My best friend is gay and I'm angry. Not at him. I'm angry at the homophobic people he encounters and the derogatory remarks he'll probably have to put up with the rest of his life. But I know he'll be okay. He's strong, and I'll be there to back him up. He's working on starting a gay-straight alliance at our high school, which is proving to be a challenge. But he'll do it, and I'll be there beside him the whole way.

My friend and I, we go back a ways, and ours is one of those one-in-a-million friendships that you know will last. We've been through hell and back already, and we'll probably go there again.

See, he's not "out" yet. He plans to next year, when he's in eleventh grade and I'm in ninth. I can tell you right now that he won't be allowed inside my parents' house anymore, and Mom will assume I'm a lesbian, which I'm not. They're grade-A homophobics. But that's okay, because my friend and I, we'll be okay. We're a team. Together, we can do anything.