All My Children gay boy....

[@EricMontreal22]

I can't tell you how much this storyline and your acting meant to me as a gay teen. Watching it with my mom gave me the courage to come out to her.

[@NYUCanadian]

Agreed...as a kid growing up on the South Shore of Montreal, this was life-altering. But the parents were AWFUL...though the Mom comes around, eventually.

[@TheMrfrankclark]

I loved Kevin Sheffield storyline. Palmer was a great support to him!!

[@seannynj]

Thank you, Ben Jorgensen! R.I.P.

[@tudorjason]

When I read the headline last year, I wasn't sure if I was reading it correctly because Ben's character Kevin was a short-term character, but I remember the character well.

[@badguitar5653]

Such a natural talent Ben was, and a sad, tormented guy. Tragic

[@themirrorsofmymind]

I was gay but didn't think that I was, while everyone around me ("family" and strangers) had already decided. I was so in love with "Kevin". It was really _odd_ to be watching this storyline, feeling pretty much the same things he was feeling, but just being worried about not expressing any kind of sexuality around anyone in my "family". I feared rejection, but not persecution. I didn't think anyone would try to "change" me, I just thought my mother would be spiteful enough to make good on her lifelong threats of throwing me out. (It wasn't until I was older and figured out who she really was that I knew as long as she could use me as a personal slave she didn't really care what I did... My mother avoids physical activity like it's the EBOLA VIRUS! And I'm only half-joking when I say that!) Later on, after I figured it out but hadn't told anyone, I was probably 15 or 16. _"Don't ask - Don't tell"_ was in full swing in my house, long before it was implemented in the US military, it just didn't have a name attached to it! By the time I was 20, I also figured out why some boys (in grade school) were treating me strangely (mean to me sometimes but nice at other times). It suddenly occurred to me one day... _"Oh lord! They were gay TOO and they knew I was gay but they knew I didn't know THEY were gay and they didn't want ME to give them away so they couldn't be my friend, openly, without risking exposure since everyone else was calling me gay..."_ (Confusing, ain't it? Here's an example... One day I see this guy in school, a classmate, and I smile at him. Without either of us saying a word, he socks me on the shoulder! He seems pretty angry, though I can't for the life of me think why... He doesn't go out of his way to make fun of me like everyone else, so this is kind of a surprise to me. That's "Angel C." 6 foot 1, at 14 years old, mustachioed and pretty like a lab-engineered boy-band backup dancer! A few days later, a different guy, "James", is calling me names and pushing me around while we're going into the lunchroom. Then Angel comes over and socks James in the chest and pushes him to the back of the lunch line! Then he nods at me like he's got my back or something... It's not until YEARS later that I realize, he saw that I was crushing on him from that look and he had to shut it down so that no one else would suspect anything. He liked me, but he couldn't really show it for fear of it making himself a target for ridicule too!)

[@CamilleNadia]

The mom played Beverley on One Life To Live. Jason, you've got some fucking nerve. You MURDERED an innocent woman and KEVIN'S the "sick piece of garbage?

[@JeremyMinagro]

Good job, Ben!

[@NYUCanadian]

This whole storyline was heartbreaking...but very apt for a gay teen in the late 90s. I always wondered what happened to Kevin once he disappeared from the show.

[@ilahildasissac1943]

Sadly he died recently at 51.

[@justinsummers1757]

Ok, let me start by saying that Kevin couldn't have been paired with a worst therapist! He's escorting Kevin right to the brink of suicide! How heartbreaking this was! Ben did a great job with his character portrayal, his pain is raw and the hopelessness he must be feeling, is portrayed in his eyes. And his brother is a hot mess! How awful it is not to have the support of your family. But in reality, you come to learn, that if your family conveyed any rejection of who you are, it can be disappointing. However, if they support you, then they deserve the real authentic you. We are all deserving of unconditional love, whether or not it comes from your biological family or family of choice.

[@arainegrey895]

My god this is really sad.

[@marrinewilliams2432]

This is hurtful to watch.. What year was this??

[@bruinfanucla]

RIP