Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) and questioning youth face unique challenges growing up. A 2005 research study of lesbian, gay and bisexual youth found that the average age of awareness of sexual orientation is 10. The average age that youth first disclose their sexual orientation is 14. All too often, these young people are subjected to harassment and bullying in their schools, harassment that may extend to people who are only perceived to be LGBT, or to the children of LGBT parents. LGBT youth may also face hostility at home and from their families.
These oppressive environments can have a domino effect, leading to ever increasing risk behaviors for LGBT youth, ranging from skipping classes to substance abuse, dropping out of school, homelessness or even suicide. Support services are likely to be inadequate to assist these young people, or may even compound the problem. Transgender youth, for example, may be turned away from shelters or assigned to a shelter where their appearance places them at risk of violence.
The Empire State Pride Agenda seeks to promote the dignity of LGBT students and the children of LGBT parents by preventing harassment and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression in public schools. Along with NYSUT (New York State United Teachers), we are co-facilitators of the Dignity for All Students Coalition, a group of over 200 organizations across New York State committed to preventing and addressing bias-based harassment in public schools based on traits including race, religion, ethnicity, sex, gender (including gender identity and expression), physical and mental ability and sexual orientation.
As part of its work, the Dignity Coalition supports the Dignity for All Students Act, a bill pending in the state legislature that creates programs such as student and teacher training to foster a harassment-free environment in schools, and implements a reporting mechanism that will allow the state to compile data on the occurrences of harassment in schools.
The Pride Agenda works as well with the New York Juvenile Justice Coalition to combat bias harassment in foster care and juvenile detention settings. The Coalition supports the Safe and Fair Treatment for Youth (SAFETY) Act, legislation to ensure that wards of New York State in juvenile justice and other facilities run by the Office of Children and Family Services will be safe from discrimination and bias-based harassment whether from other youth or staff.
The Pride Agenda also supports and administers the New York State LGBT Health and Human Services Network (Network), a coalition of over fifty community-based organizations across the state that receives funding from the state to provide critical services to LGBT New Yorkers. Many of these Network members, from Buffalo to Rockland County to Long Island, provide services targeting the needs of LGBT youth.