In the Doctor's Closet

An article by the Bay Area Reporter finds that while some gay youth do feel safe coming out of the closet to their friends, many of these very same youth are not yet comfortable coming out of the closet for their doctors:

An estimated 70 percent of queer youth are not out to their doctors, despite being out to almost everyone else in their lives, including to some family members, according to a study released in December by the Rand Corporation, a nonprofit research organization, and the University of California, Los Angeles. The study surveyed 179 gay, lesbian, and bisexual teens who had attended a conference.

While the data for the survey mentioned above was not collected in the most scientific manner, it currently provides our best look at how many gay youth interact with their health practitioners.

Many gay youth do not come out to their doctors because they feel they will be rejected or their doctor will inform their parents (who they may not be ready to tell, yet). Since having an honest relationship is essential to ensuring you are getting the best health care possible, more needs to be done to make sure youth feel comfortable with their doctors.

First, privacy laws need to be established that sets-up a doctor/patient confidentiality agreement for youth in their teens. Next, doctors need to be trained to work with gay youth and to understand their needs. Doctors should be sure to not assume that any youth they treat is straight.

We need to do more to make sure that our gay youth are treated in a respectful manner whenever they visit the doctor.

Check it out: Rand Report

The Plight of Homeless Gay Youth

In a compelling column on the gay youth homeless epidemic, columnist Deb Price lays out some pretty terrifying facts:

B y the time Danny was 7 years old, he was already trapped in the tragic downward spiral that homeless gay teenagers so often describe when talking about how they found themselves living on the streets.

Danny was shoved from one foster home to another and repeatedly molested. He spent two years in a juvenile correctional facility. At 17, he tried living with his aunt, but she soon ordered him to get his "gay ass" out of her house.

Homeless, Danny got cash by reading people's tarot cards and a place to sleep by having "survival sex."

"I'd go to the library. I'd get on (Internet sites where men were seeking sex partners), just to find somewhere to sleep for the night, not for money. I slept with them so I could have a place to stay," he explained.

What kind of society puts any youth out on the street and at risk? It certainly is not a society that any of us should be comfortable with anytime soon.

While it will be more difficult for us to change the minds of the negligent and homophobic adults who force too many of our gay youth out onto the streets, we can immediately do more to protect homeless gay youth.

First, we should immediately provide safe, warm and comfortable places for homeless gay youth to live. While many communities have homeless shelters for youth, many of them are not equipped to deal with the special needs of gay youth. Staff at youth shelters need to be trained to work with gay youth and money from local governments needs to be invested in this training. No youth should ever be forced to have risky sex with adult strangers in order to secure a warm place to sleep at night.

Second, legal adult guardians who push underage kids out onto the street need to be held accountable. Local law enforcement hold these adults accountable for negligence.

And finally, more needs to be done to protect our gay youth from sexual predators preying on their vulnerability.

That is the least local governments should be doing.

Check it out: Homeless Shelter for Gay Youth in San Diego

The Invisible Youth

My mother called me the other night looking for answers. A childhood friend of mine had killed herself, and my clearly shaken mother wanted to know why.

It makes sense that my mother came to me with her questions about suicide. Having worked with gay youth in various capacities for the past five years, statistically she has a right to assume that I would have firsthand experience with suicide. Studies on youth suicide rates have shown that gay youth are many times more likely to kill themselves than their peers. Fortunately, all I had to provide my mother with were statistics.

I told my mother that the gay youth I see and know of -- the ones that know of and reach out for help from gay youth centers, crisis hotlines and gay-friendly mentors -- are the ones that are often saved from any internal despair that they may be feeling. It is often the youth that are not seen -- the invisible youth -- who are more likely to fall prey to depression and thoughts of suicide. These youth may not have hope or know that there are lifelines out there for them...

Read the entire article at Metro Weekly.

Opening Message to Friends

Dear Friends,

This morning Metro Weekly began running an article of mine that discusses suicide among gay youth and my own struggle with the issue (http://metroweekly.com/gauge/commentary.php?ak=2516 ). I am grateful to the editors at the magazine for printing my piece, which will be on newsstands until next Thursday. I hope my article sheds some light on a devastating issue that everyone in our community, gay or straight, should be concerned about.

I decided to make the focus of my article on suicide among gay youth, because it is such a desperate issue. The topic epitomizes the desperate situations that some of our gay youth find themselves in.

As the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force detailed in one recent study, a disproportionate number (between 20 and 40 percent) of homeless youth identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.* Many of these homeless youth were forced out of their homes by their parents or some left to escape abuse. According to a report from the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, as late as 2005 "over a third ( 37.8%) of [all K-12] students experienced physical harassment at school on the basis of sexual orientation and more than a quarter (26.1%) on the basis of their gender expression."** And we know that HIV/AIDS continues to infect the lives of many of our gay youth.

Having worked with and studied the gay youth population over the past six years, I am disappointed that some of our gay youth continue to have such troubled experiences. While many local and national community organizations are working tirelessly to change the outlook for all of our gay youth, the data we are presented with suggest that now is not the time to rest and more still needs to be done.

When I first came out of the closet and became comfortable with my sexuality, I attended a meeting between an LGBT lobbying organization and an aide to the New York State Senate Majority Leader. One portion of the meeting centered on a piece of proposed legislation called the Dignity for All Students Act (DASA). The purpose of DASA is to protect all students from harassment and discrimination of any kind in all NYS schools. During the meeting I became impatient with the aide who told us that the Majority Leader needed more time to consider the legislation. I told the aide that while the Majority Leader took all the time in the world to consider it, more and more youth were dying. I was not being dramatic, but I knew firsthand what I was talking about. Delaying movement on the legislation put lives in the balance. However, items considered more important on the agenda that day took priority, and I was told by the lobbyists in the room to shut up and be patient. Today, six years later, DASA still has not passed and the lobbying organization still lists the Majority Leader's position as "unknown or unclear."

When it comes to protecting our gay youth, I do not believe patience is a virtue. Protecting them should not be an agenda item that falls somewhere on a list of topics to discuss, but it should be the top priority. The desperate situations of some of our gay youth require us to act now and not wait to consider their problems tomorrow.

For my part, I am going to continue to do my best to make the issues of our gay youth a priority. I will continue to use my position in our community to raise the issues described above, and I will continue to write about the needs of our youth.

Today, I am also announcing a new website I am starting to track news and research about our gay youth: www.ourgayyouth.com. In the coming months, I hope to expand this site and make it an even greater community forum.

It is my hope that my community and communities all across the nation will continue to focus on the lives of our gay youth. They need your support in whatever way you can give it.

Thank you for helping to make a difference, and I look forward to talking with you all about these issues soon.


Sincerely,
graham.


*http://www.thetaskforce.org/reports_and_research/homeless_youth
** http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/library/record/1927.html