So, even though support from other young people is the highest it has ever been -- harassment from those few that still hate gays, usually due to parents or faith, is as high, or higher, than it's ever been.

At the same time, opposition among older adults is not yet flagging. Parents and relatives often refuse to accept children that they have raised, simply because they prefer the same gender for intimacy, or are themselves gender confused; throwing them out of their homes if/when they "discover" their sexuality. Parents tell hateful "gay" jokes to their sons -- thinking that they will prevent them from being gay, but actually only hurting them when they already are. Men make fun of their own sons and those who are otherwise closely related to them for not being masculine enough -- even though masculinity has little to do with sexual preference. In some cases adults, particularly parents, even harm children who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered.

Religiously, large sections of the evangelical movement continue to demonstrate extreme prejudice against sexually different youth, using them as the ultimate enemy to keep their own fractured body in place and to collect funds from homophobic contributors. Evangelical leaders frequently launch offensive screeds, filled with half-truths, and sometimes with blatant lies. They often refuse to accept careful scientific study that does not concur with their foregone conclusions, and they accuse sexually different youth of being evil, demon possessed, and willfully disobedient to God. They teach, ignoring overwhelming evidence to the contrary, that homosexuality is a conscious choice and that gay young people could simply "decide" not to be gay.

Roman Catholicism, being by far the largest of the mainstream churches, continues to teach that homosexuality is morally disordered and that homosexuals have been given a struggle for life -- the struggle to remain celibate, to never have sexual or true emotional intimacy with another human being, for their entire lives.

Among other homophobic faiths, Orthodox Judaism, Fundamentalist Islam and some others are particularly opposed to homosexuality, and in some cases join the fringe of Reconstructionist Christianity in calling for the death penalty for homosexuals. Mormon leaders continue to express confusion as to why so many gay beatings occur in Utah, despite publishing Apostle Boyd K. Packer's talk praising a Mormon missionary for beating up his homosexual companion, and an official church pamphlet titled To Young Men Only, that encourages teenage boys to assault any males "who entice young men to join them in these immoral acts."

While many of the other mainstream Christian groups, most of Judaism, some liberal Muslims, many Hindus and Buddhists, most Wiccans and other faith communities do not condemn, and often embrace gays and lesbians, including gay and lesbian youth -- not enough is done by these organizations to counter the continuing abuse of an entire self-identified community of young people accounting for approximately 5% of our youth⁵. Not to mention the damage done to those who are still deeply closeted, certainly at least another 5%.

Not so with us. We look at the horrible injustices done to queer youth -- not just in this country, but in most countries, and we say that as people of faith we can allow this no longer.

It is not just Matthew Shepard! It is not just Ayaz Marhoni and Mahmoud Asgari! Those were and remain watershed cases. Fragile boys, who harmed no one, beaten, tortured, and killed by hulking men. In the case of Matthew Shepard by criminals, but in the case of Ayaz and Mahmoud, by the "lawful authorities" of their own government. These boys are martyrs, but they are not alone. Permit me to list just a few of the others:

On January 2, 1997, 14-year-old Robbie Kirkland committed suicide after struggling with his homosexuality for four years. His mother said at the time, "Our family loved, supported and accepted him but could not protect him from the rejection and harassment he experienced at his Catholic schools." On May 8, 1995, Bill Clayton, 17, took a fatal overdose after being hospitalized for depression. He'd been assaulted by a group of boys in his community because of his sexual orientation. Jacob Lawrence Orosco, 17, hanged himself on September 3, 1997, in his mother's home. When Jacob and nine of his friends tried to form a Gay/Straight student alliance at his school, a group of students at a nearby high school formed SAFE-Students against Fags Everywhere.

Steen Fenrich, 19, was killed and dismembered by his stepfather in a homophobic rage, his body found March 21, 2000; Gwen Araujo, a 17-year-old transgender woman from Newark, California, savagely beaten to death on October 3, 2002 by a group of boys at a party; Sakia Gunn, 15, fatally stabbed at a bus stop in Newark, New Jersey, May 11, 2003 after her assailant was told she was a lesbian; Fred Martinez, Jr., a 16-year-old Native American high school student from Cortez, Colorado, found beaten to death, June 21, 2001, his skull crushed with a rock. His 19-year-old killer was heard to have said proudly, "I bug-smashed a fag."

I could go on with this, but why? The point I think is made. Almost universally, throughout all religions, the concept of doing good and not ill to others is held as the center of the faith. Christianity has the "Golden Rule" -- do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Wicca has "The Rede" -- Harm no one and do as you will is the whole of the law. Judaism talks of mitvahs and of loving your fellow man and G-d. To care for others, to judge not their actions -- these are the things that makes faith worthwhile. Social justice has been the watchword of faith and it is the meat and drink of every faith community in the long run. There is no higher calling, no greater purpose, than to stand up for the dispossessed and the despised.

On September the 21st and thereafter we will, as a combined community of faith embracing different traditions and following different paths, become one with the historical stream of people of faith that have throughout the ages called for justice, again and again. In our case we call for justice for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered youth -- without question the most justice deprived community of our day.