Out sent photographer Danielle Levitt to Savannah, Ga., to document what it mean to be young and gay in the South today. With the help of Stand Out Youth, a Savannah-based group, Levitt met more than a dozen kids who allowed her to take an unfiltered look at their lives. "For all of the kids it was their first photographic experience, and I loved observing them," she said. "Even though they each live their lives unapologetically, many had never heard of Out, and I was an entry point for them into a different world with greater reach, so they were very generous with me."

For all it's relative progressiveness -- Savannah is home to two art schools, a Marc Jacobs boutique, and an American Apparel store -- Levitt found the city's response to cultural shifts in sexual identity a bit dated. "I assumed that I could troll the streets or search the Internet and find an abundance of queer kids. I quickly realized that, in fact, tradition has a stronghold on its inhabitants, and that Savannah's process of coming out is a slow one."

Click to view the slide show

Send a letter to the editor about this article.