Before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 began to inspire equal rights for marginalized groups, and before the Stonewall riots in 1969 energized the move towards more progressive social changes for gay people, homosexuality was considered to be a mental illness by both the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association. Today the struggles for LGBT people have not been entirely erased, but the 2015 landmark opinion by the Supreme Court legalizing same-sex marriage has pushed customs and institutions in the United States to become more equal. However, as many gay people still do, the author of this essay still harbors memories of the cruelly real world recently left behind.