and for the first time in my life I understand the end of that poem. And I never wanted to. You have to believe me.

It's too bad you're not gay. Then again, if you were gay, I would never date you. You're a mess." You know, Patrick? If I were gay, I'd want to date you." Of course.

But right now I’m here with you. And I want to know where you are, what you need, and what you want to do.

When you publish a book, you do so in part to end the silence. All censorship is silence. I would never, as an author, feel right requiring a young person whose family would object to the book to read it. Just as I would never force that person to read it, I would ask those folks to not force others not to read it. To me, that is just good manners.

My dad said I did the right thing. I hope I did, but it's hard to tell sometimes.

And even if she says no, and really means yes, then quite frankly she's playing games and isn't worth the price of dinner.

So, tomorrow, I’m leaving. And I’m not going to let that happen again with anyone else. I’m going to do what I want to do. I’m going to be who I really am. And I’m going to figure out what that is.