About The Author

“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.”

All the crap you didn’t care to know about Tim Savage…

My name is Tim, yes, but my last name is not Savage. If you WANT to know, or for some reason NEED to know… just ask me. My life is an open book. I’d just prefer that my coworkers, bosses, friends, and family not learn about all of my side projects if they ever google my name!

I’m a casual guy, but I’m also hardworking and motivated. I’m 28 years old, a marketing director, an avid leisure writer, and active SCUBA diver.

But that’s not what you want to know.

My interest in gay youth issues began at the age of eighteen when I started volunteering for ACI, the content management wing of America Online. Serving as a chat and message board host in the Lifestyles, Gay & Lesbian, and News communities, I began recognizing that other gay teens in the world were experiencing many of the same “coming of age” issues that I had.

What were those issues? The connection of friendship and sex. Engagement in risky sexual behavior. “Coming out” issues. Involvement in age-inappropriate relationships. Issues with family and friends. Drug and alcohol problems. The list goes on and on.

It was long ago that I ended my volunteer work for ACI, who to my knowledge no longer even exists. I have, however, continued my work as an online administrator for a number of gay communities and Web sites, and see today — in a new generation of youth — the same poor decisions being made that were being made so very long ago.

It can even be argued that in today’s interconnected, instant-communication world, those same poor decisions are being made in greater volume, with more serious repercussions.

But in a society where parents, teachers, and activist organizations are fearful to approach the topic of “gay youth,” our next generation is quite simply on their own… left alone to figure out the realities of gay life by themselves.

I don’t claim to be a psychologist, a prolific writer, or an enlightening intellectual. My only claim is that I have recognized a problem, and am doing my part to make it better.

“Growing Up Gay” is meant as an online resource for gay teens and young adults who are seeking the answers that no one else has the courage to give them. It’s here to support those who cannot find support elsewhere.

If one sentence in one post on this blog helps just one teenager out there overcome a sexual identity issue, I could care less if the rest of the world hates it all. I will have accomplished my mission.

In my life, I am a pretty normal guy. I came to terms with my sexual identity long ago and am now a young working professional. But I didn’t make it to where I am without trial.

I grew up in a rural Oklahoma town where there were literally more cows than people. It was the early and mid-1990s when I began to realize that I was different — that I was gay. Few resources existed back then aside from IRC chat and America Online, and I learned about gay life through the mistakes I made.

In a world where it’s so easy for us to share our life experiences, and the lessons we have learned, there is no reason that our newest generation of gay youth has to experience the hardships that I did.

If you’d like to comment on the overall content of this blog, share your story, or simply say “hello,” feel free to contact me.