The Plight of the Invisible LGBT Youth

From 365gay.com:

It’s a gorgeous mid-September Tuesday evening in New York City and the setting sun warmly glows over the streets of Midtown. Chelsea, New York’s gayest enclave, shifts into party mode just a few blocks south. To the northeast, the world is starting to queue up for Broadway hits. Meanwhile, commuters rush to the comforts of home.

Michigan Group Tackles GLBT Youth Suicide

Statitics show that one in every three GLBT youth will either attempt or commit suicide.  A Kalamazoo, Michigan based nonprofit organization named Project Light is stepping up efforts to do something about it.

A little over a year ago, Adam Taylor, the Director of the program made the decision to start a forum with the goal of getting people involved and helping depressed GLBT teens. Taylor has given over 1,000 hours of his time in the past year to build the organization, by raising funds and recruiting volunteers.

Today, September 13, Project Light will participate in the Out of the Darkness walk at Prarie View Park in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The goal of this event is to raise to $30,000, in conjuction with other groups which will be donated to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

And one of the key groups affected - gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people - will benefit, said Taylor. He should know: Taylor used to be a depressed youth.

Now a college student at Western Michigan University, Taylor, like many gay youth, had a difficult time coming out during high school. “Personally, for me, when I was coming out I had a huge amount of depression for about two years.,” he recalled. “I call it the balloon syndrome. You keep pumping and pumping air into a balloon and eventually it’s going to go flying off and make that cool sound and everything’s OK and happy or, it pops.”

GLBT Youth Respond to Increasing HIV Rates

The National Youth Advocacy Coalition responded today to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) latest report indicating that there are an estimated 40% more people living with HIV in the United States than previously thought. These new figures were gathered by the CDC using improved technology and methodology. The CDC’s report shows the largest population representing new HIV infection were young people aged 29 and under, indicating that existing pubic education efforts surrounding HIV prevention must be updated to be more relevant and effective at reaching youth as well as increased in breadth and depth to reach this demographic.

“The National Youth Advocacy Coalition applauds the CDC for providing the most accurate information on the status of our country’s HIV epidemic, but we are extremely concerned about the implications of these new numbers,” said Greg Varnum, NYAC’s acting executive director. “These latest figures clearly show that Americans aged 29 and under are not adequately or effectively engaged by existing methods of public education around HIV prevention and the importance of HIV testing. In this electronic era of MySpace, Facebook, Sidekicks and text messaging, NYAC will be taking a leading role in delivering public health messages to Gen Y through the technologies they use everyday.”

Read more at nyacyouth.org.

GLBT Youths Explore Exchange Program

Seven members from Bristol, England’s GLBT group Freedom Youth are going to visit Japan and take part in an inaugural educational exchange program, reports the Kyodo News International.

The seven students will arrive in Tokyo August 18th. While in Japan, they will also take a cultural trip to Kyoto.

While in Tokyo, the participants, aged from 16 to 21, will have the opportunity to co-facilitate educational workshops on GLBT issues which affect today’s youth. A larger public event on August 24th at Tokyo’s International Youth Center is set to involve a couple of hundred people.

Organized GLBT events aimed at youth are extremely rare in Japan where gay youth support networks are basically non-existent.

Rose Richards, the Bristol City Council Head or of Youth and Play Services told Kyodo News, “LGBT young people are amongst some of the most disadvantaged young people in the country. They are a group who are often denied access to mainstream opportunities. Involvement in the planning and delivery of an international exchange provides a unique platform where they can develop personally and socially. The impact of this exchange has been phenomenal already. Just by giving young people the opportunity to come together and overcome their isolation by developing their social networks, they secure mutual support, self-confidence and self-esteem.”

The trip has been set to be the main subject of an upcoming Japanese documentary by the Japan Broadcasting Co.

A group of GLBT Japanese youth are planing a reciprocal trip to Bristol, England in 2009.