By the time he was an eighth grader at West Snyder High School in rural Snyder County, Pennsylvania, Mark Snyder knew what he wanted to do with his life. Having endured daily physical and verbal anti-gay harassment by classmates since he entered the school in seventh grade, Snyder resolved to make schools safer for himself and others like him. ``I kind of knew because of access to the Internet and TV that there were normal people out there," says the 19-year-old Emerson College sophomore. ``[I knew] that there was another world outside of Snyder County and I kind of promised myself in eighth grade that I was going to dedicate my work, my career, my life to creating change as far as the rights and safety of LGBT youth."

That's exactly what Snyder did by enrolling in an Emerson program where he simultaneously finished his senior year of high school and first year of college. He took a leadership role at the Emerson Alliance for Gays, Lesbians and Everyone (EAGLE). What really ``propelled my activist stuff," he says , was joining the Boston Alliance of Gay and Lesbian Youth (BAGLY), where he is a board member and health educator. Snyder's involvement with BAGLY led him to hook up with SpeakOut, a local LGBT speakers bureau, which has provided some of the most rewarding experiences of his activist career.

``When I go to the high schools," Snyder explains, ``and I talk to kids and they listen and they tell me, `Oh I'm not going to use the word fag anymore,' that's when I really feel like I'm making a difference." The public-relations major is also a member of the Massachusetts Department of Education and BAGLY speakers bureaus, and interns at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's (NGLTF) Cambridge field office. Then there's the Web site he started three months ago called queertoday.com, a resource for local GLBT youth he someday hopes to grow into a national non-profit organization. It's a far cry from his days as a depressed, suicidal ninth grader who, fed up with being abused while school administrators stood idly by, was ready to quit school.

Snyder is among a boom of LGBT people heeding the call to activism at younger and younger ages. It's a trend that longtime activist Sue Hyde, who since 1988 has trained thousands of gay activists at NGLTF's annual Creating Change Conference, has watched grow over the last decade. While the average age of the aspiring activists Hyde sees at the conferences is largely in the 30 to 50 range, she notes, ``[S]ince 1992, the Creating Change Conference has increasingly become a place for activists and organizers 24 and under to gather and to participate in political trainings, many of which are planned and presented by other people 24 and under. Which I think is really one of the hallmarks of any group of people coming into its own. When youth 24 and under and elders 60 and over, or LGBT people of color, transgender people, bisexual people--when groups within our community can elevate and recognize their own leadership I think it's a very significant coming of age for that particular group. And over the last 10 years there's been a tremendous growth in not just community organizing for LGBT young people, but community organizing by LGBT young people."

The 50 year-old Hyde attributes the trend to a ``generational shift" in the consciousness of the LGBT community. ``Young people are coming out earlier and coming out stronger and more proudly, so to speak, certainly than almost everyone I know in my own age bracket, in my own generational slice of the community. And it is a very inspiring, impressive process to witness."

It's probably no coincidence that the past decade, during which Hyde has observed a growth in youth activism, coincides with the proliferation of Gay Straight Alliances (GSAs) in public high schools in Massachusetts and around the country. Back in 1992, just a handful of GSAs existed in the Bay State; now, more than half of its 300 hundred public high schools have active GSAs. While the primary focus of the groups is promoting tolerance and safety for all students, they allow students to branch out in other ways as well. ``I think it's just hard to overstate how important these bodies have been," says Kevin Jennings, executive director of the National Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). ``Because what they've done is they are kind of the place where these young people learn about leadership skills, how to be activists, and [students] are coming into college with already several years of effective organizing experience behind them. For a lot of us in the LGBT movement who are my age, it was on-the-job training if you would," laughs the 39 year-old Jennings. ``I'm looking at students who apply for internships here now who are 18 and already have 12 leadership positions with LGBT-related activities. ...It's amazing."

Twenty-year old Jennifer Melenciano is one student who cut her activist teeth in a GSA. After coming out to her friends and family as a student at Boston English High School, Melenciano started the school's first GSA. ``I saw that I was a role model for a lot of the other people who were still in the closet and then again I saw how people treated them," she explains. Though she never personally experienced anti-gay harassment in or out of school, she knew others who did. ``I thought, these are my friends being hurt, this is my family being hurt, and I have to take a stand. I would have to make a change if they don't want to do it, or are too scared to do it for themselves." Last September, Melenciano began working with Boston's Gay and Lesbian Adolescent Social Services (GLASS). As a member of Shades of Color, the organization's peer education group, Melenciano visited schools, youth centers and other community organizations to discuss a range of issues from AIDS and pregnancy prevention to homophobia, transphobia and coming out issues. She eventually was able to put her experience to good use as a case manager for HIV-positive and high risk youth at the Latino Health Institute, where she has worked for the past three months.

Her youthful activism has had a marked effect on her life. ``I would have to say for myself, it just feels like I've come a long way and made an accomplishment, and conquered one of my goals," she says. ``Because when I first came out I couldn't think of possibly telling anyone [I am gay] or working with gay people...and now I'm really open with it. And after that you have more opportunity as you grow. You can tell people, I did this and I worked here and this is what I'm all about, truthfully and honestly."

Melenciano's description of the personal impact of her activism is precisely what Jennings is talking about when he discusses the transformation that frequently occurs when students join GSAs. While many initially seek the support of a GSA because they are being harassed or struggling with sexual orientation issues, Jennings says, ``What a GSA does, it allows a young person to transform their experience from being powerless to understanding that they do have power. They have some control over the destiny of their life and the course it takes. And that is just incredibly important for every young person, gay or not to learn--that they can control their fate." The very act of getting involved ``teaches them about the power they have to shape the course of their lives," he adds. ``You can't control what other people do and often when you're young and gay you don't necessarily feel like you have any control over your own life. And being in a gay/straight alliance they start to learn that they can make a difference. And that they don't have to be a victim. And that's an incredibly important lesson to learn--the earlier the better."

Needless to say, Jennings is enthusiastic about the influx of young people into the gay rights movement. ``I think we're at a watershed moment in the history of this movement where young people are moving to the front and center of it," he observes. ``And when that has happened in the past with other movements like the African-American civil rights movement or the Vietnam War movement, it was the factor that propelled those movements to victory. So I'm very hopeful for the future."

(An article on the generation gap in the gay movement will be published later in July.)