I feel very strongly about this thread topic so I'd like to add my two cents: I spent two and a half years down South and in an area where GLBT youth were incredibly closeted and terrified to tell their parents about who they really were, mostly for what they said were religious reasons.
I worked in a grocery store with some of these young kids and several of them came out to me. I was moved to tears by a particular young gay man who told me he would probably just get married to a woman and live a lie. He broke my heart. I gave him the biggest hug. He really looked up to me and cried when I left abruptly to move back up North. I felt responsible for him. I did my best to encourage him to be himself.
No matter where you live; more conservative parts of the South, more liberal parts of the North or anywhere in between or beyond, I believe the 30 and over crowd is in part responsible for GLBT youth. I offer as much encouragement as I can because so many young GLBT people commit suicide every day.
And I want to make a side note here in case I offend any Southerners: I'm not saying that all Southerners are homophobic at all. My then-partner and I just happened to live in a particularly non-accepting area. Not making judgement at all against any one group of people. (I'm not that kind of "Yankee"
.)