As I mentioned in my earlier post, I came out at the age of 19 in my hometown of Kansas City, Missouri. It was early 1990. I would have come out earlier if I could simply have found gay people around. Since I couldn't find any, and since I knew no one, my coming out process was longer than it needed to be and I ended up coming out without knowing anyone else gay. Anyway, I was in college at the time, at the University of Missouri Kansas City. The Student Life office at UMKC told me there was no gay group on campus but that I could speak to a staff person on campus named Jim Wanser who everyone knew to be gay. He said there was no student group around, but asked me if I would like to start one. Having just come out, knowing no one, new to the gay life, and completely naive, I obviously said "Sure!" That phone call started the UMKC Gay & Lesbian Student Alliance. I think we did a lot of good on the campus at the time and helped to make gay issues more open. Most importantly, it helped me and other isolated individuals on campus feel like they weren't alone for the first time. A great group of gay friends and associates came out of that group. The group is still around, although having gone through many different name changes, but I'm glad to see that UMKC has been changed for the better. And I'm glad to see that it helped spawn other changes in youth culture in Kansas City, as I mentioned in my earlier post regarding the gay youth group in town.