I wrote this for my school's paper. Enjoy?

You’ve probably heard it more times then you can count, said it so many times it’s lost any real significance, and doubtfully ever questioned its true meaning. I’m speaking, of course, of homophobic slurs, ranging from faggot to gay and back again. In a society that prides itself on being accepting and diverse, a dark blotch remains where people of ‘alternate’ sexual orientations still face a world rife with homophobia, and in no place is this more evident then in the halls of your local high school.
Adolescence is a tumultuous time for practically every person, with competing pressures confronting you from all sides. For a person who has the added pressure of not conforming to the expected heterosexual norm, this is only a further stress. Unfortunately, unlike usual high school troubles, when a person realizes that they are not attracted to whom they are expected to be, society at large, institutions in general and people everywhere are there ready, many ti