"My Father Abused Me for Being Gay"

Anthony was standing on a subway platform and slowly inched closer to the edge. As the train was pulling into the station, he was preparing to hurl himself on the tracks. A bystander noticed Anthony and pulled him from the edge seconds before the train arrived. With tears in his eyes, he admits, "she saved my life". Thankfully, Anthony survived that day, but many gay youth do not. Suicide rates among LGBT youth are disturbingly higher than the general public. And like many other queer youth, years of physical and emotional abuse had taken its toll on Anthony. Abuse that began at home at the hands of his alcoholic father. "When he drank he took his anger out on me and my mom. He would get physically abusive but it wasn't as often as the verbal abuse. Calling me faggot. Calling me a girl"