|
APPENDIX EIGHT Saving Lives To Whom It May Concern: This letter will address several topics and concerns. First of all I'm going to tell the story of the death of my friend and how it affected me, why I chose to go to the Spirituality Stream and my thoughts of why I think youth conferences are so important. About five years ago when I was first coming out I started attending a queer youth group. Not long after I started going to the group I found out that one of the queer youth that I had briefly met had just taken his own life. I was surprised to find out that the main reason that he had taken his life was because his parents and his church had condemned his homosexuality. He was not supported as a young queer coming out and I guess he just felt he had no other options. He had such a strong need to be accepted - he had a very strong belief in his faith - but the people he looked up to told him he was a sinner and was going to burn in hell. He was not accepted and in the end he felt there was no other way out and he took his life. I was really saddened and shocked by his death and the circumstances that surrounded it. I was later even more surprised to find out that I had queer friends who followed the beliefs of an old well-established, and quite rigid, religion. They expressed a need to me to belong to their church but felt they would not be accepted and would be ridiculed, humiliated and ostracized because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. After going through the experience of his death and talking to numerous friends, I realized that queer youth have a very strong need to be able to practice their beliefs. I also realized that queer youth from strongly knit cultures (which often have particular religious beliefs as part of their culture) especially need safe places to practice their beliefs within their community. That's the real reason I attended the Spirituality 'zine. When I got to the 'zine I noticed that I was only one of two youths there. I wanted to leave right then and join and 'zine where there were more youth. I realized, though, that if I left probably the other youth would also leave, leaving no youth participation in the 'zine. So I stayed to give my input. During the discussions I kept questioning myself about how could safe spaces be created for queer youth to practice their beliefs without ridicule. An idea came to me that we could go to various churches, temples and religious organizations to do "Pride Speaks." For those who don't know, a "Pride Speak" is led by queer youth who speak to an audience about the importance of being queer and what it means to be 'different.' What we would hope to achieve by doing "Pride Speaks" would be to assess the level of support a queer youth might have if they joined or continued to participate with others in that belief system. In other words, is this a safe place for queer youth to practice their beliefs? Even if the response is negative, at least the group would hear our concerns and learn about our lives. Doing "Pride Speaks" has the most potential for creating change in this area because we would be putting a 'human face to the queer problem.' People from various religions and belief systems will have a chance to connect with us and realize we are human beings, we are just the same as them, with a strong need for belonging and for practicing our beliefs. And that's why I think queer youth conferences are so important. I get to think, bounce ideas off of others and I get to grow through being challenged. Perhaps even more important, I get to network with other youth and, of course, to have some fun! Also, although it is not quite as important for me (since I belong to several queer youth groups) I know how important and absolutely valuable it is for queer youth from small, isolated town to get support so they don't feel so alone. So they can see that even though at times they may feel overwhelmed and hopeless, there is support and there are options for queer youth to take. Suicides can definitely be prevented this way. I was glad I was a part of Rainbow BC '99 and am willing to do whatever I can, within my power, to help create positive change. Lance Weinart
|