Gay families welcomed for international exchange program

by Robin Dorner
Editor in Chief

“When I first came here everything was big! The streets, the cars and all of it,” said Leon Von Appen from Flensburg, Germany, an international exchange student.

Leon said he has made great adjustments here in Oklahoma apart from living in Europe. He also has appreciated the great home his “two American dads” have provided for the year he has lived in the states. In fact, when Leon’s friends back home in Germany found out he was coming to stay with a gay couple he said they we “all jealous.”

“They said, “It’ll be cool and you will be taken care of like any other family. And you may have to attend gay parties!” Leon said as he laughed.

“They (Mike and Billy) are the best family ever. I don’t see any difference – they will be in my heart forever. I feel like I got more love than any other family. All their friends are open-hearted, open minded…just open and friendly and nothing I am ashamed of to be here and [happy] to go home and tell everyone.

“In Germany, nobody really cares anyway,” added the 18-year-old exchange student.

Von Appen said what is really important to them in Europe is education and things like learning English. He said their English grammar and language education begins in first grade.

Here is how all this happened: Mike Friday, one of Leon’s host parents, met a representative from CIEE (Council on Student Travel), at an event and inquired about being an exchange family.

Friday explained, “The coordinator contacted us a couple of months later to see if we were still interested and I said, ‘Billy and I are a gay couple, is there a problem with gay host families?’ She replied, ‘We do not discriminate against any couples.’”

Friday said he and his partner, Billy Jackson, were surprised because there is so much discrimination [towards gay couples] in Oklahoma and particularly in the southern United States.

CIEE is a non-profit leader in international education and exchange. For more than 65 years CIEE has helped thousands of people gain the knowledge and skills necessary to live and work globally.

“If you have never had children, this is a great way to have that experience and to experience the different culture,” said Jackson. “When they come to live with you, thy have their own ways of eating, interacting and just everything they do. It is a great experience and will expand your understanding of other cultures.

“In fact, Leon had never even had cheese fries,” adds Jackson surprisingly! “So he got to experience different things – in fact, in Germany they don’t have prom, homecoming, High School sports teams or a graduation ceremony.”

“The interesting thing is,” adds Friday, “we have never had kids. I had asked the coordinator ‘what do we do with ‘em?!” She told Friday to treat him like he is your own; he said it came very natural to them and has taken Leon to special events, vacations and shared life events just like family.

“Since Billy and I never had kids, this way we can host a new student each year and have an effect on dozens of lives over the years.”

Friday said host parents don’t have to be a couple; they can be a single person and, if interested, you could have a student placed in your home by this August.

“You have to pass a background check, you are asked family info, and an in-home inspection, but there is no fee. You are asked to provide room/board, but the students have their own healthcare and their own spending money.”

For information about hosting a foreign exchange student through CIEE, contact Mike Friday at mafriday1956@gmail.com or call (405) 642-9535.

“They made my year so great, I want to come back here (US) and attend college,” said Von Appen. “I feel like I have a family here now and the bond will never be broken.”

And Leon added in closing, “I’m still straight. Staying with this gay couple didn’t make me gay either.”