Sexual-minority youth deal with many of the same family and identity issues as do other adolescents, and they are generally equally as adjusted as other teens. However, they face special challenges if their peers and family do not accept their sexual identity. In what may be a sign of changing attitudes, these two Minnesota high school seniors, who were among the students elected to their school’s ceremonial “royal court,” filed a civil suit to gain the right to walk together as a couple in the royal court’s opening procession. Their legal victory and their appearance together in the procession brought cheers from many of their schoolmates.

AP PHOTO/JIM MONE