Chicago’s Broadway Youth Center Provides Support to Transsexual Youth

The Broadway Youth Center is one of only a few places across the country with support for those who are questioning their gender. Often these young people have strained or broken relationships with their families because it is much less common to be transsexual than lesbian or gay. On Wednesday nights young transgender people between 14 and 24 can meet other youth who identify themselves as transgender or are questioning their gender identify.
Click here to link to information about the Transgender Youth Drop-In Center at the Broadway Youth Center.

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If You Are Concerned About Your Child’s Gender Behaviors: A Parent Guide

A resource for parents who want information and advice on a child’s gender-variant behaviors from the Children’s National Medical Center.  Available for download as a pdf file or can be purchased in hard copy.

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Oklahoma Gay Teen Finds Support at Home

A recent series in the Washington Post (and reported here) interviewed Michael Shackleford, his family and friends about the struggles of being a young gay man in the Bible Belt. Recently fliers announced that followers of Westboro Baptist in Topeka were on their way from Kansas to stage antigay protests in Shackleford’s home town in Oklahoma. To his and his mother’s surprise, his home town rallied round and supported him. To Sand Springs homosexuality might be a sin, but Michael was their sinner.

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NCLR (National Center for Lesbian Rights) Publications

The publications available from NCLR include a packet of information and sample forms regarding essential estate planning documents everyone should have in place - handy for all of us, I should think -  plus publications on parenting, on LGBT Youth – including California’s Foster Care Non-Discrimination Act, Harassment, a Model Safe Schools Bill, Question and Answer publications, and more.

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A Gay Teen in the Bible Belt

Special report on a 17 year-old boy in rural Oklahoma who is gay and facing issues of religion, social issues, conflicted parents, and dropping out of school that were probably more common 10 or more years ago. A Washington Post reporter followed Michael Shackelford for the past year as he came to terms with being gay.

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Resources:

	Gay-Straight Alliance Network: www.gsanetwork.org
	Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network: wwwglsen.org
	The Safe Schools Coalition: www.safeschoolscoalition.org

	Harassment based on actual and perceived sexual orientation is pervasive.
	Harassment based on actual and perceived sexual orientation has dangerous consequences for students
	School climates are unsafe for LGBT students, students perceived to be LGBT, and gender non-conforming students
	Schools can take steps to improve safety and health for all students.

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	LGBTQ Youth in the Foster Care System
	LGBTQ Youth in the Juvenile Justice System

A Texas teen who returned to school last fall as a girl committed suicide after apparently dealing well with the sniggering from fellow students. Benjamin Brownlee, who wanted to be known as Tesia Samara, was seeing a therapist regularly and had taken the first steps toward a sex change operation. He was a talented writer who wrote in a letter published in a sidebar to the main article, “I just learned about this last year, and what I have is gender identity disorder, and I plan on taking hormones and making the transition into being a female so that my body will be congruent to my brain.” The letter and photos accompany the article in the Austin Statesman-American.

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A study at UCLA has identified 54 genes in mice that may explain why male and female brains look and function differently. Hormonal differences cannot explain everything about the sexual differences between male and female brains. The study results found that male and female brains differed in many measurable ways, including anatomy and function.

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Hatred in the Hallways: Violence and Discrimination Against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Students in U.S. Schools

This report from Human Rights Watch documents the harassment, abuse and violence lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth in the United States suffer daily at school at the hands of their peers. The report is based on in-depth interviews with 140 youth and 130 teachers, administrators, counselors, parents and youth service providers in seven states. In an arena that is notable for its lack of good information, this appears to be a very thorough, comprehensive report that will be valuable to anyone working with this population of youth.

Some information from the report:

	Estimates of the number of gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth in the US ranges from just over one percent to just under nine percent, with best estimates at five to six percent of the total population.
	A 1996 study of youth found that, on average, girls are aware of an attraction to other girls at age ten and have their first same-sex experience at age 15; boys become aware at age nine and have their first same-sex experience at age 13.
	Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth often disclose their sexual orientation or gender identity to their peers, teachers, and families in middle school or early high school.

These youth are:

	nearly three times as likely as their heterosexual peers to have been assaulted or involved in at least one physical fight in school;
	three times as likely to have been threatened or injured with a weapon at school;
	nearly four times as likely to skip school because they feel unsafe, according to the 1999 Massachusetts Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

An estimated two to eight million parents in the US are lesbian or gay. Their children are no more likely than any other youth to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, but they are often targeted for harassment and violence because of their parents’ sexual orientation or because their peers believe they share that sexual orientation.

Commissioned by the Urban Justice Center, this groundbreaking report combines existing social science research with interviews with youth who are currently or were formerly involved with the juvenile justice system and juvenile justice officials - administrators, detention facility officials, attorneys, social workers, and others. The report focuses on juvenile delinquents in New York City. The report includes findings on safety, lack of policy, lack of awareness, and the need for services for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered youth who enter the juvenile justice system. It also includes recommendations for representation, adjudication and placement for this population of youth. The authors recommend, for instance, that juvenile justice system officials begin documenting youth sexual orientation and experiences at the time they enter the system.

This report is not available on the Internet. For copies of the report, contact the Urban Justice Center at 646-602-5600. For information email Terry Maroney

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GLASSLA - (Gay and Lesbian Adolescent Social Services). A private, non-profit social service agency focused on providing essential intervention services to address the special needs of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth. Services for youth who are wards of the court as well as homeless and runaway youth. Provides long-term residential treatment, cases management, family reunification, and emancipation services.