Gay and lesbian youth: Struggling
__________ in silence__________
Community examines needs of sexual minority youth
Ministries of Oregon and the American
Friends Service Committee, Parents and
Friends of Lesbians and Gays. Cascade AIDS
here public schools, juvenile justice
Project, the Lesbian Community Project and
and youth services are concerned, the
good word on homosexuality has usually been interested individuals.
“hush.”
Their common goal, reached in a February
Judy Chambers, substance abuse
meeting, is to address the needs of sexual
specialist for Portland Public Schools, knew
minority youth through three main channels:
that. And then the issue began to filter home.
policies that protect against discrimination,
education for the community and services that
Last Chambers’s daughter wanted to write
a paper on homosexuality, but the teacher
help young people “develop to their full
balked. “The teacher challenged her interest in
capacity free from harassment and
victimization.”
that, saying, ‘You’re a normal kid. Why are
you interested in that?’ and delivered a very
clear message to kids who may be struggling
Nam ing the issue
with that question,” Chambers recalled.
Then, last fall. Chambers met with
he task force’s mission statement
members of a substance abuse prevention
describes the bleak edge of the picture
committee of Multnomah County. That group,
for gay and lesbian teens. Adolescents who
assigned to consider minority issues, focused
are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transsexual suffer
only on ethnic minorities and was reluctant to
disproportionate risk of harassment, suicide,
talk about problems facing gay and lesbian
substance abuse, HIV infection, depression,
adolescents.
low self-esteem, homelessness, prostitution
“A number of different things have been
and sexual exploitation, the statement notes.
Also, they are called names in the
reminding me of the disproportionate burden
hallways. Several task force members said
sexual minority youth carry,” Chambers said.
that a walk through the corridors of any
Last December she convened a task force to
secondary school demonstrates the need for
discuss — and work to reduce — that weight
their work.
of silence, fear and isolation for gay and
“There’s a good deal of name-calling with
lesbian teens.
school-age kids. The names that come up a lot
The task force has earned a tentative go-
are ‘faggot,’ ‘queer’ or’lezzie,’” said Ron
ahead from Portland Public Schools
Blood worth, a student services specialist
Superintendent Matthew Prophet. The
“If kids are called names with respect to
superintendent, while not making any
race, you feel like you have a lot of policy
commitments to specific ideas such as holding
back-up support,” Bloodworth continued.
sensitivity trainings for staff or adding sexual
“But homophobic names are not addressed
orientation to the schools’ non-discrimination
specifically in the discipline code.”
code, did encourage the task force to continue
Taylor said he would favor policy changes
its work and requested a timeline of
prohibiting students from using sexual
recommendations.
epithets. “We ought to do something with our
In an interview. Director of Curriculum
policy so that it’s wrong for students to use
Carlos Taylor said that school administrators
those kinds of slurs, to talk about gay and
and staff need more training to work with gay
lesbian people as if they are less than anyone
and lesbian students.
else. We want to keep that from happening,
“We all need not only to have our
that kids are called names.”
sensitivity heightened, but we need to have
In a draft of recommendations specific to
the skills to help adolescents dealing with
the
schools, some advocates of increased
these big issues," he said.
support for gay and lesbian students suggested
In the past, homosexuality has usually
boosting
resources on homosexuality in the
been discussed in the schools only in the
staff library, planning sensitivity training for
context of AIDS education and prevention,
administrators and developing lists of
Taylor said. “It seems so automatic, the
materials appropriate for school libraries.
assumption that they are one issue. We need
Later steps might include training of health
to make it clear that they are not.”
teachers and school medical staff on sexual
Members of the Task Force on Adolescent
orientation issues and designating “safe” staff
Sexual Minority issues come from various
persons in middle and high schools for
comers. They include representatives from
students who want to talk about questions of
Multnomah County, the school system and the
sexual identity, according to the draft.
State Commission on Youth, Ecumenical
BY
ANNDEE
HOCHMAN
W
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CIRCLE HEALTHCARE CLINIC
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ACUPUNCTURE • CHIROPRACTIC • MASSAGE • COUNSELING • NATUROPATHIC MEDICINE
fAN CORW IN, D.C.
CHIROPRACTIC PHYSICIA
"If kids are called names
with respect to race, you feel
like you have a lot of policy
back-up and support, but
homophobic names are not
addressed specifically in the
discipline code"
—Ron Bloodworth, student
services specialist
‘Not safe’ to be out
ulie Baumler, now a student at Lewis and
Clark and a member of Windfire, a
Portland support group for gay and lesbian
youth, joined the task force in the hope of
making life easier for current high school
students than it was for her.
“When I was 16 and had just come out, my
life was utter hell, becuase there was really
nothing for people my age.. .1 have a lot of
friends who dropped out of high school, and
part of the reason they did is because they
couldn’t stand the harassment and the
assumption that everyone’s straight,” she said.
Within the rigid social code of most high
schools, “the feeling is that it’s not safe to be
anything but closeted," Baumler said.
J
COME SEE ALASKA'S PARTY
ANIMALS
BROOKE WINTER, L.Ac.
AQUf
KIP M. HARD, D C.
CHIROPRACTIC PHYSICIAN
E M. LYON, M S., L.M.T.
AGE & BODY CENTERED THERAPY
SUZANNE SCOPES, N .D ^ I
NATUROPATHIC PHYSICUÍ&*
TH Y PETERS, L.M.T.
SED MASSAGE TECHNICIAN
ND , OR 97232
812
justoutT 16T March 1990
National statistics echo her observation. A
survey by the National Gay Task Force found
that 45 percent of gay males and nearly 20
percent of lesbians had suffered verbal or
physical assault in secondary schools.
Counselors and researchers point out that
gay adolescents face all the common struggles
of that age group. They wrestle with identity,
with separation from their parents, with
romantic and sexual relationships, with
concerns about their future. But for gay and
lesbian teens, those problems are compounded
by society’s homophobia.
"High school is such a difficult time for
kids who are coming out,” said Bonnie
Brown, student assistance coordinator at
Marshall High School. “Kids are so into
defining their roles and so into being
accepted. Kids can be cruel, real cruel.”
Brown suggested that young lesbians may
feel the most isolated. She said thay many gay
male teenagers are able to form close
friendships with heterosexual girls, while
lesbians are often rejected by classmates of
both sexes.
And while most students can seek advice
from teachers, coaches, counselors, clergy or
family, gay, lesbian and bisexual students may
be so fearftil of rejection that they do not
disclose their feelings to anyone.
“I haven’t had a lot of experience talking
to kids [about sexual identity issues] because
of not being able to convey the safety they
would need to feel,” said Chambers. “We
need to find all the possible means for
communicating safety.”
Gay teens, struggling on the fringes of the
high school environment, don’t always find
welcome in the adult gay and lesbian
community. Closeted adults can’t provide
adequate role models, and pervasive myths
about “recruitment” of young people make
some adult gay men and lesbians reluctant to
initiate friendships with teens.
“A lot of older people in the community
are scared stiff to talk to young people,” said
Baumler. “And that’s what we ¿11 need the
most — people who are gay and who are
willing to admit that to someone who’s under
18.”
The same reluctance — exacerbated by
fears of losing their jobs — affects gay and
lesbian teachers and counselors, as well as
those who would like to support gay students
but hesitate to raise the issue. Others alienate
students through their unconscious use of
language that excludes gay men and lesbians
— for instance, assuming that partners are
heterosexual when students discuss problems
in intimate relationships.
“I think 95 percent of counselors don’t
know beans about how to deal with kids who
are indecisive [about sexual identity] or who
are gay/lesbian identified,” said Brown.
“Counselors should have more sensitivity in
terms of our language. We don’t learn about
this in graduate school. People have to deal
with their own issues.”
Members of the community task force
agree that the education effort should include
families, schools, the juvenile justice system
and human service providers who work with
young people. Educating non-gay youth, as
well as teachers, medical providers and
counselors will be a critical step toward
reducing homophobia, they said.
It will not necessarily be an easy one. Even
the language chosen by the task force in its
mission statement demonstrates the sensitivity
involved in discussing gay and lesbian youth.
“Given that the needs of sexual minority
youth are inadequately addresed,” the
statement reads, the task force aims to help
such youth “develop according to their own
unique characteristics” — wording that group
members hope can earn support from almost
everyone.
The gathering of the task force itself is a
significant step. Merely by meeting and
gaining a go-ahead from district officials, the
group has burst the first barrier around gay
and lesbian adolescent issues — the shell of
silence. Its existence draws public attention to
problems that gay teens have understood,
privately and painfully for years.
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