Topic: Youth

The new items published under this topic are as follows.
Mar 11, 2008# Quickie Link: Homophobic Abuse Endemic in Schools
Youth (UK) - Homophobic abuse is endemic in schools, with "Gay" now the most common put-down by pupils in the classroom, teachers say. A "conspiracy of silence" in schools and colleges means homophobia is now seen as so normal that some teachers believe they risk disrupting classes - and making themselves a target of abuse - if they challenge students' behaviour. More than 70% of teachers have heard put-downs in their school or college that refer to sexuality, according to a survey of 268 teachers by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers. In particular, teachers report that pupils routinely use the term "Gay" in a pejorative manner. Nearly two-thirds of teachers and lecturers have heard homophobic language on a regular basis. A quarter encountered it several times a week and about 16% of them daily. Boys are significantly more likely to talk about sexuality in a bullying way, but half of teachers have seen girls do the same and nearly 12% said they had seen similar behaviour in the staffroom.
# Note: Read more on Guardian
Feb 11, 2008# Quickie Link: US Lesbian Girl Stands Up to Prejudice
Youth (USA) - A freshman at a Minnesota high school had endured shoving, spitting, and name calling. When a hate message was scrawled across her locker, she decided enough was enough. Leah Matz, a 15-year-old student at St. Peter High, got together with some of her peers and organized a lunchtime demonstration to say that hate speech, and hateful acts of anti-Gay violence, would not be accepted. The school’s administration backed Matz up, allowing the public to attend the demonstration, which took place Fri., Feb. 8. Matz had come out as a lesbian in junior high. Since then, she had suffered anti-Gay harassment, including verbal and physical abuse.
# Note: Read more on Edge Boston
Feb 09, 2008# Quickie Link: Albertans Raise Money to Send Kids to Gay Camp
Youth (Canada) - Camp Fyrefly, a summer leadership camp for queer youth in Edmonton, Alberta, is riding high on a string of successes. The camp will celebrate its fifth anniversary this July, and it's all thanks to support from the local queer community, says Kris Wells, a driving force behind the program. "Our fundraiser [Feb 2] sold out and snowballed into the 'must have' ticket in Edmonton that weekend," says Wells, a researcher at the University of Alberta. Even Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel crashed the party. "It has been phenomenal how individuals and businesses have rallied behind the camp; they intuitively understand it — send a kid to camp! Our donors often tell us that they wish they could have had the possibility of going to a Camp Fyrefly when they were growing up."
# Note: Read more on Extra
Jan 30, 2008# Quickie Link: Gay Teenagers Regularly Bullied At School
Youth (UK) - A survey of 1,145 Gay and Lesbian secondary school pupils last summer by Stonewall found that almost two-thirds had been victims of homophobic bullying. Stonewall's survey found that 41% of respondents reported physical attacks, 17% had received death threats and 12% had been sexually assaulted. Sarah, 14, was physically bullied at her school. "Everyone knows and looks at me and threatens me and no one helps," she told researchers. "They push me in corridors and teachers have seen, but they act as if they haven't seen anything." "I have experienced bullying such as being verbally assaulted frequently, had scissors thrown at me, occasionally punched - sometimes directly in front of teachers," says Kevin, 16. Astonishingly, far from clamping down on homophobic bullying, half the respondents said the teachers themselves had made homophobic remarks.
# Note: Read more on Guardian
Dec 21, 2007# Quickie Link: US School Accused Of Anti-Gay Censorship
Youth (USA) - The American Civil Liberties Union on Friday demanded that a high school that punished a student for wearing a t-shirt featuring a Lesbian pride symbol apologize to the student and guarantee that it will no longer illegally censor her in the future. School officials at I.C. Norcom High School had threatened the 17-year-old senior with suspension because a teacher was upset by her t-shirt, which had an image of two overlapping female gender symbols. Bethany Laccone, the student, said: “I wear that shirt because I want people to know that I’m proud of being a lesbian and comfortable with who I am. And I have the same Constitutional right to free speech as any other student.”
# Note: Read more on 365Gay.com
Dec 15, 2007# Quickie Link: Gay Youth Makes a Third Of New York's Homeless Population
Youth (USA) - An estimated 3,800 people under age 24 go homeless each night in New York City, but they blend in so well they are hard for social workers to find, according to the city's first-ever census of homeless youth. Three-fourths come from minority groups, with black youths accounting for nearly half the total and Latino youths representing a quarter, said the survey, released Friday. Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual youths were especially vulnerable, accounting for nearly a third of homeless cases.
# Note: Read more on PageOneQ
Dec 15, 2007# Quickie Link: For Gay Teenagers, Hope in Numbers
Youth (USA) - Michael Moreno, a 15-year-old 10th grader from Brewster, could not believe what he was seeing as he walked into the big hall at the Westchester County Center, and he grew quiet. There, for as far as the eye could see, were hundreds of boys and girls who belonged to Gay-straight clubs at area middle schools and high schools. "This is a great moment for him," said his stepfather, Hector Ramos. "He’s always felt so isolated."
# Note: Read more on NY Times
Dec 08, 2007# Quickie Link: Shelter for Homeless LGBT Youth Opens in Sugar Hill
Youth (USA) - An estimated 8,000 to 10,000 homeless LGBT youth are on the streets in New York on any given night. And the National Alliance to End Homelessness maintains these youth remain more vulnerable to violence. They suffer higher rates of mental illness and are more likely to engage in sex work. The Washington-based advocacy coalition further estimates sexual violence rates are more than seven percent higher among homeless LGBT youth than their straight peers and are more likely to attempt suicide. Siciliano and other activists maintain the broader movement for LGBT rights must do a better job to address the plight of homeless LGBT youth. He pointed to the movement’s focus on coming out in recent years but conceded many young people - especially those whose parents are socially conservative or even homophobic - often do not take into account the possible consequences.
# Note: Read more on Edge NY
Dec 07, 2007# Quickie Link: Community Gathers to Support Youth Programs at Network
Youth (USA) - Over 100 people gathered in Grand Rapids last Wednesday night to socialize and raise funds for the Network's youth programs. Tony Wolfram, president of Network, said the event was necessary for the group's programs which currently serve about 50 youth from the area. "It was all brought home for me when I overheard a young woman talking one night," Wolfson said. "She said she used to lock herself in her room and cut herself. She had no support for being different. But then she said because of the Network she doesn't feel the need to do that anymore." This is the second year the Network has held this silent auction fundraiser. Last year the group raised about $12,000 and Wolfram said he hoped the group would raise more money this year.
# Note: Read more on Pride Source
Dec 03, 2007# Quickie Link: Hot Debates in Peru on Youth Rights Treaty
Youth (Peru) - What was a procedural congressional debate yesterday on whether the Peruvian government would adhere to the Iberian-American Convention on the Rights of Youth - an international treaty that establishes a core set of legal standards to protect young people - became a heated debate on whether the treaty would open the door for same-sex marriage in Peru that exposed unexpected legislative support for same-sex partnerships. As a result, a vote on the treaty was shelved and the resolution was sent back to the Peruvian Commission of International Relations for further study. At issue, according to La Razon, were articles 5 and 14 which refer to language prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and the right to one's sexual identity and article 20.1 which speaks of the right to build a family - which some legislators argued clashed with the Peruvian constitution.
# Note: Read more on Blabbeando
Nov 27, 2007# Quickie Link: Jodie Foster to Present the Trevor Project Founders Award
Youth (USA) - The Trevor Project, the non-profit organization that operates a round-the-clock suicide prevention helpline for Gay and questioning youth in the US, today announced that two-time Academy Award(R)-winning actress Jodie Foster will present The Trevor Founders Award at the organization's annual Cracked Xmas event. Ms. Foster will present the award to two of the organization's founders, director Peggy Rajski and screenwriter James Lecesne. The award will be presented in recognition of the tenth anniversary of the first Cracked Xmas benefit and in memory of the organization's third founder, producer Randy Stone, who passed away unexpectedly in February of this year. The presentation will take place at Cracked Xmas 10, to be held on December 2, 2007 at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles.
# Note: Read more on Melodika
Nov 26, 2007# Quickie Link: Gay Pupils at Top English Independent School Suffer Bullying
Youth (UK) - "I have had beer thrown at me and poured all over me, pushed, shoved, verbally abused – every word imaginable, cornered, surrounded and threatened in public … and that’s just me." These are the very words of a Gay pupil writing about his experiences at a top independent school in an email that arrived in the UK Gay News inbox on Friday. The email’s 'Subject': Homophobia at Christian Boarding School. "I am sick of them and their abusive attitudes and behaviour," he wrote of his tormentors. "People liken homosexuality to paedophilia and they get away with it," he continues. "People have said in front of teachers 'I hate gay people' and nothing’s happened."
# Note: Read more on UK Gay News
Nov 25, 2007# Quickie Link: Quarrels Over Age of Consent in Northern Ireland
Youth (UK) - Gay rights campaigners have clashed with Belfast's Rape Crisis Centre over plans to lower the age of sexual consent to 16. The British government has published proposals to bring Northern Ireland's legal process, under which it is illegal for 16-year-olds to have sex, into line with the rest of the UK. The centre has joined a loose alliance with the Catholic church, evangelical Protestant churches and Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party to oppose the proposed change from 17 to 16. Ranged against them are organisations representing the Gay community.
# Note: Read more on Guardian
Nov 22, 2007# Quickie Link: Gay Schoolboy in Canada Bullied Into Suicide
Youth (Canada) - A popular Ajax teen who would have turned 14 tomorrow hanged himself at home after being viciously cyber-bullied by classmates about being Gay, his stepmother Sandria Gillard says. Gillard said the boy, who loved school and was a popular student, wanted to be a movie producer. His problems began after he told a trusted friend he was Gay. The friend told others at school and outed Shaquille in June on websites created by students for bullying. "They began calling him names and sending him ugly e-mails," Gillard said. "He couldn't hide from them and he didn't let others know." She said Shaquille was stuffed into a garbage can by students at his school just days before he committed suicide. "I am confused and looking for some answers," Gillard said. "He was right before me on the computer and next thing he's dead."
# Note: Read more on Toronto Sun
Nov 22, 2007# Quickie Link: Project Targets Anti-Gay Violence and Homophobia
Youth (USA) - To counter that knots-in-your-stomach feeling and to give more students a better sense of community, David Leimsieder started the Imagine Project during his senior year. Formerly called the Association of Allied Gay-Straight Alliances, it helps students around the state set up Gay-straight organizations at their schools. Its goals are to fight homophobia and anti-Gay violence while empowering students to continue in school. "We wanted to create a base for students to create their own support system," said Leimsieder, the nonprofit's volunteer director. "It was important for them to know they don't have to be alone." Leimsieder, who came out to his parents when he was 15, said the Gay-straight alliance group at Catalina helped him feel stronger and more confident.
# Note: Read more on azstarnet.com
Nov 19, 2007# Quickie Link: Philadelphia Gives Boy Scouts Ultimatum
Youth (USA) - This may be the last free Thanksgiving dinner for the Boy Scouts of Philadelphia. Citing a local 1982 "fair practices" law, the city solicitor has given the Scouts until Dec. 3 to renounce its policy of excluding homosexuals or forfeit the grand, Beaux-Arts building it has rented from the city for $1 a year since 1928. "While we respect the right of the Boy Scouts to prohibit participation in its activities by homosexuals," the solicitor, Romulo Diaz, said last week in an interview, "we will not subsidize that discrimination by passing on the costs to the people of Philadelphia." The city has yet to complete an official assessment of the property.
# Note: Read more on Washington Post
Nov 16, 2007# Quickie Link: Gay-Straight Alliance Harassed By School Board
Youth (USA) - A lawsuit over the Gay-Straight Alliance of Okeechobee High School could be settled if students agreed to change the name of the club, according to lawyers for the Okeechobee County School Board. But a lawyer for the ACLU, which represents the club, said its members already have rejected the idea of changing the name. "The students have made clear that the name of the club is important to them because it describes their mission," said Robert Rosenwald, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union. "From the beginning, the purpose of this club has been to prevent harassment and discrimination against Gay students." Attorneys for the school board have argued that the Gay-Straight Alliance is a "sex-based club" that violates a Florida statute requiring schools to teach abstinence "while teaching the benefits of monogamous heterosexual marriage."
# Note: Read more on Miami Herald
Nov 07, 2007# Quickie Link: Gay Sex Left to Teacher's Discretion
Youth (Canada) - Every year, Grade 9 students anticipate it with a mixture of dread, curiosity and giggles. Teachers sweat over it. Parents have both advocated for it and damned it. It's sexual education and it's lurking in the background of the public education psyche. Sex ed is mandatory, part of a physical education course taken by every Ontario high school student in Grade 9. However, the terms "Gay," "Lesbian," "Trans," "Queer," "same-sex," or "homosexual," are absent from the official documents. In other words, the sexual education curriculum, which sets the standard for what children learn about sex and sexuality in high school, makes no references to the queer community. That gives an out to Ontario schools who want to give out diplomas but don't want to teach about Gays.
# Note: Read more on xtra.ca
Nov 05, 2007# Quickie Link: Gay Teen Couple Made to Sit Apart on Bus
Youth (UK) - Two Gay teenagers from Scotland are considering legal action after being humiliated on a late-night bus journey. Steven Black, 16, and Mark Craig, 19, were told to get off the bus by the driver and then forced to sit in separate seats, according to the Sunday Mail. "If we had been all over each other, I could understand - because that behaviour in public is not appropriate whatever your sexuality. But Mark just had his arm around my shoulder," Steven told the paper. "I have never been so humiliated in my life. I just can't believe we are still made to feel like second-class citizens."
# Note: Read more on Pink News
Nov 03, 2007# Quickie Link: Secret of 'Sofa Surfing' Homeless Teens Goes Public
Youth (USA) - New billboards around town are likely to turn heads with their image of an unhappy teen lying on a couch and the question: "Who's sofa surfing tonight?" The ad, also to appear on buses and movie screens, aims to raise awareness about homeless teens who move from sofa to sofa of friends, relatives and strangers. "These are not someone else's kids. They are very much like our own," said Joyce Mazero, chairwoman of the board of directors for Promise House, an Oak Cliff nonprofit agency that helps homeless youth. "However, these teens are invisible." Up to 40 percent of the runaway population are Lesbian or Gay youth who have been kicked out because of their sexual orientation.
# Note: Read more on Dallas News
Nov 02, 2007# Quickie Link: To Be Young And Gay In Wyoming
Youth (USA) - Winter is coming fast to Wyoming, and it will be as it always is--beautiful and wicked. You could feel it in the air last week as ships of clouds sailed the blue sky above Laramie, snow-capped mountains rose in the distance, and a small herd of deer roamed the rocky ridge where Matthew Shepard, a Gay student who loved Wyoming, was lynched. They hold vigils and teach-ins in Laramie, a town searching its soul, but some people climb the hill as if there is something to confront up there. They go to where a small basket of dry flowers hangs from the fence where Shepard, 21, was tied with rope, pistol-whipped and left in the cold.
# Note: Read more on Time.com
Nov 01, 2007# Quickie Link: False Alert Outrages Jamaica's Homophobes
Youth (Jamaica) - Jamaica's Minister of Education Andrew Holness said a decisive 'no' to Rita Dyer and Norma Maynard's book, C-SEC Home Economics and Beyond (Management), which reportedly refers to same-sex unions as family. Holness angrily dismissed as "very unfortunate" a lead article in yesterday's Gleaner newspaper which reported that the book was recommended reading by the education ministry, despite the fact that it included a section suggesting that there has been a "broadening of the traditional definitions of a family structure" and that "when two women or two men live together in a relationship as Lesbians or Gays, they may be considered as a family".
# Note: Read more on Jamaica Observer
Oct 24, 2007# Quickie Link: Ad Showing Newborn Gay Causes Stir in Italy
Youth (Italy) - An ad campaign to counter discrimination against Gays has stirred up passions in Italy, using a poster that shows a newborn with the word "Homosexual" written on his wristband. "Sexual orientation is not a choice," reads the slogan on the poster that was going up all across the central-northern Tuscany region and was published in Italian newspapers Wednesday. Italy's main Gay rights association ArciGay, for its part, praised the initiative, saying homosexuality is an unchangeable fact that should be respected.
# Note: Read more on AFP
Oct 22, 2007# Quickie Link: Lambda Legal Protests Violation of Student's Privacy
Youth (USA) - One of the leading US legal advocacy groups for the LGBT community issued a statement Thursday urging the Ithaca City School District to cease a challenge of New York's Human Rights Law. Lambda Legal called the district's challenge of the law “unconscionable” and said a district victory would cripple LGBT students' abilities to find protection in the face of discrimination from a public school district. LGBT students are at particular risk if the district defeats the human rights law because the alternative avenues suggested by the district for discrimination complaints do not explicitly and effectively protect LGBT students, stated a letter Lambda Legal sent to board members Thursday.
# Note: Read more on The Ithaca Journal
Oct 20, 2007# Quickie Link: Group Collects for Homeless Gay Teens
Youth (USA) - Students and staff members at John Burroughs High School have given the clothes off their backs this month for young people at the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center. The clothing drive, which has garnered hundreds of shoes, socks, shirts, bottoms and tops since the end of September, was started by students in the school's Gay/Straight Alliance club. “To start off the club this year, we were trying to find a way to connect more with our members and just have a way to be more open and friendly to each other,” said Nicole Carothers, 17, president of the Gay/Straight Alliance. The nonprofit Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center, the sole beneficiary of the club’s efforts, serves homeless Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and unsure youths as part of their Youth Services program.
# Note: Read more on www.burbankleader.com
Oct 20, 2007# Quickie Link: Gay Rights Measure Targeted in California
Youth (USA) - Opponents launched a referendum campaign this week to overturn Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's signature on legislation touted as an anti-discrimination measure for Gay and Lesbian students. "Citizens are outraged," said Karen England, who launched the drive and directs a conservative public policy group that focuses on "family issues." Geoff Kors, director of a Gay rights group that sponsored the measure, Senate Bill 777, blasted the drive as nonsense. "They claim to want to foster family values and education and what's best for children," he said. "Yet they oppose legislation to make schools safer for children."
# Note: Read more on Sacramento Bee
Oct 19, 2007# Quickie Link: Organization Helps Place Gay Foster Kids
Youth (USA) - Many Gay foster teenagers never find a good home. Recognizing the gap in service, foster care agency ChildNet has contracted with the US National Youth Advocate Program (NYAP) to recruit and train foster parents to take in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender foster children. ''A lot of kids go through an awful lot because of gender identity questions and issues and their needs don't get met in the absence of people who have had experience with those issues,'' said Larry Rein, interim president of ChildNet, which serves about 2,500 children, including about 600 in foster homes. Although Florida bans Gay adults from adopting, the state does allow them to take in foster children.
# Note: Read more on Miami Herald
Oct 11, 2007# Quickie Link: Coming Out Day Observed in USA
Youth (USA) - Students at schools and colleges across USA are observing "Coming Out Day" in a variety of ways all aimed at raising LGBT visibility. The US "Coming Out Day" is celebrated every Oct. 11 to mark the anniversary of the 1987 March on Washington for Gay and Lesbian Equality. Young people in a number of states continue to have problems organizing LGBT student groups. This week the Okeechobee County, Florida, School Board tightened its rules governing clubs in a bid to block a GSA, despite an ongoing federal lawsuit. As well, bullying and harassment of LGBT students continues to be a problem for many students across USA.
# Note: Read more on 365Gay.com
Oct 02, 2007# Quickie Link: Gays Slammed in US School Paper
Youth (USA) - An editorial in a Kell High inaugural student publication characterizing Gays as victims of reproductive error or an unusual upbringing has caused a storm of controversy among some students and faculty on the north central Cobb campus. The opinion piece appeared in Friday's debut edition of the Inkwell, titled, "Homosexuality: Beyond the Bible." In it, Benjamin slams Gays not on religious or Biblical grounds but, he said, based on science and logic. "I realize biology commits many reproductive errors. Homosexuality can be one of them," he wrote.
# Note: Read more on www.ajc.com
Sep 24, 2007# News: US College Students: Campus Climate Chilly on Gender
Youth (USA) - The Gender Public Advocacy Coalition (GenderPAC) today announced findings of its first US-wide campus climate survey focusing on how Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender students are treated because of their gender identity and expression. Some 651 students from across the USA responded to the 2007 Survey, many sharing personal experiences of feeling unsafe or excluded because they didn't meet expectations for masculinity or femininity.
# Read more...
Sep 15, 2007# Quickie Link: Youth Suicide Rate Remains High
Youth (USA) - Suicides among young people ages 10 to 24 increased 8 percent from 2003 to 2004, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported. That jump represented the largest increase in 15 years. In the Gay community, youth suicide continues to be a persistent problem, experts say. Among Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender youth, as many as 40 percent are likely to attempt suicide, said Cassie Blume, youth programs coordinator for the Billy DeFrank LGBT Community Center in San Jose. The US-wide data is derived from several studies, Blume said. "They are three times more likely to attempt suicide" than straight young people, Blume said. "Our work can be just about keeping them alive."
# Note: Read more on Inside Bay Area
Sep 14, 2007# Quickie Link: Bulgarian Gays Want Improve School Books
Youth (Bulgaria) - Many of the learning books used in Bulgaria's high schools instil intolerance towards homosexuality into students, representatives of the Bulgarian gay organization Gemini said Friday. Their statement is based on a thorough analysis of the textbooks used in schools. The organization is now preparing a list of recommendations for the Education Ministry, suggesting that homosexual topics should appear on the pages of the philosophy and psychology textbooks. Bulgarian students read with huge interest about the love relationships of the poet Peyo Yavorov with his lover Mina and his wife Laura, but for some reason the books keep silent on the homosexual affairs of Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Hans Christian Andersen and Federico Garcia Lorca, the CEO of Gemini Aksinia Gencheva said.
# Note: Read more on www.novinite.com
Sep 12, 2007# News: Gay-Straight Alliances Help Gay Youth to Survive School
Youth (USA) - Gay-Straight Alliances help make schools safer for all students and likely play an essential role in mitigating the negative impact of bullying and harassment on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender students, according to a research brief released today by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network. As of today, 3,612 GSAs are registered with GLSEN from every US state, Puerto Rico and Washington D.C. Gay-Straight Alliances are student clubs that seek to improve school climate by addressing and reducing anti-LGBT bullying and harassment in school.
# Read more...
Sep 07, 2007# Quickie Link: The Teen Who Challenged John McCain
Youth (USA) - William Sleaster, a sophomore at Concord High, doesn't like John McCain. The eighth visit by a presidential candidate this year was explosive, after Sleaster injected fire that some thought disrespectful. On Tuesday, Sleaster inquired about McCain's view on gay issues. When he heard no support for civil unions, much less gay marriage, he went on the attack, asking, "So you would want to take away someone's rights because you think it's wrong?" "It may have been disrespectful, but he discriminates against me and my people," Sleaster said. "If he walked in there to Tide Pride Monday morning and started dropping sexual slurs, we wouldn't shake his hand and say, 'Thanks for coming.' That's why I didn't shake his hand and say, 'Thanks for coming.' I regret nothing."
# Note: Read more on Concord Monitor
Sep 02, 2007# Quickie Link: Manitoba Camp for Gay Youth Hailed as a Success
Youth (Canada) - Manitoba's first camp for Gay youth, called an "absolutely amazing success" by organizers, was launched by a group of Gay adults who remember their own camping experiences as unbearable. Camp Aurora's inaugural four-day program ended Thursday, with 29 youth between the ages of 14 and 21 taking part. "Everyone was talking about how they were already excited for next year," camp director Jonny Sopotiuk said. The camp's goal was to provide some acceptance, support and camaraderie not easily found outside Winnipeg's relatively small Gay community. Modeled after a similar camp in Alberta, Camp Aurora focused on "building and nurturing the leadership capabilities and resiliency of LGBTT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans-identified and Two-spirited) and allied youth."
# Note: Read more on CTV.ca
Sep 01, 2007# Quickie Link: Gay and Lesbian Youth Meets in Belarus
Youth (Belarus) - This weekend the board of International Gay and Lesbian Youth Organization met in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, for its quarterly board meeting. The mission was to touch base with the live of young LGBT activists in Belarus, the last dictatorship in Europe, one of the very few countries in the region which is not a member of the Council of Europe as it still practices death punishment. The intolerance is experienced in particular coming from older generations. Activists identify themselves as ‘out the closet,’ but when asked whether their families know about their sexual orientation, a fast “No, of course not!” is the reply. On the question how activists can be supported mostly the answer was that this mostly is by knowledge from abroad.
# Note: Read more on UK Gay News
Sep 01, 2007# Quickie Link: Irish President Adresses Suicide Issue Among Young Gays
Youth (Ireland) - Irish President Mary McAleese today called for a change in attitudes to end the bullying of Gay people. Addressing the International Association of Suicide Prevention Conference in Killarney, Irish President said the link between sexual identity and suicide had to be addressed. "Ireland is making considerable progress in developing a culture of genuine equality, recognition and acceptance of Gay men and women," she said. "But there is still an undercurrent of both bias and hostility which young Gay people must find deeply hurtful and inhibiting." Ireland's suicide toll is around 500 every year. Young men make up 40 per cent of these, and elderly men comprise the second-highest at risk group.
# Note: Read more on Ireland.com
Aug 22, 2007# Quickie Link: Gay Kids in Bronx On The Down Low
Youth (USA) - The Bronx is home to a surprising number of LGBT high school students, teens say, but they must remain closeted for fear of harassment. "The Bronx is the gayest place on Earth," said Mimi, an outspoken young man who comes to the Bronx Community Pride Center frequently. He compares his neighborhood of Parkchester to the Gay-friendly West Village. "This is the mini-Village, sweetie. Welcome." "There is a large population of LGBT people living in the Bronx," said Zachariah Hennessey, a program director at the center, one of the few Gay services organization in the Bronx. "It is a hidden demographic here. Homosexuality is very much on the down low."
# Note: Read full article on NY Daily News
Aug 20, 2007# Quickie Link: Gay Teen Says State Isn’t Always So Civil
Youth (USA) - This may not seem like news in the first state to adopt same-sex civil unions. But 18-year-old William Holden says for all its progressive stereotypes, Vermont can be a hard place for young people like himself. One-third of the state’s gay and lesbian students say they’ve been bullied — double the percentage reported by straight peers, according to the most recent Vermont Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Some 40 percent have found themselves in a fight and 20 percent threatened or injured with a weapon at school. Such treatment has led them to suffer higher rates of school truancy, alcohol and drug use and suicide attempts. A state legislative commission is preparing to meet this week to consider a call for gay marriage. But Holden says that for an estimated 10 percent of Vermont’s youth, simply coming to terms with homosexuality remains the biggest challenge.
# Note: Read full article on Times Argus
Aug 16, 2007# News: In a German “School State,” Gays Remain Outside
Youth (Renningen, Germany) - After a mother interfered on behalf of the dignity of marriage, a school project at a German school has gotten a bitter aftertaste, say students and educators involved. The Stuttgarter Zeitung reported that students at Renninger High School created their own “state” with the help of their teachers. They named their creation Maredivia, and were justly proud of it. Maredivia was a multifaceted and all-inclusive sort of utopia in the students’ eyes until one mother expressed concerns about the “sanctity of marriage,” which resulted in homosexuality being banned from their project, which the teens are unable to comprehend.
# Read more...
Aug 12, 2007# Quickie Link: Harassed Gay Students Demand Protection
Youth (USA) - The number of GLBT students is a significant segment of the school population. US studies on the treatment of GLBT students indicate that bullying and harassment of GLBT students by their classmates is common. Mathew Clark, a former student at Bloomington Junior High School, said he was tripped on the soccer field and ridiculed by other students after he disclosed that he was gay. He will be attending a new school this fall where he hopes things are better. “I want the kids to be more open and accepting. Hopefully, if something ever does happen, the staff won’t feed it but stop it,” said the eighth-grader.
# Note: Read full article on pantagraph.com
Aug 09, 2007# Quickie Link: Arlington County Blamed For Selling Out Gay Students
Youth (USA) - Truth Wins Out today called a lawsuit settlement between Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) and Arlington County (Virginia) schools a capitulation that puts the health and well being of students at risk. The agreement allows PFOX to hand out pseudoscientific fliers at middle schools that will urge students to visit a website that refers them to a troubled counselor who was permanently expelled from the American Counseling Association.
# Read more...
Aug 06, 2007# Quickie Link: Camp Offers Young Gays Acceptance, Self-Esteem
Youth (Canada) - Maya Ashmore was one of 55 participants from their mid-teens to late 20s at this year's Camp fYrefly, an acronym for "fostering youth, resiliency, energy, fun, leadership -- yay!" The camp, which had a waiting list, ended Sunday. It aims to help lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered young adults explore and own their sexuality and become leaders in their communities, said the camp's co-founder Kristopher Wells. Wells founded the camp in 2004 with Dr. Andre Grace, his PhD supervisor in the University of Alberta's department of educational policy studies. Now in its fourth year, fYrefly has grown from 30 to 55 campers. As fYrefly's popularity grows, Wells said they're looking into making more camps across Canada, with the possibility of a Camp fYrefly East in Halifax. Wells said the camp gives young adults not only an improved sense of self-esteem, but a sense of social esteem because they know they have a peer support network.
# Note: Read full article on Canada.com
Jul 13, 2007# Quickie Link: Gay Youth Attacked In Schools, Teachers Doing Nothing
Youth (UK) - Sixty-five per cent of lesbian and gay school pupils have been bullied because of their sexuality, a survey has found. Half of teachers ignore homophobic language when they hear it and the 30 per cent of the kids say adults at their school are responsible for the bullying. Stonewall, which wrote the survey, says this means that of current secondary school pupils, 143,000 children have suffered from anti-gay name-calling, 64,000 have been physically attacked and 26,000 have had death-threats. Ben Summerskill, Stonewall chief executive, said: “This remains one of the few sorts of bullying about which too many schools still take no action. It blights the lives not just of gay children but thousands of pupils perceived to be lesbian or gay too.”
# Note: Read full article on Pink Paper
Jul 12, 2007# Quickie Link: Kicked Out, Gay Teenager Finds Role
Youth (USA) - 20-year-old Brandon Kneefel already is certain about who he is -- and he's paid a heavy price for it. When he was 16, the tension with his parents came to a head, and they cast him out of the house. He went to school the following day -- still in his pajamas. Now nearly a junior and a gay activist, Kneefel is grateful he'll be able to earn his degree in organizational leadership from Pennsylvania State University. "For me, the scholarship is symbolic of how far the LGBT community has come," he said. "It means that I'm affirmed with all the struggles I've been through growing up gay." Acknowledging his sexuality has exacted a high price, but for Kneefel nothing is more costly than self-denial.
# Note: Read full article on www.freep.com
Jul 09, 2007# Quickie Link: Homophobic Bullying Rampant in Schools
Youth (USA) - Many Morris County teachers and students say anti-gay language is rampant in schools, creating the potential for a hostile environment for gay students, as a court ruling prompts educators to take a closer look at the problem. Dozens of interviews with students and teachers indicate that while serious anti-gay harassment is rare in Morris County schools, the use of anti-gay language is common, even when it's not directed at gay students. The use of the phrase "That's so gay" -- used by youths to describe anything they don't like -- is prevalent and often goes unchallenged. "It happens so much I can't stop it all the time," said Debbie Gottsleben, a Morristown High School librarian. "I hear it at least 10 to 25 times a day."
# Note: Read full article on Daily Record
Jul 06, 2007# Quickie Link: Schools Told to Be Tough on Homophobic Bullying
Youth (UK) - In a speech to the gay rights organisation Stonewall, Kevin Brennan, the new Children’s Minister, will say that schools have a clear and urgent obligation to end the widespread use of homophobic language as supposedly “harmless banter”. His comments follow recent research by the Schools Health Education Unit suggesting that half of teachers fail to respond to homophobic language when they hear it. He will make clear that such language should be viewed in the same way as racist abuse and punished accordingly. He particularly wanted schools to get tough on the use of the word “gay” as a synonym for “uncool” or “bad”. This, he said, contributed to a culture that could be threatening or uncomfortable for gay and lesbian pupils.
# Note: Read full article on Times Online
Jul 03, 2007# Quickie Link: The Cost of Misery
Youth (USA) - Love in Action quietly closed the Refuge program. This was a nearly two-month long intensive ex-gay program for young people under the age of 18. Many of these young people attended against their will, forced by their parents who wanted to straighten out their kids. This program is closed. But Love in Action is still in business. Love in Action charges for their Freedom Family Intensive. According to Love in Action's web site (check while you can, they have had a habit of rewriting their site once folks blog about it), the cost of these four days under the supervision, care and ministry of the untrained Love in Action staff costs $2000 for parents. Should you bring your queer child along it costs $3000!
# Note: Read full article on Peter Toscano's Blog
Jul 02, 2007# Quickie Link: Love In Action “Refuge” Youth Program Shut Down
Youth (USA) - The story of Zach, the 16-year-old who was about to be involuntarily committed to Love In Action’s youth live-in program “Refuge” in 2005, caused international outrage along with unprecedented protests in Memphis. At the Ex-Gay Survivor Conference in Irvine, California, the participants learned that Love In Action Director John Smid confirmed that the “Refuge” youth program has been “dissolved.” Hopefully this will finally bring to an end any ideas that holding youth against their will for counseling they neither need nor desire is acceptable.
# Note: Read full article on Box Turtle
Jun 29, 2007# Quickie Link: Jodie Foster Phones It In
Youth (USA) - Actress Jodie Foster has made a "major gift" (not a major award) of an undisclosed amount to the Trevor Project, the only nationwide, 24-hour suicide prevention helpline for gay and questioning youth. The gift was made following the organization's newly announced plan to raise $1 million in multiyear gifts for two new call centers. The goal of the new fundraising campaign is to raise enough money to fully fund and operate the Los Angeles call center and open and operate a new call center in New York. This would also enable the two call centers to be open twenty-fours a day with a full staff of helpline counselors.
# Note: Read full article on AfterEllen
Jun 27, 2007# Quickie Link: NJ School Boss Apologizes to Gay Student
Youth (Newark, USA) - The city schools superintendent apologized to a gay student Tuesday for having staffers black out a picture of the student kissing his boyfriend from the high school yearbook, calling the incident "a homophobic moment." Superintendent Marion A. Bolden said she spoke with senior Andre Jackson, 18, a day after she issued him a written apology that said she regretted the decision to censor his personal page in the East Side High School yearbook. Bolden said she arrived at the school Tuesday to find Mr. Jackson reluctant to speak with her, but that the two spoke after she made a public apology to the assembled students.
# Note: Read full article on www.chron.com
Jun 26, 2007# Quickie Link: Straight Outrage About Teenagers Educated On Gay Customs
Youth (Germany) - Straight German politicians have slammed role playing games being taught to school children on how to pick up a gay partner. The Regional Institute for School and Media LISUM in Berlin has introduced the controversial exercises for school kids from 14 upwards as part of a way of reducing prejudice against homosexuals. But the role-playing has outraged politicians. Education spokesman for the liberal FDP party Mieke Senftleben has demanded the teaching materials be replaced and said: "Education about homosexuality, discrimination and intolerance is necessary. But I think having such topics on how to pick up gay men in role playing games for youths is completely wrong."
# Note: Read full article on www.ananova.com
Jun 26, 2007# Quickie Link: 75% of Gay Kids in Faith Schools Suffer Homophobic Bullying
Youth (UK) - Homophobic bullying plagues the majority of UK schools and shocking levels of bullying are meted out to school pupils and teachers who either are gay or perceived to be gay. That is the conclusion of a wide-ranging study carried by gay equality organisation Stonewall. Nearly two thirds of LGB students reported instances of such harassment. That figure jumps to 75% of young gay people attending faith schools. 92% of gay, lesbian and bisexual pupils have experienced verbal abuse, 41% physical bullying and 17% have been subject to death threats. 30% of pupils reported that adults have been responsible for incidents of homophobic bullying in their schools.
# Note: Read full article on Pink News
Jun 23, 2007# Quickie Link: A Picture Of Teen Love Newark Couldn't Face
Youth (USA) - A photograph of an East Side High School student kissing his boyfriend was blacked out of every copy of the school's yearbook by Newark school officials who decided it was inappropriate. Andre Jackson said he never thought he would offend anyone when he bought a page in the yearbook and filled it with several photographs, including one of him kissing his boyfriend. Newark Superintendent of Schools Marion Bolden called the photograph "illicit" and ordered it blacked out of the $85 yearbook before it was distributed to stu dents at a banquet for graduating seniors. There are several photos of heterosexual couples kissing in the yearbook, but the superintendent said she didn't review the entire yearbook and was presented only with Jackson's page.
# Note: Read full article on www.nj.com
Jun 08, 2007# News: L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center Celebrates Its First 'Graduation'
Youth Los Angeles, USA) - When Michael (last name withheld to protect his confidentiality), age 17, first came to the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center’s Jeff Griffith Youth Center in September 2006, he was using drugs and living on the streets after having run away from a group foster home. Today, thanks to the Center’s landmark new General Education Diploma (GED) Preparation Program, he holds the equivalent of a high school diploma and is now training through the Los Angeles Jobs Corps for a career as an X-ray technician.
# Read more...
May 31, 2007# Quickie Link: Critics Protest at Annual Boy Scout Meeting
Youth (USA) - The Boy Scouts of America convened its national annual leadership meeting in Atlanta on Wednesday amid protests over the group's ban on gays and atheists and ongoing complaints about its local council's service to poor and disadvantaged youth. Representatives of the gay community, Boy Scouts for Truth and the Atheist Alliance International marched outside the hotel, challenging the Scouts' stand against gay and atheist membership. "We've changed the heart and minds of some Boy Scout members," said Margaret Downey, alliance president. "That's where we find our will to carry on."
# Note: Read full article on Atlanta Journal-Constitution
May 24, 2007# Quickie Link: MassResistance Crashes Gay Youth Meeting
Youth (USA) - The May 21 meeting of the Massachusetts Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth got off to a rocky start when a group of attendees, including at least one with ties to the anti-gay group MassResistance, sparred with commission chair Jason Smith over whether or not they had the right to videotape the meeting, held in the State House’s Gardner Auditorium. The week before the meeting MassResistance blogger Amy Contrada urged supporters to attend the meeting, and at the start of the meeting there were two cameras pointed from the back of the auditorium to record the proceedings.
# Note: Read full article on Bay Windows
May 21, 2007# Quickie Link: S.F.'s Same-Sex Couples Asked to Adopt Foster Kids
Youth (USA) - With this intimate knowledge of foster children's needs, Gino VanGundy and his partner, Chris Moffet-VanGundy, are adopting a 16-year-old foster girl whose birth parents are dead, giving her and her yellow Labrador, Reynolds, a permanent home -- and two dads who promise to keep and love her forever. Today, the San Francisco Department of Human Services is starting a campaign to recruit more people like the VanGundys to adopt foster kids, especially teens, who are among the hardest to place. The agency sees gays and lesbians as an underutilized pool of potential parents.
# Note: Read full article on SF Gate
May 21, 2007# Quickie Link: New Gay Culture Clashes with Old in West Village
Youth (New York, USA) - The young gay men and lesbians stream from subway stops dressed in their flashiest gear: rainbow sunglasses, 6-inch-high gold wedge sandals, a fatigue-printed hoodie, a rhinestone-studded pink Playboy bunny bag. Hundreds of them make their way through the West Village - home of the gay liberation movement of the 1960s and '70s - toward the pier overlooking the Hudson River, where a drag queen in a platinum-blond wig and gold bamboo-style earrings swishes past a group of boys in baggy jeans. Rickke Mananzala, co-director of FIERCE, said young people tell him that they come here for the same reason, and that they have a right to hang out in the West Village, even if they can't afford to live here.
# Note: Read full article on Baltimore Sun
May 20, 2007# Quickie Link: Teachers Dismayed that Liberals Vote Down Amendment
Youth (Vancouver, Canada) – Teachers in Vancouver expressed disappointment today that Liberal members voted against an amendment to protect British Columbia students from homophobic bullying in the mandatory codes of conduct the government introduced under Bill 22. All Liberals except MLA Lorne Mayencourt voted against an amendment to make sure these codes of conduct conformed to the spirit of the BC Human Rights Code in the May 15 vote.
# Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
May 16, 2007# Quickie Link: Gay Youths Find Place to Call Home in Specialty Shelters
Youth (Detroit, USA) - One girl said she started living on the streets after her mother beat her for dressing like a boy. Another said she ran away from home after her father pulled a gun on her for hanging around with so many “tomboys.” A third said she left home after a family acquaintance raped her because she was a lesbian and he wanted to “straighten her out.” But gathered at Ruth’s House, a 10-bed emergency shelter for gay homeless youths here in east Detroit, they all said that for the first time they felt safe. Ruth’s House is one of a small number of shelters for gay youths that have opened around the nation in the past four years, reflecting an increasing awareness among child welfare advocates of the disproportionately high number of gay youths in the homeless population and the special problems they face.
# Note: Read full article on NY Times
May 10, 2007# Quickie Link: New Jersey Students Stage Walkout in Support of Teacher
Youth (West Milford, USA) - Four students at a New Jersey high school were suspended after 200 staged a walkout to protest the school's decision to withdraw an offer of tenure to a popular teacher who had objected to anti-gay slurs in her classroom. Cheryl Bachmann reportedly fought to have one of the students who had made a slur permanently removed after the student "was heard screaming in the high school’s hallways, using expletives and threatening to stab Bachmann."
# Note: Read full article on Towleroad
Apr 24, 2007# Quickie Link: Gay Bullying Turns Teens off Education
Youth (New Zealand) - Gay and lesbian people in New Zealand who come out openly in their teens are more likely to opt out of higher education because of school bullying, says a new study. Lower educational achievement over the course of their whole lives was the likely long-term impact on teens bullied as a result of coming out as gay or lesbian, says Dr Mark Henrickson, author of the study. Many respondents shared harrowing personal stories of years at high school, such as a student from an all-girl high school who said: “The worst thing you can ever be called is a lesbian, and if somebody finds out about you (like what happened to my friend) you become a social pariah.
# Note: Read full article on www.sciencealert.com.au
Apr 21, 2007# Quickie Link: Gay-Kiss Ad As Pot-smoking Warning
Youth (Canada) - MTV Canada has created a new commercial featuring a gay kiss, oddly to warn against the perils of pot-smoking. The Saatchi & Saatchi created ad features a trio of young men sitting in a car in an empty car park, apparently after smoking marijuana. Two of the boys kiss, provoking a stunned response from the third.
# Note: The story is at Gay.com
The ad itself is on AdvertisingAge.com
Apr 20, 2007# Quickie Link: Diversity Scholarships at OU Exclude LGBT Students
Youth (Athens, USA) - As Ohio University strives to increase diversity, one of the main proponents has been to offer more scholarships to minorities. The university provides scholarships tagged for black, Hispanic and American Indian students to help boost the presence of diverse students on campus, said G. Christine Taylor, the assistant to the president for diversity. But scholarships for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students are not on the list.
# Note: Read full article on The Post
Apr 17, 2007# News: Child Welfare Conference to Explore Adolescent Sexuality
Youth (Orono, USA) - The 13th Annual Child Welfare Conference, organized by the University of Maine School of Social Work and Eastern Maine Medical Center's SCAN committee, is bringing together experts in adolescent sexuality on April 26 to discuss facts and dispel myths about young people, sex and gender issues.
# Read more...
Apr 12, 2007# Quickie Link: When Will Queer Youth Be Safe in BC Schools?
Youth (Canada) - Opposition MLAs and education activists reacted with frustration and skepticism to what they're calling the BC government's new bare-bones safe schools policy, introduced Mar 29. They say the policy falls far short of protecting queer students and staff from intimidation and harassment on the grounds of real or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity.
# Note: Read full article on www.xtra.ca
Apr 12, 2007# Quickie Link: Gay Student in Pueblo Attacked by Teens
Youth (USA) - A 15-year-old gay Centennial High School student was taunted and attacked by six classmates last week because of his sexual orientation. The victim was undergoing surgery for a broken nose and facial injuries today, according to the Lesbian and Gay Alliance. The incident happened last Thursday afternoon, when Anthony Hergesheimer was walking home from Centennial High School along Denver Boulevard, the organization said. Six male students, ages 15 and 16, in a vehicle apparently passed by Hergesheimer several times before they stopped and hurled anti-gay insults at him.
# Note: Read full article on Rocky Mountain News
Apr 10, 2007# News: Truth Wins Out Releases Video on 'Day of Truth'
Youth (Miami Beach, USA) - Truth Wins Out unveiled a new video today on YouTube examining the "Day of Truth" which aims to push gay youth into 'ex-gay' conversion programs. In response to GLSEN's "Day of Silence" where gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth remain silent to protest the silencing effect discrimination and harassment has on LGBT youth, the far right Alliance Defense Fund created a "Day of Truth" one day after the pro-gay "Day of Silence."
# Read more...
Apr 01, 2007# Quickie Link: Son: ‘I don’t want to hear it! I’m not gay!’
Youth (Connecticut) - When his parents first asked, 7th grader Zach O'Connor denied he was gay. He was horrified that his parents might know the truth about him. He sought out a girlfriend. He was miserable. Then the entire school found out that Zach was gay, and he realized he had to tell Mom and Dad.
# Note: Zach's whole story is in the New York Times
Apr 01, 2007# Quickie Link: Laws Against Bullying Get a Shove Forward
Youth (USA) - They're the most effective lobbyists for state laws against anti-gay bullying, and many don't even have driver's licenses yet. Gay teens are taking to the halls of state legislatures to explain to lawmakers that gay kids don't just live in big cities on the East and West coasts-- they are truly everywhere.
# Note: Read the story of their successes in the Monterey Herald
Mar 27, 2007# Quickie Link: MPs: Catholic Schools Soft on Anti-gay Bullying
Youth (London) - A committee of MPs has attacked Roman Catholic church-run schools for refusing to implement government guidelines on setting up anti-homophobic bullying policies. ...Liberal Democrat MP and education spokesman Stephen Williams [said,] "Bullying is a matter of child welfare, not one of theology. ...If you can't learn in a safe environment then school has failed in its primary mission."
# Note: Read the full article in Pink News
Mar 27, 2007# Quickie Link: Cali Bill Would Require Teacher Tolerance Training
Youth (Sacramento, CA) - Protesters and counter protesters clashed at the state Capitol on Monday over a proposed law protecting gay students... Assemblyman Lloyd Levine said gay teenagers need more protection under the law. "It's tough enough to be a teenager, and then to be a teenager who discovers and realizes that they're gay is even harder, because of the harassment and discrimination you face. The suicide rate amongst LGBT youth is much, much higher than the rest of teenagers," Levine said. He introduced a measure requiring schools to provide tolerance training for teachers. If they don't comply, they'll run the risk of losing state funding.
# Note: The details are on NBC 11 TV
Mar 20, 2007# Quickie Link: Out of the closet, out on the street
Youth (USA) - There is growing concern among researchers and activists over a trend among gay young people: Many are homeless. In Colorado Springs, 20 percent to 40 percent of clients at the Urban Peak youth homeless shelter say they are gay, bisexual or transgender. That compares with 3 percent to 5 percent of U.S. residents who call themselves gay. Definitions vary, but generally the age grouping runs from the early teens to 22.
# Note: Read full article on www.gazette.com
Mar 18, 2007# Quickie Link: Coming Out to Grandma and Grandpa
Youth Some coming out events happen by accident (Dad finds your naked-man magazines under your mattress when you're 15), others are purposefully executed. Depending on who you are telling, coming out on purpose can be easy or uncomfortable, fun or miserable, casual or life-changingly personal, a secret you can't wait to tell or a revelation you're dreading to reveal. This is a brief story about the latter.
# Note: Read full article on QueerSighted
Mar 17, 2007# Quickie Link: 'Equality riders' were turned away elsewhere but welcomed at Nazarene university
Youth (USA) - Gay-rights activists and MidAmerica Nazarene University officials disagree strongly on how colleges should treat gay and lesbian students. The group of gay-rights activists is traveling the country to battle discrimination against gay people on college campuses. SSome targeted colleges ban the activists from campus, and in some cases they’ve been arrested for trespassing. But not at MidAmerica Nazarene, where administrators warn students they can be disciplined and even dismissed if they engage in sexual activity with members of the same sex. The college decided to welcome the activists, hosting them for a dinner with student leaders on Thursday night and six classroom presentations on Friday.
# Note: Read full article on Kansas City Star
Mar 15, 2007# Quickie Link: Gay protections enter anti-bullying debate
Youth (TALLAHASSEE, USA) - A bill intended to curb bullying at public schools is once again becoming a lightning rod for Florida lawmakers' views on homosexuality. Several students who came to Tallahassee this week on behalf of the "Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up For All Students Act," were told by one lawmaker that they needed psychological treatment because they're gay. The bill defines "sexual, religious or racial harassment" as bullying, but makes no mention of sexual orientation.
# Note: Read full article on www.news-press.com
Mar 11, 2007# Quickie Link: Suffer The Little Children - II - By Richard Rothstein
Youth When I was a wee one (as we approach Saint Paddy's Day my Irish comes out) my mother told me that if you put a postage stamp upside down on the envelope, the post office delivers it faster. Oddly, I remember her telling me that when I asked why she had applied some postage stamps upside down and others right side up. Rather than tell me it was for no reason, she lied and made up a story. I was about five or six.
# Note: Read full article on www.queersighted.com
Mar 11, 2007# Quickie Link: Suffer The Little Children - I - By Richard Rothstein
Youth But as horrific, dramatic and as frustrating as most growing-up-gay war stories may be, nothing disturbs me more than the plight of the gay child in a religious fundamentalist home. And while I have written about this before in other place, as a newcomer to AOL with a new audience, I'm going to torture you with this, one of my top three soapbox issues. (Bigotry, civil rights and child abuse--in case you were wondering.)
# Note: Read full article on www.queersighted.com
Mar 11, 2007# Quickie Link: Religious groups attack circulation of books raising gay issues among primary school pupils
Youth (UK) - A pilot scheme introducing books dealing with gay issues to children from the ages of four to 11 has just been launched in England's schools. It is being argued that the books, one of which is a fairytale featuring a prince who turns down three princesses before falling in love and marrying a man, are necessary to make homosexuality seem normal to children. Fourteen schools and one local authority, backed by teaching unions and a government-funded organisation, are running the [..] scheme, which has been attacked by Christian groups.
# Note: Read full article on guardian.co.uk
Mar 07, 2007# Quickie Link: Utah Legislation Would Ban Gay/Straight Sports Clubs In School
Youth (USA) - If you are planning on joining a sports club in a Utah school then you better make sure that you are up to date on the don't ask don't tell policy. The State legislation gave final approval to a measure that bans gay-straight alliance clubs of any kind at public high schools in the state.
# Note: Read full article on www.gaywired.com
Mar 06, 2007# Quickie Link: Superior man takes part in national crusade for gay rights
Youth (USA) - A former Superior resident is one of 52 young adults selected nationally to take part in a journey that will bring him across the country to the cause of gay rights. Twenty-one year old Justin Hager will be one of the riders going on a bus tour modeled after the freedom rides of the civil rights era. Hager says the Soulforce Equality Ride is a national journey of young adults visiting colleges which openly discriminate against people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender.
# Note: Read full article on www.businessnorth.com
Mar 05, 2007# Quickie Link: Gay teen sex scandal shocks Ireland
Youth (Dublin, Ireland) - The Irish press are currently whipping up a soufflé of old fashioned homophobia, sensationalism and thoughtless scare mongering. It all started when a 14-year old boy was caught having sex with older men that he’d met through Gaydar. The boy hails from Swords, an unforgiving suburb on the northside of the city of Dublin. His mother went through his mobile phone messages and found saucy texts from a number of men whose numbers were saved in the phone. She went straight to the local police station and made a complaint.
# Note: Read full article on uk.gay.com
Mar 02, 2007# News: UC Berkeley Students Organize Gay Fraternity
Youth (Berkeley, USA) - Sigma Epsilon Omega (SEO), UC Berkeley’s only gay fraternity, will be officially launching its first meeting and rush event, Tuesday, Feb. 27th, 2007 at 7pm in Barrows Hall, Room 190. This event will serve as an informational meeting for potential members and the Berkeley community. The remainder of the week will include rush events for potential members including interviews, a Social Night, and an Invite Only Event.
# Read more...
Feb 22, 2007# Quickie Link: Legislature OKs strict rules on school gay clubs
Youth (SALT LAKE CITY, USA) - The Utah Legislature approved a lengthy list of rules governing student clubs at public schools on Wednesday in an effort to legally prohibit so-called gay-straight clubs from organizing to promote understanding and tolerance. The bill doesn’t ban gay clubs outright, though it lets school authorities reject clubs that threaten the “moral well-being” of students or “involve human sexuality” - prohibitions that critics say are certain to bring a court challenge.
# Note: Read full article on www.sovo.com
Feb 20, 2007# Quickie Link: Danny'a boat: under-16 Dutch Gay youth win important victory -- By Doug Ireland
Youth (Amsterdam, Netherlands) - Netherlands gay youth under the legal age of consent of 16 won a significant victory last week when Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen finally gave his approval to a special boat for such youngsters in the annual Canal Pride gay boat parade through the city center's famous waterway, an event that needs a city permit to take place. The special homojongerenboot, or homo youngsters boat, in the traditionally colorful and festive Canal Pride boat parade - to be held this year on August 4 during three days of Pride celebrations and events - will be reserved for youth between the ages of 12 and 16, according to the Dutch national news agency ANP, and the youngsters will be accompanied on the boat by their parents. The initiative for the boat for underage youngsters came from 14-year-old Danny Hoekzema, a gay youth who campaigned for the idea on his personal Web site.
# Note: Read full article on DIRELAND
Feb 05, 2007# Quickie Link: Homophobic Bullying Getting Worse, UK Gay Youth Group Says
Youth (Manchester, UK) - High-profile homophobic bullying initiatives are failing to make a significant impact in preventing homophobic bullying, according to the Queer Youth Network, a national organisation by and for Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered young people. The group argues the very nature of schools themselves need to be looked at in order to eradicate all forms of bullying. Tackling homophobic bullying alone is creating a distraction from dealing with a much larger problem.
# Note: Read full article on UK Gay News
Jan 31, 2007# Quickie Link: Homeless Runway Gay Youth Crisis
Youth (New York, USA) - Two national advocacy groups today accused the federal government of neglecting what they described as an epidemic of homelessness affecting tens of thousands of gay and lesbian youth, many of whom leave home because of conflicts with their parents. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Coalition for the Homeless said gay, lesbian and transgender youth make up at least 20 percent - possibly as much as 40 percent - of the total number of homeless and runaway youth, a fluid population which experts have estimated at 575,000 to 1.6 million each year.
# Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
Jan 29, 2007# Quickie Link: Report reveals extent of anti-gay taunts in schools
Youth (UK) - Research by the National Union of Teachers has revealed that the vast majority of their members hear the word gay used pejoratively on a regular basis. Many felt that sexist and homophobic language was institutionally tolerated. The study also revealed the high levels of sexist language being used in schools and that many female teachers are sexually harassed by pupils.
# Note: Read full article on www.pinknews.co.uk
Jan 22, 2007# Quickie Link: U.S. must do better for homeless, runaway gay teens
Youth (USA) - An appalling number of young people -- as many as 1.6 million, the federal government estimates -- are homeless or runaways. And even though a small fraction of teens are gay, more than 40 percent of homeless youth are gay, the National Runaway Switchboard finds. The new report is a wakeup call for lawmakers and social service agencies: So much hostility and violence are directed at gay teens in foster care, homeless shelters or correctional facilities that many conclude they're safer living on a sidewalk.
# Note: Read full article on www.detnews.com
Jan 20, 2007# Quickie Link: Gay kids allowed in Amsterdam Gay Pride
Youth (Amsterdam, Netherlands)- Children have been the given the go-ahead to participate in Amsterdam's Gay Pride canal parade in the summer. The gay children will have their own boat with room for 30 gay children, news service NIS reported on Friday. The minimum age for children to join him is 11.
# Note: Read full article on www.expatica.com
Jan 18, 2007# Quickie Link: 23% Of Washington School Districts Ban Teaching About Homosexuality
Youth (Seattle, USA) - Nearly a quarter of the school districts in the state of Washington bar teachers from talking about homosexuality and nearly a third do not allow teachers to discus condoms. The statistics are part of a study released Tuesday by the Healthy Youth Alliance, a coalition working to reduce sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy among teens in the state.
# Note: Read full article on 365gay.com
Jan 15, 2007# Quickie Link: USA: Speaker Pelosi needs to put protecting gay kids first -- By Deb Price
Youth Painfully aware that much of the world considers them worthless, many gay kids struggle with a cycle of self hatred that they carry into adulthood, if they are lucky enough to survive that long. Why should Pelosi put "Protect our gay kids" atop the House's to-do list? Heart-breaking research provides plenty of reasons.
# Note: Read full article on www.detnews.com

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