Teen Queen

On one of my last days on the adolescent psych unit, one of the kids told me about how his mother had sent him to jesus camp twice hoping she might help steer her gay son back to heterosexuality. I didn't let my shock at what he'd told me show, but it was one of the saddest, most ridiculous things I'd ever heard. He was on the unit because he'd attempted suicide. I wonder if his self-loathing might have had something to do with the fact that his own mother wouldn't accept who he was.