I’m a senior in high school. I transferred from a private middle school my freshman year so I had to make all new friends and introduce myself to multiple people. I have become best friends with my best friend over the years and we are truly inseparable. For the sake of the story, her name will be Jess.

Before I continue, I just want to say that Jess is the girl that I can trust more than anybody and if she needed my help to hide a body (of course she would never need that because she is so innocent and kind-hearted) I would help her. I’m gay and coming to terms with that was very hard, but Jess was always there for me and completely accepted me. She’s helped me become who I am today, a loving, open-minded, accepting, compassionate person who loves to help other people.

To celebrate our graduation, we had a trip to Disney world planned for this summer. Oh, how excited we were. There was just one problem, her parents approval. My parents are so open to the idea, they believe that I should be able to make my own decisions and take responsibility for them. So I can pay for my share of the trip. Jess, with her parents being immigrants from India, are concerned about the trip. Her parents didn’t want us to drive because it is dangerous. We agreed that would be reasonable. Still being uncomfortable with the idea, they put their decision on hold for a while.

Now everything just got worse. They stopped letting us hang out. They claimed that we were hanging out to much. (We would hang out once a week outside of school). It’s gotten to the point where she needs to tell them she’s going to another friends house to visit me.

This makes me so upset. The four years I have known her, I have not given her parents any reason to think that I am a negative influence on their daughter. I haven’t ever drank before. Never done drugs. Been a diligent student. And always have shown respect to them. and of course I have never had any reason to harm their daughter. I’m her best friend and she’s mine. We wouldn’t ever dare risk our friendship by doing something we could regret.

So now, we’re not allowed to hang out. Her dad just denied the Disney trip. And all because he’s not comfortable with her best friend being a boy.

This upset me so much. I respect that her parents are trying to be protective of her, but I literally didn’t do anything to be blocked off by them. I’m so tired of not being able to do big things with my best friends and close friends because I’m a boy and they’re girls. I feel so helpless. I can’t do anything to fix this.