Tony dude.There comes a time in every life,mostly,when you have to wade through the swamp to get to dry land.You know dude where that dry land is. The swamp is full of mozzies and if you want to protect yourself then I can only reccomend the Skeptics Annotated Bible (google it)Good luck dude.

   I jump on this forum from time to time, and I felt I needed to finally make an account and begin posting. This thread compelled me to do so because I have been in your situation for almost 6 years.
A few words as to my dude life.

   As a Dude that is finally moving onto to higher education at the conclusion of this school year, I cannot fathom myself going to a public university. The thought of being free of the bigotry, jingoism, and intolerance that the administration graces thrills me beyond words. Even today, I have to hide and feel ashamed of myself to my friends and faculty. In the 6 years, I have been attending my International Baptist Academy the administration and some faculty have persecuted me, discriminated against me and purposely denied me into groups/clubs based upon my decision to be a left-leaning non-Christian. Unfortunate as it is, the quality of my education is here is much higher than at any public school. I have to go off campus to hold hands with my boyfriend even. Throughout each day, I hear of bible verses and Christian "principles" that directly contradict my views, yet I find myself more "Christ-like" than most of the chaplains. Sermon after sermon declaring gays to be the scum of the Earth, I sit back hiding my face, ashamed to be myself.

   My advice to you is to keep on abiding. I have made it through 6 years of hell, I am positive you can remain a dude for however long you need to. Like others said, you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make him drink. You get rather good at saying Fuck It and just marking it zero anyways after wading through such bigotry for so long. I can tell you first hand it causes much more trouble than it is worth to make a big deal out of things, even if you don't give a shit about the rules anymore, one must still acknowledge them and mark it zero lest you be thrown out of the tournament.
-Sorry for the out of dude text.