That definitely was the climate in the 1990s, when the Quad-Citians Affirming Diversity, or QCAD, group opened its doors to help community youth, said Wiley, interim executive director for the volunteer-run organization.

Things are much different now, and for the better, she said.

“A generation ago, when a student came out, he or she might really receive rejection from everybody and feel very isolated,” she said. “Now they nearly always are supported by others, who are eager to show they’re supportive. That makes a huge difference.”

For the past six years, the group has been a leader in the Bully-Free Quad-Cities initiative, which encourages area schools to start programs that address school climate, especially in regard to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students.

Wiley said the agency encourages schools to develop Gay-Straight Alliance groups, like the ones existing in the Davenport School District and other Iowa Quad-City schools.

On the Illinois side of the community, United Township High School in East Moline has one of the longest-running and successful Gay-Straight Alliances in the area. Rock Island High School has let its group lapse, and Moline High School has never had one, Wiley said.

However, national data and local surveys done by the Quad-City group show students who attend high schools with these alliances in place feel safer and more included at school, and suicide rates are lower, she said.

“They set a model of how to be inclusive and accepting,” she said. “It’s very important.”

Someone who understands that need very well is 22-year-old Turk Pierson, who graduated in 2007 from Davenport Central High School. At that time, he won a Matthew Shepherd Scholarship, awarded to help academically distinguished, openly gay, bisexual and transgender students pay for college.

But Pierson wasn’t always “out.” He never told anyone how he felt until he confided in his best friend in his early teens. He waited six months to a year before telling his parents.

“After that, I just went openly with it in my sophomore to junior year and let people know,” he said.

Pierson recalls he was one of just three or four openly gay students at the high school at the time, but most people were accepting of it. He didn’t face a lot of bullying in school, he said.

“I heard stories of other people who were facing bullying, but I never really had a problem with it,” he said. “I’m not as stereotypically ‘gay,’ quote unquote. So without having those tendencies, I don’t think I felt some of the bullying. One of the people I know was a little more flamboyant and was bullied quite frequently because of it.”

Pierson recently graduated again. This time, he received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Iowa. He now plans to work on a master’s degree in his field, he said.

“I think my words of wisdom are to everyone that’s standing by: Speak up,” Pierson said. “When you speak up, you will make the bullies realize that it’s not OK.”

“And to those being bullied: There are resources,” he added. “It may take a little bit to find them, but there’s help out there.”

Swaying together to the music, a crowd of same-sex teen couples enjoyed prom this weekend at the River Music Experience in downtown Davenport, thanks to an event coordinated by the QCAD.

The agency also offers a twice-weekly drop-in program for LGBT teens and their allies, but attendance is down. Several years ago, they used to see 40 to 50 teens on drop-in nights, but now, sometimes only a few show up, Wiley said.

“The need for them to have a place to be themselves isn’t the same, because they can be themselves at school now,” she said. “We need to focus on the positives. It’s much better than when we started in 1990s. A huge amount of progress has been made.”

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