LEGAL and there’s good reason for it.
Private schools get a lot of money from people who can afford it. Face it, if you’re at a private school you are representing that school while you attend it.
All this social media crap is not what these teens should be focusing on. If they want to do something with talent the school can’t stop them, but they still should make sure it represents the image the school wants to put out. That’s just the way private school works.
I went to private school in middle school and they’re very serious about image. I left private school in high school in favor of public so I could have a little more freedom(probably a mistake).
If this kid can’t comply then he can and should find another school.
Sometimes gay people online are way too quick to jump on a bandwagon and demand everyone comply with OUR wants, OUR beliefs, and OUR kneejerk assumptions.
This is the way most if not all private schools are run. Don’t you think they might risk losing money ignoring this? You think they’re going to give up 20k or more a head per year over one kid’s “need” to post videos with TMI?
Seems like people don’t understand what oversharing is nowadays and that you can easily be oversharing with social media. No one needs to know how much money you make, who you sleep with, where you live, etc, etc on the internet. Way too many attention whores in 2015 and we’re only 1 month in.
Aaron
Let’s be honest… if the couple in the video were either lesbians, overweight, over 30, unattractive, non-white, poor, or couldn’t speak English I CAN GUARANTEE YOU this story wouldn’t have gotten as many hits.
I empathize with Austin Wallis but I do not feel sorry for him.
Leaving your school and your friends can be difficult for a teenager especially when it’s done unrighteously so. Life is tough. There are going to be people out there that will not like you for no good reason.
I empathize with his feelings of rejection but I also want to tell him that he’s going to meet lots of people like those homophobes who run his school and toughen up. If I could, I would make sure that no other young LGBTQI person went through the same pain I went through as a gay teenager.
I do think it’s true that our gay community tends to lift up members who are more collectively attractive (young, fit, extroverted, good-looking, caucasian). Science has actually proven that humans in general will subconsciously favor those who look like them and even more so if they are physically attractive. The Rhodes Twins are a perfect example. We have seen COUNTLESS coming out videos. There are so many! Although the twins’ story is heartfelt I do think that their 16+ million views on YouTube had a lot to do with them being twins AND also being very attractive models.
Aaron
I think it’s great to see gay people supporting other gay people. It only sucks when coming out stories from young and attractive individuals receive more attention, praise, and unconditional love. The numbers speak for itself (e.g. The Rhodes Twins)
If a generally attractive man (young, muscular, good-looking) came by himself into your local gay bar in crutches and had a hard time finding a seat. You bet your bottom dollar he’s going to receive grade-A treatment from a handful of men. All people with disability should receive this kind of treatment but because this disabled person is attractive he will get it.
Cee
Dude, can you not stop touching your boyfriend for like two seconds? Stop petting him like he’s a cat lol WTF! Didn’t watch the whole thing. He says it’s not about the social media, but yeah it is. It’s 90% about social media and 10% about the other stuff. Next!
Zenguy
@Cee:
lol His boyfriend is petting him like a cat!
The thing is, this kid is very young. He meant well — motivated by pure, sincere, unchecked emotion. But he lacked the objectivity and foresight to form a statement of coherent impact. I give him credit for not naming the school as tactic to shame it.
He should have recited a prepared written statement about his experience in context to the larger issue of policies and the culture of institutional discrimination. Instead of his distracting boyfriend petting him, he should have appeared alone, or with parents, students or other supporters standing behind him in solidarity and not crying and casting himself as victim.
But he is just a kid, lacking the perspective,experience and acumen to see beyond what must be one of the first serious hardships in his life.
frickeepoo
Somebody PLEASE do a parody of this vid w/ the Octoboyfriend getting carried away w/ nonstop pawing and have him eventually do stuff like take his bf’s blood pressure or spoon feeding him or maybe grooming him like a chimp pansy.(sp)
SteveCampsOut
@lauraspencer:
“What are you crying about? Snap out of it. You are equal!!”
I totally read this in Cher’s voice yelling “Schnap Outta it!” LOL!
Kids these days amirite?!?
Captain Obvious
@Cee: Some guys are seriously hands on like that though. A guy did it to me once and we had just met. It was a little weird.
schlukitz
@Tackle: Wow…you’re all heart, aren’t ya?
schlukitz
@Arcamenel: Interesting how you’ve managed to exstrapolilate this into a racial issue.
dggeelong
Satan made everyone gay who is gay, then he made the religious people & those around the gay person homophobic, the purpose to hurt the maximum number of people every day.
Satan changes the first love of every gay person usually because they were confused as a child, usually because a parent was away from home or not communicating for much of the child’s years up to 6 yo.
God says he will deal with Satan and all those who do evil, the gay person is not at fault – as long as they have one relationship at a time – the same standard God demands from straights.
When you agree with another guy to form a relationship; that is marriage in God’s eyes!
The marriage starts with that agreement and ends when either of them withdrawing their commitment.
What your old school has done is probably not illegal [Satan’s system]; But each person who judged you or agreed with any judgment as you doing a wrong] will be very severely punished by God for their evil!
Forget what happened as soon as you can, but for your old mates and teachers, help them, continue to love and respect them BUT ABOVE ALL TELL THEM NOT TO JUDGE YOU OR ANYBODY ELSE, EVEN THOUGH THE SCHOOL HAS GIVEN THEM THAT EXAMPLE.
You can even send a copy of this to the last principal, so he knows what happens in a few years time is for. It will not happen until there is no way you can hear about it so you do not feel revenge – that means you would also do evil.
blackout_boycott
I know that I’m going to get allot of backlash out of this. But this story is just going to make it worse for children like them to get there way crying to the public, because of the there rights. We have laws that pretain to children being sexually molested under 18, that this behavior is not accepted, and that person gets arrested, and detained. has to register as a child molester for the rest of there life. It does not matter at the child’s view, that this was of there own free will, they are under the same kind of laws that us adults are. I was raped by my father at the age of 5, and later on in a catholic school at the age of 9-10. Several other boys of the school either got raped by the priest that started this series of rapes, or the boys raped other boys. I on the other hand, ended up going into a mistrust of any male that even came in contact with me. You touch a child under 18, your are doomed to pay the price, and now that I hear stories like this one, I’m more angry when children are crying about there rights. I’m for the school to expel the boys, till they become 18. Thats the law! The rights they ask for is totally wrong, they are still children. The parents should get involved with the devolpment of these boys, and teach them whats wrong or right until they are old enough to do it on there own…
enlightenone
@blackout_boycott: “I know that I’m going to get allot of backlash out of this….”
No backlash from me because you are either illiterate or disturbed! I hope you continue to get the HELP YOU NEED to heal from the multiple sexual traumas you suffered in your youth.
blackout_boycott
@blackout_boycott:I do make up the law of the land, I don’t break the law. It’s funny how you use the president as your pic? But your comments is not a suprise whatsoever. It ia common that your either another child or that your a pedophile, getting kicks out of children like this. I make sure people like you face the consequences of your actions against children, You can run, but can’t hide for long, you’ll get your day in court, or that you have already been there. I will stop at nothing, to take each of you to jail and or prison.
str0ngice
Seriuosly, I didn’t hear a single word he said. I’m focused on where the right hand is. It’s arousing at some point. I thought they’re doing a porn video. Very sexy and I’m very jealous!