Freshman Kyle Rapinan was 14 years old when he came out.

But rather than being accepted by his family in supportive arms, Rapinan had to brace himself for a few tough years in high school.

“My brother was really homophobic, and he was really abusive,” he said. “My mom abandoned me, and I ran away and I lived with my friends for like four years through high school — just couch-surfing.”

After running away, Rapinan lived with a lesbian couple for three months, another for four months and yet another couple for 10 months.

“Lesbians kind of took me in,” he said with a small laugh.

Rapinan kept his family life a secret while in school and focused on his studies instead. But while his peers in school did not abuse him physically, he was still the target of bullying.

“I would go into the bathroom and it would be like ‘Kyle Rapinan’s a faggot and he should die’ and all this violent stuff on the bathroom stalls,” he said.

Rapinan soon became involved within the queer community, becoming the president of his school’s Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) while educating teachers and students about homophobia, becoming the state coordinator for the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) during his senior year in high school and then interning at the American Friends Service Committee.

But Rapinan does not indicate his rough past as the impetus of his avid activism.

“I know tons of people who have had pretty good or non-oppressive life experiences and are just as involved in the queer community as I am,” he said.

Rapinan’s activism efforts did not end upon entering college. After spurring students to rally for a cause against homophobia last quarter, he has even more plans in the works for homophobia education at the UW.

What started it all

On Nov. 25, Rapinan picked up that day’s issue of The Daily as he walked to his sociology class. Opening to the opinion section, he began reading a point-counterpoint column between Daily columnists Sarah Gaither and John Fay discussing gay marriage, which was accompanied by an illustration depicting a man and a sheep.

Like several others, Rapinan was shocked and outraged.

“I basically felt a little ashamed that it was published in the paper, and I felt the paper wasn’t being accountable to the vast and different members of our school,” he said. “And frankly, I was really pissed off too.”

After discussing the piece with a friend, Rapinan, along with Katy Rice and Carl Davis, created the Facebook group, “Students for a Hate Free Daily.” Soon afterward, a rally was planned and took place Dec. 6 to protest the controversial column.

Rapinan wasn’t surprised by the enthusiastic response from members of the group.

“I felt the UW community already made it clear that we don’t want to label homophobia as a clear argument for conservatism versus liberalism,” Rapinan said. “I feel like John Fay can take a stance of being conservative with gay issues while not be homophobic. I feel like other people agree.”

The next four years: creating conversation

Despite contrary beliefs, Rapinan stressed the Facebook group was not meant to censor The Daily. He instead hopes the group will go even further to create dialogue and educate people about homophobia.

“There’s a difference between homophobia and conservatism in my mind,” Rapinan said. “John Fay crosses the line when he says that gays have a problem that needs to be dealt with. If he had just said LGBT people are going to be single for the rest of their lives and can’t get married, then ok, I’m fine with that, even though I respectfully disagree.”

Rice agreed the actions of the group will not simply end with the rally.

“Some of the members of the group have requested we ask for The Daily to commit to a queer-friendly column to better represent the LGBT community,” she said at the end of last quarter. “We are taking all ideas into consideration and when we return from break, perhaps you’ll see us as a Registered Student Organization. We want our group members and the community to know that our goals didn’t end with the rally, and that this is going somewhere.”

This quarter, Rapinan hopes to meet more with Daily staff members and members of ASUW and the Graduate and Professional Student Senate to bring more student voices to the table.

Rapinan hopes The Daily will create more standards, raising the question of whether his tax dollars should go into the publication of opinion pieces.

“Maybe the discussion should go around ‘should opinion pieces be paid for?’ or should my tax dollars go into The Daily publishing articles that make me feel unsafe and unwelcome?” he said. “There needs to be more work done with standards with how articles react with the community and why.”

Efforts awarded

Majoring in Law, Societies and Justice, Rapinan has hopes of becoming a lawyer for civil rights or non-profit organizations. But it is clear that he has already actively involved himself in representing and protecting what he clearly believes in: the queer community.

His efforts have not gone unrecognized. Last year, he was awarded the Colin Higgins Foundation’s Youth Courage Award. According to the foundation’s Web site, the award recognizes those who “have endured overwhelming hostility and hate, yet have handled themselves with the utmost grace.”

The Colin Higgins Foundation receives about 100 nominations a year, and Rapinan was selected from a large pool, said Vanessa Daniel, philanthropic advisor for the foundation. She specifically highlighted Rapinan’s leadership roles as what separated him from the other nominees.

“Kyle really stood out,” Daniel said. “His leadership with the GSA at his high school and his work with GLSEN was very strong. He’s faced incredibly adversity ... at the same time he was taking a leadership role in not one, but several different bodies that were advancing rights to GLBT youth.”

Rapinan received a $10,000 scholarship and trips to New York and Los Angeles for award ceremonies.

“It’s really great the LGBT community invests a lot into young people,” he said. “I’ve never seen any other community so involved with their youth than the gay community. A lot of gay people, like myself, don’t have a family per say, and it’s great that older gay community can invest in young adults.”

Rapinan is also investing back in the queer community, giving students the opportunity to have a voice.

“Conversation doesn’t end with the rally and the group,” he said. “It’s four more years that the conversation can continue, and I think it just takes time.”

Reach reporter Kim Lee at features@dailyuw.com.