Religion & Law

You should read this NYT Magazine story, if only to get a snapshot of how much more complicated things seem to be for budding adolescents today:

Austin doesn?t have to play ?the pretend game,? as he calls it, anymore. At his middle school, he has come out to his close friends, who have been supportive. A few of his female friends responded that they were bisexual. ?Half the girls I know are bisexual,? he said. . . .

?When I first realized I was gay,? Austin interjected, ?I just assumed I would hide it and be miserable for the rest of my life. But then I said, ?O.K., wait, I don?t want to hide this and be miserable my whole life.? ?

I asked him how old he was when he made that decision.

?Eleven,? he said.  

I cannot help but wonder if this article reflects our culture's increasing sexualization of childhood as much as our emerging awareness and affirmation of gays and lesbians in our midst.

UPDATE: Thanks to Ryan Anderson for forwarding to me Paul Scalia's essay, "A Label That Sticks."