Throughout this site, most of my responses to messages have been short and rather tongue-in-cheek, but in February and March 2000, I had a couple of interesting longer exchanges.

Fri, 25 Feb 2000 19:18:36 EST
Well
I bet this kind of e-mail is not new to you
I know that you must have thousands of e-mailw ritten to you a day from screaming girls
Well I didn't say this e-mail would be different
I am a 5ft 2 bruntte girl and 17 years of age my b'day was actually on xmas eve I know you have been thorugh a lot and you some how kept your head up- I just found out my best friend which is male who we used to be together is gay and he has been beaten up and I haven't kept my head high
How do you do it
I admire your courage and wish to have a friend that has that kind of courage and confidence to help me out
Lots of love c--------xx

REPLY: I think you have made a mistake, did you think this was an address for Prince William? If you got the address from my website, I think maybe you didn't read it properly.
Anyway, I am very sorry to hear about your friend being beaten up. As it happens, I am gay myself, and I suppose I would just ask you to carry on being a good friend to him. Many young gay men mistake close friendships with girls for romance -- it is because it is very hard for some people to face up to being gay, it seems better not to think about it, and try to be "normal". You should take it as a compliment that he feels close enough to you to make that mistake. As well as your friendship, support him and help him make contact with other gay people: if you do not have other gay friends, there are lots of websites aimed at supporting isolated people. Best wishes.

Sat, 26 Feb 2000 15:12:26 EST
Thank you for your comforting e-mail No of course I didn't think you were Prince Wialliam- I guess I was wishing it was.
You have an amazing heart and thank you for listening to my sad story I talked to my guy friend and he said that he was nearly trying to kill himself cause he can't stand the pressure but I persuaded not to do so- I care too uch for him - we grew up together
I keep telling him that I am always by his side and that I don't think differently to him but the other day he hurt me by saying that he didn't know a large side of em and that he would wish that I never knew he was Gay and that I should just leave him alone- I am scared that if I leave him a lone that he wold do something crazy I hate being in this type of position I know he really doesn't mean it
Sorry again I just need a friend that can help me out
lots of love c--------exx

COMMENT: I didn't feel I had anything more to offer, but I did send a website update on 6 March 2000

Wed, 8 Mar 2000 16:00:14 EST Thank you very much and did you read my last letter about my friend who was gay and he is like trying to kill himself and shutting me out I would apprecoate it if you could give me some advise
thanks
REPLY: I am not sure I have any real advice, but I do think you should speak with someone directly. Either someone you know who would be sympathetic to your feelings and your friend's situation, or someone you don't know who could be totally objective, like a counsellor. Take care.

Sun, 12 Mar 2000 13:04:57 EST
Thank you very much
for all your help and I think you are doing good- for everyone around the wrold well on behalf of b'mth I would love to say thank you fro all your help and my guy friend is slowly realisisng that killing himself is the worst possible thing he could do to himself and realsied that there is so many people that love him- like me
thank you ever so much
c--------xx

COMMENT: She is a little extravagant with her praise ["I think you are doing good for everyone around the world"??], but that was certainly an unexpected correspondence. As for the next person...

Kate sent me an e-mail asking me to go and look at her page. I did, and pointed out that some links didn't work...

02 Mar 2000 16:15:30
im a rookie at the whole webpage thing, so thanks for the tip. i was surprised that you replied, i like that! i found your page so unreal, that so many girls out there feel like that. anywho, just wanted to say thanks.
kate
p.s. i took down the homosexual page because of too many nasty people.

REPLY: That's a shame. Maybe you can find a gay page you like, and link to that instead?

04 Mar 2000
this is so funny! i just realized you think im a homosexual! that or you think i am standing up for them. well, i doubt any gay pages would let me link to theirs because my page was about how i think its wrong. dont get me wrong, im not a gay basher or anything, im not a bigot. i simply think its wrong to be gay and that is what my page was on and that is why people got upset.
kate

REPLY: OK... but I don't get it. What are gay people supposed to do with their lives, if you think they are "wrong"? You can criticise someone if they do bad things to people, for what they do, but not for what they are, surely? It seems a bit weird to me. Many lesbians and gays have a very difficult time, that's why I assumed you were providing some sort of resource via the WWW. Who are you to say they are wrong to be who they are?

I had an e-mail from a girl last week, a visitor to the site like you, whose best friend (a boy) has just come out as gay -- he is 17, the same age as Prince William. Because there are people at his school who are thinking like you, they beat him up. Think very hard about whether you really can distance yourself from the gay-bashers you mention.

Sorry, but I really don't get it. And sorry for the mix-up.

10 Mar 2000 09:00:12
i am not some sort of a freak who runs around beating up gay people. i dont think they should be hurt in any way, and you shouldnt assume that just because i think its wrong means i want to beat them up. i am passive in my opinion, i dont shove it in peoples faces and call gay people wrong to their faces. its because of people like you assuming things that i tool down my page.
kate

REPLY: You sound like basically a nice person, but I think you need to think more about this. It doesn't make any sense. Meet some lesbian and gay people, find out about their lives and what they think about things. You must face the fact that when anti-gay views like yours are expressed and accepted as valid, there are plenty of people who somehow use that to justify real hatred and sometimes violence.

But my question was: what do you advise gay people to do with their lives? That's what I don't understand about where you are coming from. And since I can't read it on your website, I would be interested to hear.

Thanks.

12 Mar 2000 17:12:39
its called resisting temptation. i have heard of many people that overcome their gay desires and go on to live happy lives. im not here to preach what gays should do with their lives. i dont think its wrong to have those feelings, just to act on them is wrong.
kate

REPLY: What, so they will never have an intimate relationship with anyone? Or only with someone they marry and lie to? This is cruel nonesense. No-one "overcomes their gay desires", they just hide them. Why should they anyway? Isn't love a basic human right?

COMMENT: Sorry, I got a little grandiose there, but what a tosser eh?

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