Mitchell Gold has made a name for himself as part of the powerful team Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams. In 1989, Gold and Williams created their namesake furniture company in Taylorsville, North Carolina. Just nine years later, Inc. magazine positioned the company at number 57 on its list of the 500 fastest-growing private companies. In April 2005, Inc. named Gold one of its "26 Entrepreneurs We Love."

A long time supporter of  our community, Mitchell Gold is increasingly becoming known not just for amazing furniture, but also for his work as an advocate for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender equality.  Gold founded the non-profit advocay organization Faith in America; and has edited a new book, Crisis: 40 Stories Revealing the Personal Social, and Religious Pain and Trauma of Growing up Gay in America, which will surely become a must-read for all LGBT advocates, and has the potential to impact the future of our movement.

Smack dab in the middle of Lake Bygod County, California, Angela came out on the first day of her junior year. She'd attended a queer youth leadership workshop in San Francisco over the summer and arrived at school wearing a rainbow necklace, a rainbow pin, and a rainbow patch. Nobody got it.

During English class, students were asked to stand up and say something about themselves. Already irritated by the inefficiency of symbols, Angela said she was a lesbian. She'd spent the better part of her summer in internet chatrooms discussing Xena, Warrior Princess. She was sure.

Lambda Legal Encourages LGBTI Youth to Know Their Rights

This prom season, millions of young people around the country are renting tuxedoes or buying dresses, worrying about whom to ask as their date (or who will ask them) and making plans for their school's biggest party of the year. Every year, among those millions, a growing number of courageous lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) students, who refuse to be excluded from the festivities, are exercising their right to bring a same-sex date to the prom. If you're in public school and thinking of bringing a same-sex date to the prom this year, here are some important issues to consider.

Rainbow Boys
Alex Sanchez

Jason, Kyle and Nelson hang out in three very different cliques at their high school. Jason is a top football player with a serious girlfriend, Kyle is a quiet, serious student and Nelson is a flamboyant loner. All three are gay. Each one of these teenagers faces different coming-out issues: Jason does not want to admit that he is gay-especially to himself, even though he fantasizes about making love to a boy. Kyle feels comfortable with being gay, but does not want to tell his parents. And Nelson is physically bullied for being openly out to his family and peers.

Annie on My Mind
Nancy Garden

Annie On My Mind tells the story of two young women, each with loving families but outsiders at their respective schools, who meet at a museum in New York, quickly becoming friends and, later, lovers. The book is told from the perspective of Liza, a student at a private high school governed by an authoritarian principal. When Liza and Annie get caught making love in the house of two lesbian teachers, not just their lives but others' are irrevocably changed.