By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist

This year, for the first time, the Honolulu Gay Pride parade will have youth grand marshals. It is a significant step, organizers say, to nurture future leaders of the gay community and to recognize young role models.

One of the three teens selected for the honor is not gay.

AUGUSTIRO

Augustiro will be a senior at Kamehameha this fall. She is an active member of the school's Gay-Straight Alliance and helped to organize Hawai'i's first gay prom.

"I'm really honored to be part of the parade," Augustiro says. "I'm just one person who represents a whole community of straight people.

My main thing is to show that I'm not afraid to stand up for what I believe is right."

In an essay written after winning the honor, she said:

"Within my eighth-grade year, a single day stands out, the day my best friend came out to me. That morning, he told me he had something to tell me, but it had to wait until after school. ... This seemed significant, so I was in anticipation. When that time arrived, I could tell he was hesitating, but when he finally said, 'Wendee, I'm gay,' it was accompanied with an exhale of relief. I was not surprised, but I was happy.

I knew it was a big step for him in the right direction."

"Coming out puts you at risk of losing everything," says Kenneth Miller, executive director of The Center-Hawaii, which organizes the Gay Pride celebration. "You can lose your family, your friends, your religion. For Wendee to be there for her best friend and to continue to be there makes a huge impact."

"My best friend, he's like my brother," Augustiro says. "I saw the way people treated him and the way they talked about him behind his back. ... They didn't even get to know him."

The Gay-Straight Alliance works to end all forms of discrimination and harassment — not an easy goal in a high school setting and certainly a courageous mission in the community at large. Though Hawai'i prides itself on being an accepting, open-minded place, the seeds of hate take root even in the land of aloha.

"Wendee, who is not a part of that 'alphabet soup' of LGBTIQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and questioning) but is a staunch ally, is how we will move forward toward understanding and acceptance for all members of the community," Miller says.

The Gay Pride Parade will be held June 19, starting out from Ala Moana Beach Park at 9 a.m. and ending at Kapi'olani Park. The two other youth grand marshals, Alex Ortiz and Tiane McNeil, will share their stories in later articles.