NYC takes new action for gay youth
New York City is trying out a new initiative aimed at preventing LGBT homelessness, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn announced Monday.
The New York City Commission for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Runaway and Homeless Youth will address the problems of LGBTQ teens before they resort to …
Tags: Address, Christine Quinn, Council Speaker, Gay Bisexual Transgender, Gay Youth, Homeless Youth, Homelessness, Initiative, Lesbian Gay, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Michael Bloomberg, New York City, New York City CommissionIsraelis rally after 2 murdered at gay center
(Tel Aviv, Israel) Reeling from the worst attack ever aimed at homosexuals in Israel, members of the country’s gay community and their supporters rallied Sunday in the heart of Tel Aviv a day after a masked gunman killed two people at a center for gay youth and escaped.
As protesters with …
Tags: Gay Center, Gay Community, Gay Israel, Gay Youth, Gunman, Heart, Homosexuals, Israel, Israelis, People, Protesters, Rally, Tel Aviv IsraelAlameda parents debate lessons addressing gay slurs, bullying
Hundreds of people showed up at City Hall on Tuesday night to express their support — or concerns — about the Alameda Unified School District’s proposed lessons to address slurs and bullying against gays.
So many people showed up to speak that police and fire officials had to clear much of the crowd out of City Council chambers, where the public hearing to discuss the lessons was held. A second hearing is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, May 18 at a location to be announced.
School Board President Mike McMahon said he had 200 speaker slips from people who wanted to be heard on the issue. The school board — minus Trustee Neal Tam, who was absent — heard three and a half hours of testimony on the curriculum on Tuesday.
Supporters of the curriculum said it’s a tool desperately needed by teachers to combat anti-gay slurs and bullying that starts as early as kindergarten. It’s not about sex, they said, but about offering positive images of gays and their families who are members of the community but invisible inside school walls.
The consequences of not addressing the bullying or offering such positive reinforcement is dire, they said: Statistically, gay youth are much more likely to skip school, abuse alcohol and drugs and commit suicide than their straight peers.
Alameda parents debate lessons addressing gay slurs, bullying
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/alameda-paren…
Conservatives axe gay youth program
Conservatives axe gay youth program
Tags: Axe, Conservatives, Gay YouthGay youth risk his life, Why?
Most people don’t realize just how traumatizing high school is for some kids. If you “odd,” “strange,” or just “different” from the other kids you better have some pretty thick skin. In the homosexual community, the youth don’t have a built up tolerance to the taunting and teasing. The higher risk of suicide is attributed to the violence, whether it is verbal harassment of physical assaults. Young adults don’t have the control over their opinions that most adults should have.
People like to point fingers and say that “if they weren’t gay they wouldn’t have committed suicide.” That is the worst statement, to think that someone was so ashamed of themselves that they would take their own life just because. They must be provoked and really hurting inside to do that. People who come out and say “look I’m gay” are comfortable with it, they aren’t ashamed or sorry about the way they are
The most common situation that kids are in when they commit suicide goes something like this:
A young boy around 16 knows he is gay and has come to terms with it. He accepts it and is now ready to come out and tell everyone, because he is proud of himself for coming to such a big realization. So, he admits to his close friends and some are happy for him and are really supportive of his choice. But then there a few, or maybe just one, he is best friend and one of the football team favorites. He is shocked, tells his friend that he isn’t gay, it’s impossible. They have known each other for years and it just isn’t true. Eventually, the best starts avoiding him, making “gay” jokes about him, and starts taunting him with the other kids. Then it starts getting physical, fights with a few kids everyday and the taunts get worse. The young boy can’t handle being bruised daily, having things thrown at him, his stuff vandalized and has nowhere to hide.
The school says they’ll talk to the others, which only make things worse because he told on them, he wanted them to get in trouble. Parents say that it is just boys being boys and to “tough it out.” In the end the boy sees suicide as an easy end to an impossible situation.
See Gay youth risk his life, Why?
queerplanet.com.au * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/03/gay-youth-ris…
How Beijing Butchered Sean Penn’s “Commie, Homo-Loving” Oscar Speech
In recent days, journalists around the globe have reported on the efforts of Asian governments to censor speech and images in support of gay rights from the broadcast of last Sunday’s Oscars. According to the AP, the Hong Kong-based, Murdoch-owned STAR network, reaching more than 300 million viewers in 53 countries, muted any mention of “gay” or “lesbian” during its tape-delayed, English-language re-broadcast of the Oscars. Sean Penn and Dustin Lance Black, who both won Oscars for their work on the film Milk, used their time at the podium to voice support for same-sex marriage and equal rights for gays and lesbians.
In mainland China, where the Academy awards was broadcast with Chinese subtitles on state-run China Central Television (CCTV), censors did not mute out material deemed sensitive, but rather, and even more shamefully, omitted or mistranslated all language and images dealing with homosexuality. According to a Monday post on the China-based blog Shanghaiist, the CCTV broadcast cut out two gay kisses shown during the broadcast and completely eliminated Dustin Lance Black’s acceptance speech after he won for best original screenplay.
Black, who is openly gay, invoked Harvey Milk in his speech and promised equal rights “very soon” to the nation’s gay youth. “If Harvey had not been taken from us 30 years ago,” Black said, “I think he’d want me to say to all of the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight who have been told that they are less than by their churches or by the government or by their families that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value.” While Black’s speech was widely considered one of the more moving and memorable moments from this year’s Oscars, for viewers in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Taiwan and Thailand, the speech was heavily censored, while those in mainland China didn’t hear a word of it.
For anyone who missed it, here’s Dustin Lance Black’s speech: @ How Beijing Butchered Sean Penn’s “Commie, Homo-Loving” Oscar Speech
Huffington Post -
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/03/how-beijing-b…
Cops arrest 4 in gay youth center vandalism
In announcing the arrests of four people on charges of vandalism at a Bay Shore gay and lesbian youth center, police said yesterday it was an act of revenge and not a hate crime.
“We were calling it a hate crime investigation because of public perception,” said Det. Sgt. Robert Reecks, commanding officer of the Suffolk police hate crimes unit, which pursued the case because of the center’s mission. See Cops arrest 4 in gay youth center vandalism
Newsday, NY
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/02/cops-arrest-4…
Cops arrest 4 in gay youth center vandalism
In announcing the arrests of four people on charges of vandalism at a Bay Shore gay and lesbian youth center, police said yesterday it was an act of revenge and not a hate crime.
“We were calling it a hate crime investigation because of public perception,” said Det. Sgt. Robert Reecks, commanding officer of the Suffolk police hate crimes unit, which pursued the case because of the center’s mission. See Cops arrest 4 in gay youth center vandalism
Newsday, NY
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/02/cops-arrest-4…
Sigourney Weaver hopes new flick will help gay teens tackle their parents
American actress Sigourney Weaver hopes that her first TV movie Prayers for Bobby will help gay teens when they come out about their sexual orientation to their parents.
Weaver plays the real-life mother of tragic gay youth Bobby Griffith, who committed suicide in the 1970s after his religious parents spent years trying to ‘cure’ him.
According to the actress, Leroy Aaron’s book of the same name, from which her new film was adapted, has become a tool some gay youngsters use to help their parents come to terms with their child’’s sexuality.
See Sigourney Weaver hopes new flick will help gay teens tackle their …
Sify, India -
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/01/sigourney-wea…
Study: Family behavior key to health of gay youth
(San Francisco) Young gay people whose parents or guardians responded negatively when they revealed their sexual orientation were more likely to attempt suicide, experience severe depression and use drugs than those whose families accepted the news, according to a new study. [Read 365gay.com’s report]
The way in which parents or guardians …
Tags: Attempt, Drugs, Family Behavior, Family Health, Gay Parents, Gay People, Gay Young, Gay Youth, Guardians, San Francisco, San People, Severe Depression, Sexual Orientation, Suicide, Young Gay, Young Parents, Young People
