This is to all the boys

Who grew up the way I did

Afraid of themselves

Afraid of the people who walk behind them in the hallways

And muttered the word "Homo" into their ears

To them, the words are sticks and the names are stones

And I dare you to tell the boy with scars on his mind and body that he should be grateful he does not have a broken bone

Because he believes in his heart of hearts that maybe one more cut

One more pill

One more drink

Will make everything better

And if it doesn't make it better, maybe it will make it numb

This is to all the boys

Who have to prove every day that they are man enough for the world

Looking out from behind eyes that do not belong to them

You are trapped in a cage of skin and bone

And you don't sleep much these days because every time you roll over you feel the pain from the bruises on your chest where you tried to make yourself as flat as all the other paper boys

So this is to all the boys like me

Because no one ever taught you that you have a right not to be oppressed

Because even though every day is a battleground and every night is a bad dream

You are still here and you wear armor that says We Made It

And you and I both have a right to fall in love with who we are

They tell me there is no way I stand a chance of changing anything

The writing is too aggressive, the audience too limited, the topic too controversial

But I'm not trying to change the world

I'm trying to relearn how to breathe

And so this is to all the boys

Like me

Because you are the color of the sky and you're trying to blend in with all the dark blue boys

And even though everyone is telling you you've got to make yourself lilac

You don't have any red ink

So you will be the ashy sky and you will put your face to the moon

Because no amount of fire and brimstone can make a storm cloud afraid