By Advocate.com Editors

Originally published on Advocate.com January 22 2011 2:25 PM ET

"I would rather have had an abortion than a gay son."

These were the words that Ryan Kendall heard from his mother as a teenager growing up in Colorado Springs, Colo.

In a new blog post on Out Front Colorado, the 27-year-old Denver police officer, who underwent "ex-gay" reparative therapy, reflects on his painful upbringing, one that became part of historic testimony in the federal Proposition 8 trial a year ago this month.

"My family was torn apart because of
antigay attitudes that condemn people without a cognizable reason,
solely for being who they are," Kendall writes. "All of these thoughts were running through my head as I paced back and
forth in the courtroom hallway last year. I had one goal for my
testimony: to show the world the truth. I needed to honorably represent
all LGBT youth rejected by society."

Read the full post here.