Moving around in the system, Michael had not formed any lasting relationships. With no family to come home to, he struggled with who he was - and questions about his sexuality made it even more confusing. Michael began lashing out, and his latest foster care placement started to deteriorate just like all the ones before. Then, in what he calls "the first moment of good luck in my life," Michael was placed in the BAYC Group Home program.

"I screamed and cussed and told everyone that I hated them. I figured I wasn't going to be there long anyway." But something changed for Michael. One evening, he came home after a meeting with his counselor to find a happy birthday banner, presents, and a cake. He stuttered in embarrassment - "I didn't realize - I didn't get a present" - he glanced around, realizing he didn't even know whose birthday it was. His roommate started laughing. "It's YOUR birthday!" Michael had forgotten. But his group home mates had not. Slowly, a grin broke across his face. "That was when I think I started to give people here a chance," he says now.

It wasn't long before Michael found a staff person he felt comfortable talking to. While his counselor was helping him sort through the complicated tangle of feelings he had about his mom, his sisters, and the father he had never met, he had yet to confess to her his confusion about his sexual identity. But one of the staff people in the house made him feel comfortable talking about anything. "I think I saw how accepting she was of [other people's] identities, and it made me think that she probably wouldn't judge me... I didn't know if I was gay, I just felt really different." Michael opened up to her. To his surprise, she showed him a wealth of resources available, and showed him how to locate and utilize them. "I had no idea there were so many people with so many different types of identities. With my mom and then with my foster families, everyone was straight and they assumed you were straight, too."

Michael began to explore his identity more openly, and at the same time he started to be more successful at school. "I joined the theater group, and was behind-the-scenes for school productions!" But halfway through his sophomore year, Michael fell victim to a sexual predator. "This is very common, unfortunately," says Marsha Vaughn, Clinical Director at BAYC. "These kids are so vulnerable." It took almost two months for Michael to summon the courage to tell someone. "I needed help - but asking for help... that's hard. I am still learning how to do that." The situation complicated Michael's already complex identity struggles, but it also solidified his connection to his new home. "I realized that no matter what, BAYC would always be there for me."

Michael emancipated into BAYC's transitional housing program, graduated from high school, and started working at a local theater. He also started working evenings at a coffee shop to make a little extra money. "I was learning how to budget. I didn't want to admit that I couldn't manage my finances. But BAYC helped me see that working one extra night a week would mean I could save a little each month, for my bigger goals." Eventually, Michael met some of those bigger goals, including buying himself an acoustic guitar and paying for his own guitar lessons. Two years later, Michael graduated from BAYC and moved into his own apartment. But he hasn't left the BAYC community that had become so important to him. "I go back to see my friends, to get support. That's my family."

Michael is now managing the stage at a local coffee house. There, he met his boyfriend, whom he has now been dating for just over a year. "He's great," Michael says with a grin. "He accepts me for who I am. And gay, straight, whatever - we all need to be accepted for who we are."