Twink Wars, PICS; Jan 11, 2011
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Take Action:Health - Wellness - Exercise - Reflections:Science For A Brighter Future: Research On Bullying and Gay Teen Suicide
Auto Straddle / Jan 10, 2011 / Rachel K.
We all know that bullies and homophobes, from the locker room to the Senate, are part of why gay and lesbian teens (and adults) have such ridiculously high rates of suicide. But when a panel of 26 leading researchers back it up, we may finally be on the way to changing things.
Everyone from President Obama to Justin Bieber has now officially weighed in on the Gay Teen Suicide phenomenon, and while they all agree it is Very Tragic so far the discussion has been largely feelings-based as opposed to action-based. But that may be beginning to change; it takes the scientific community a little longer to enter these conversations, because it takes them time to actually do the research and make sure they have something concrete to say, but their input might be the most important of all. A panel of 26 researchers, clinicians, educators and policy experts have just released a comprehensive report on suicidal tendencies and behavior in queer teens and adults. It will appear in print in the January 19th issue of the Journal of Homosexuality, but until then it's also available to read online if you'd like to see the findings for yourself.
So what does it say? The general conclusions aren't shocking; like most studies, this one calls for more studies like itself, in order to "close knowledge gaps about suicidal behavior in LGBT people." More interestingly, however, it also calls for "making LGBT suicide prevention a national priority." Galvanizing language that's ulitmately meaningless? Maybe. But keep in mind that to a large extent, we have not even made "educating our children" or "ending our multiple wars overseas" a national priority, so that's actually pretty strong language. Dr. Ann Haas, the study's lead author, has said that she "[hopes] to move LGBT suicide prevention squarely onto the national agenda and provide a framework for actions aimed at reducing suicidal behavior in these populations." Supporting LGBT people hasn't been squarely part of the national agenda since, well, ever, not even in the 1980s when it felt like we might actually die out, so I'm going to give Dr. Haas a lot of credit for that statement.
The actual findings of the report don't disappoint either. They report "strong research evidence of significantly elevated rates of lifetime reported suicide attempts among LGBT adolescents and adults," which we've known both statistically and anecdotally for a long time. They also report that data on this is hard to find and verify, because of the difficult-to-quantify nature of sexual orientation and gender identity - people don't always want to report it, and it's not always included in death reports. Again, already commonly known. But then they bring out something people may not have heard before - while other research indicating abnormally high levels of depression, anxiety and substance abuse in queer teens is solid, "the panel found that these problems, by themselves, do not account for the higher rates of suicide attempts that have been reported by LGBT people." What does account for them?
"… the consensus report identified stigma and discrimination as playing a key role, especially acts such as rejection or abuse by family members or peers, bullying and harassment, denunciation from religious communities and individual discrimination. The report also highlighted evidence that discriminatory laws and public policies have a profound negative impact on the mental health of gay adults."
Did you already know that? Yes. In a way, it's only the same thing everyone has been saying since September: when kids kill themselves, bullies are at least partly responsible, and should be held accountable. But this is the first time, as far as I know, that an objective and highly respected research team has agreed. And they're not just talking about the pushing-into-lockers bullies, but the kind that we encounter throughout our lives: the bosses that fire us for coming out, the parents that don't want to meet our partner, the churches that call us deviant, the government that treats us like less than people.
A real scientific study calls them all out.
And aside from just validating our feelings, this could mean the potential for real change; if we really are going to become part of the "national agenda" and if we're going to work for policy changes that will protect us, we need studies like this. People who are fighting for us in courtrooms and Congressmen's offices need things like this to point to when they argue that things need to change. When DOMA has to defend its existence in the Supreme Court - which I'm confident it will, sooner or later – having a team of experts who confirm that "discriminatory laws and public policies have a profound negative impact on the mental health of gay adults" will be huge.
This is not, unfortunately, quite what the panel called for in its final recommendations - they ask that LGBT organizations "lead efforts to encourage early identification of depression, anxiety, substance abuse and other mental disorders among LGBT people," which feels a little like turning the focus back on the victims and away from the perpetrator. But they also call for improving information about LGBT people in suicide research and literature, and beginning to include such measures in general population studies so that we have more data to work from in the future. And in the end, it's not so much what this panel recommends that matters, but what we can do with their findings. The more fingers we have pointing at the bullies, oppressors and homophobes in every level of our society, the closer we are to everyone understanding that the problem is with them, and not us. And when that happens, maybe our children will stop dying.
- Boycott advertisers of Glenn Beck - Fox News. Glenn Beck is anti-gay rights.
- Update: DADT has been repealed. President Obama has kept his promise!
- Boycott Bill O'Reilly and FOX News and their advertisers. Bill discussed a French commercial by McDonalds that was meant to show that McDonalds is Gay Friendly. Bill said what is next? Is McDonalds going to be Al-Qaida friendly as well? Imagine - Bill O'Reilly compares Gays to Al-Qaida!
- Boycott Arizona the home of "hater" - U.S. Senator John McCain. Arizona's Hateful anti-Immigration Law - encourages racial profiling and increases hatred towards minorities. A remedy: Demand Republicans to support Immigration Reform (The Dream Act). Further, Senator McCain voted against ending DADT and Blocked Immigration reform!
- Boycott Target, Best Buy, Gold's Gym - for donating money towards anti-gay political candidates/organizations. Update: (12/26/2010): Target is continuing to donate to anti-gay groups/causes/politicians.
- End DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act). Prevents Federal employees and Gays in the Military from gaining equal benefits. Prevents Gay Partners from gaining equal benefits.
- Pass ENDA (Employee Non-Discrimination Act). ENDA would prevent employment discrimination of LGBT workforce.
- Boycott Salvation Army as they will not hire Gays! "DO NOT DONATE TO THEM."
And Now, Our War of the Fittest!
This group is called "Peckers Pics." The English - slang definition of "pecker" is to pluck at the truth. Therefore, we peck at items such as Gay Men's Health, Male Fitness, Gay (LGBT) Politics & Issues. In this section you may peck at each photo in order to decide the winner of the "war of the fittest!" Whereas, you should select the guy that may inspire you to exercise and "get fit!" Warning: This may stoke you!Your participation in discussion of health / news articles - appearing in this message is greatly appreciated.
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NYC Gay Pride; June 27, 2010
Daniel Hernandez helped save the congresswoman's life -- and yes, his sexuality and ethnicity matter
Salon; Jan 10, 2011; by Mary Elizabeth Willliams
It didn't take long after 20-year-old political intern Daniel Hernandez emerged as the hero of Saturday's mass shooting in Arizona for the cynics to figure out the angle. As a poster on Free Republic remarked, "Look shortly for the leftist media to push the 'Gay, Hispanic-American Intern saving the Liberal Congresswoman's life from the Tea Party' angle." Well, Freepers, here it is!
It's not quite that simple, of course. However we try to understand the causes of the tragedy in Arizona and the political rhetoric of violence, it seems clear that there's considerably more to the disturbing story of shooting suspect Jared Lee Loughner than can be explained by pointing to a few wry Sarah Palin quips. And if simply being gay and Latino were grounds for heroism, Ricky Martin's face would be on the $10 bill.
Daniel Hernandez is, by any measure, an extraordinary young man. He had been interning in Gabrielle Giffords' office only five days when an event at a local Safeway thrust him into the international spotlight for his quick thinking, bravery and competence in the wake of unimaginable violence. On the "Today" show Monday, Matt Lauer explained how Hernandez drew upon his high school training as a certified nursing assistant to check on the pulses of other shooting victims before noticing the severity of Giffords' wounds and, as he puts it, prioritizing her. He put her upright and held her in his lap as he applied pressure to staunch the blood. "I could tell she had a severe gunshot," he said. "I just tried to do my best until emergency medical services could arrive. My focus was on making sure I was doing everything I could to take care of her." Even when the ambulance arrived, he stayed with her, because "I saw my job then as not taking care of her medical needs but taking care of her emotional needs. I tried to comfort her and make sure she knew she wasn't alone. I let her know I was going to try to contact her parents and her husband."
In the two days since the shooting, Hernandez has emerged in interviews as a graceful presence with a no doubt promising future, with considerably much more going for him than his status as a minority. So why should the sexual orientation of this eminently competent, compassionate person keep coming up in this tale? Why is his ethnicity, and the fact that he grew up speaking Spanish and attending dual language schools, of any consequence? Hernandez never asked to be the face of a movement. He doesn't represent any one group any more than Jared Lee Loughner is your typical white guy. And that's exactly why it matters.
It matters because guys like Arizona Sen. John McCain, who described the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" as "a very sad day," still think that orientation has an effect on whether or not a person can ably serve in the military. It matters because the notion that two people of the same sex can love each other and build a life together is still considered in many parts of the country, including Arizona, a threat to what is laughably referred to as "traditional marriage" -- as if heterosexuals have really mopped up the floor with this whole commitment thing. It matters because last week, when Arizona banned a Tucson district's Mexican-American studies program, state's Attorney General Tom Horne referred to it as "propagandizing and brainwashing." It matters because just last year Arizona enacted a law that would not merely allow but require immigration officials to determine the immigration status of anyone "where reasonable suspicion exists" that the person might be in the country illegally. And "reasonable suspicion," as many civil libertarians pointed out, might just boil down to having a darker shade of skin or speaking Spanish.
That's just Hernandez's home of Arizona. And though Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik scathingly referred to his state as "a mecca for racism and bigotry," violence, racism and bigotry aren't confined to any one ZIP code -- they exist all over this great land of ours. They exist just as surely as Hernandez shows that kindness and bravery are alive and well in Arizona.
It's still far too easy for a small-minded yahoo to champion discrimination based on orientation and race, and it's just as easy for another small-minded yahoo somewhere else to believe the red states are indeed "meccas of racism and bigotry." If any good can come out of something as unfathomably horrible as Saturday's mass shooting, let it be that it shakes up a few preconceptions. That it shows the world that a hero can be gay or straight, can speak English or Spanish or both, and that stupid laws can exist in places full of good people. And anyone who has any doubt of what kind of person deserves to serve next to him in battle, or stand before their community and declare their love, or go to school, or walk down the street without being asked for paperwork needs to hear that and remember that, again and again until it sinks in. Yes, the "gay Hispanic American" saved a life on Saturday, and yes, it does matter.
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