Is being gay still so difficult for teens in the US?

Honestly, it depends where you live in the US. I was one of the lucky ones as my high school was pretty open-minded, there was hardly any bullying against the LGBT kids, in fact, some were even part of the popular crowd (if you can believe it). That being said, if you live in the south or the mid-west, homophobia is still prevalent in many of those areas. Kids are still being thrown out of the house, bullied, assaulted, etc. And don't even get me started about the suicide rates amongst LGBT youth. So yea, even though this might seem preposterous in 2014, some of these things are still happening in high schools across the country.

http://reelfransreviews.blogspot.com/

40% of homeless youth are LGBT. That is sad, how families discard their own.

Many gay teens likely feel less alone than they might have 20 years ago. Public figures are now out of the closet. Ellen is on TV each day.

However over that same time, politicians and organized religion have stoked the flames of homophobia and hatred. The media keeps referring to SS love as controversial. So life can still seem difficult for gay teens.

Someone has already stated this but in the south it is still very bad. I have lived in the south my whole life and people can get kicked out of certain universities and high schools just for being gay.

Unfortunately for many, it is. I graduated high school in 2008 and even then I got my ass kicked on a very regular basis for being gay. The "popular" kids would literally knock me over, kick me in the stomach, and call me a fag. And the worst part was how the teachers and other authority figures did absolutely nothing. Telling a teacher or administrator was a complete waste because all they would say is "well it's your word against theirs." You get your friends to confirm what happened and they ask the bully's friend if it happened (and of course they denied it, then the issue would be completely dropped). And when a teacher actually did see the bullying, all they'd say is "break it up" and I usually got a back-handed comment about how I need to stop starting *beep* and inviting people to bully me (apparently my general demeanor was just too much for them to handle so it was my fault they hit me).

I had one teacher who actually stood up for me (and the others who also got harassed -- I was not a unique case by any means) and would regularly report things to the administration who would just reply with there is nothing we can do. And actually the bullies accused this teacher of targeting them and intentionally trying to get them in trouble and she was written up for that! It was absolutely ridiculous. I'm lucky I was pretty resilient and genuinely didn't care the "popular" kids thought of me, and I had an amazing group of friends, one of whom was 6'4 and seriously jacked and did a great job protecting the downtrodden whenever he could (but in a school of 1500+ it is hard for one guy to save everyone), and my parents and siblings were great. I couldn't imagine what may have happened if I let all the hate affect me and didn't have a good support system.

Despite assertions made by most schools, bullying is still widely tolerated. And targeting LGBT teens is easy to get away with because these schools do nothing (if it was a race thing or a sexual harassment thing, they'd be all over it at the drop of a hat; no need for witnesses and proof, they would take it very seriously) about it. It seems like the United State is reverting backwards in terms of tolerance. I mean look at everything that is happened with equal marriage rights, right NOW: opponents are fighting tooth and nail to stop it from happening.

It's really sad some people are just so consumed with hate.