Interesting Quote: Carl Siciliano

To be a homeless LGBT youth in New York City means battling the cold, desperate to find somewhere warm and dry at night, knowing it would be a catastrophe if your shoes and clothes get wet. It means being exhausted, suffering chronic sleep deprivation as you try with little success to rest on the subways and train stations and on the streets. It means being terrified, afraid that the police will kick you out of the subway cars and train stations, afraid of violence when you have to sell your body, afraid that you will be beaten or robbed while trying to sleep on park benches or under bridges. To be a homeless LGBT youth in New York City all to frequently means being hungry, forsaken, alone, brutalized.


Is there a more terrible expression of homophobia in our times than tens of thousands of teens being cast out of their homes and made homeless in our streets? How horrible it is that kids are made to experience such brutal abuse, just for being who they are? I believe that these youths are, without ever intending to be, unsung heroes of the LGBT movement. They are heroic because of the terrible price they pay for their honesty.

Carl is the Executive Director, Ali Forney Center in NYC. Please read his entire piece here and check out the pictures of our homeless LGBT teens.

Black Gay Youths turn to Gangs for Support & Protection

The lack of gay male role models and consistent bullying has brought young gays together in a not-so-great way... A gay gang:

To hear the leader of Check It tell it, there may be some truth to both.

“I just got tired of people beating on me and calling me faggie,” Tayron Bennett, 21, told me recently. He’d helped to organize Check It while a student at Hine Junior High School. Other gay youths from his Trinidad neighborhood in Northeast soon joined, followed by gay youths from throughout the city.

D.C. police estimate that Check It has a core membership of about 20 and counts between 50 and 100 others as “associates.”

“At first, I tried fighting bullies one-on-one, but they don’t fight fair; they fight two and three on one,” Bennett said. So the youths got together and “started carrying mace, knives, brass knuckles and stun guns, and if somebody messed with one of us then all of us would gang up on them.”

I really hope someone reach out to them fast. The bullying and abuse has pushed these youths to take matters into their own hands and that could be dangerous. I don't want this gay gang notion to cost them their lives.

Please read the rest of the article and pass it on.

source

LGBT Organizations Reach out to Rekers' Rentboy

Thanks to an impressive campaign from JoeMyGod, several LGBT orgs have lend their support and services to Jo-Vanni Roman, the rentboy George Rekers hired for a rub down weekend

An impressive group of state and national LGBT organizations have expressed their support for Jo-Vanni Roman, the Miami rentboy caught in the middle of the best/worst scandal to hit the anti-gay political machine in years. The above listed organizations and other skilled Florida-based professionals have all indicated their willingness to step in with their widely varied areas of expertise, should the situation become appropriate for their involvement.

The leaders of these organizations have agreed to lend their names to this show of solidarity by the nation's LGBT community.

Equality Florida: Nadine Smith, Executive Director
National Center for Lesbian Rights: Kate Kendall, Executive Director
Norm Kent: Civil Rights Attorney, Publisher and Editor, South Florida Gay News Truth Wins Out: Wayne Besen, Executive Director
The Trevor Project: Charles Robbins, Executive Director
Lambda Legal: Gregory Nevins, Senior Staff Attorney, Southern Regional Office Fifteen Minutes Publicity: Howard Bragman, Chairman Noted Hollywood publicity agent Howard Bragman, who specializes in media crisis management, has volunteered to help Jo-Vanni Roman navigate the deluge of interview requests.

They are scheduled to speak today. Florida-based attorney Ron Gunzburger has also made an offer of pro bono support, should the need arise. Other national and state organizations may be added to this list in the next few days.

This is good to see. I hope these same groups can become a super force for more of our LGBT community in the future.

The Church finally did something Right

The Ali Forney Center and the local Episcopal diocese came together to reach out to LGBT homeless and troubled teens.

They renovated St. Andrew's Church for 16 teens to sleep in peace.

Carl Siciliano, executive director of the center, says he's grateful for the church's philanthropic outreach.


"So many of these young people are rejected by their families because of religion," he says. "Kids come in who have been put through exorcisms, and we've had kids whose parents make them go see priests who tell them they're evil and hateful and that they're going to hell. It's a really upsetting and unfortunate situation that so many young people are put through this kind of trauma by their parents' religious beliefs, so it's very moving to see a religious organization that's able to say that these youth should be affirmed and cared for, so I'm very grateful to the Episcopal diocese of Long Island for their support."

This is so awesome. I hope this example motivates other religious groups to follow suit. Pay attention, D.C.!

source

LGBT Teens suffer more from binge-eating and purging than Straight Teens

Research shows that LGBT teens suffers from binge-eating and purging more than their heterosexual teen counterparts.

For the new study, researchers at Harvard University and Children's Hospital Boston used data from a U.S. survey of nearly 14,000 12- to 23-year-olds to look at the relationship between sexual orientation and binge-eating and purging. "

We found clear and concerning signs of higher rates of eating disorder symptoms in sexual-minority youth compared to their heterosexual peers even at ages as young as 12, 13 or 14 years old," lead researcher S. Bryn Austin, an assistant professor of pediatrics, told Reuters Health in an email.

Among females, lesbian, bisexual and mostly heterosexual respondents were all about twice as likely as their heterosexual counterparts to report binge-eating at least once per month in the past year.

Bisexual and mostly heterosexual girls and women were also more likely to say they had purged in the past year in order to control their weight. Among males, the highest risks were seen among homosexuals -- who were seven times more likely to report bingeing and nearly 12 times more likely to report purging than heterosexual males.

Bisexual and mostly heterosexual boys and men also had elevated risks of both problems -- with rates anywhere from three to seven times higher than those of their heterosexual counterparts.

This is not a surprise, but it's still sad. But the interesting piece is this statement by S. Bryn Austin:

"We know that gay, lesbian, and other sexual-minority kids are often under a lot of pressure," Austin said, noting that these teens are often "treated like outsiders" in their own families and schools, and may be excluded, harassed or victimized by bullies.

"This kind of isolation and victimization can take its toll on a young person and one of ways it can play out is in vulnerability to eating-disorder symptoms and a host of other stress-related health problems."

Austin should look into the pressures the LGBT community contribute to this as well. Let's be real, the shallowness that plagues our community is very dangerous. I know many of us have felt the pressures of looking hot, thin, young and beautiful to fit in.

Imagine what a questioning teen goes through and when they try to reach out the LGBT community, they may not be cute enough for someone to care. This is not the regular scenario, but I know it happens. I know there are LGBT teens feeling alienated from LGBT community because they don't fit into the idea gay look.

But that's another post for another time.

source

North Carolina passes a bill that Protects LGBT kids

The North Carolina house and senate passes a bill that protects students bullied for their perceived or actual sexual orientation or gender identity.

Now the bill goes to Gov. Beverly Perdue, so she can to sign it into law.

This is great news for LGBT youth who are teased and bullied for being themselves. Great news.

Here's a great quote from Dems representative, Grier Martin:

"To oppose this bill because you object to [gay or transgender people] is to fight the culture wars on the back of a child."

So True

GLASS needs our Support

Everybody's talking about this...GLASS, L.A.'s Gay and Lesbian Adolescent Social Services voted 7-0 to declare bankruptcy. This place is a staple in the community by providing LGBT troubled youth a home and counseling.

They are trying to get out of this mess but it's seems to be a uphill climb. Here's more from Pam's site about the issue

"This is a world-class disaster," DeCrescenzo told me by phone, noting that GLASS just became the first licensed LGBT adoption agency in the country. Their primary program is providing group homes for 40 LGBT 15-17 year olds, and transitional living for 25 teens between 17-19.

"Where are those kids going to go? The county will tell you they'll place them somewhere. But you tell me - who wants or who knows how to work with trans kids? My guess is that the kids will run away and we'll see them on the streets."

DeCrescenzo says she believes the board filed for Chapter 7 out of fear of their own personal liability because the agency was behind in paying Worker's Comp and with the IRS. But she says an LA County contract check was expected to cover the gap and she could work out a payment plan with the IRS.

Additionally, the reorganization plan would change the group home structure from a "family style" of six beds with two fulltime staff to 12-bed congregate living - hardly ideal but "better than going under."

This would the perfect time for our gay community to come together and raise money and awareness about this matter. I can't help but to think about Breakin' 2 Electric Boogaloo.
They raised money to save their youth center, perhaps we can get our best drag queens, talented performers (non-porn), orgainzations and bars to help. We have to protect our LGBT youth.