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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The October '99 conference, organized by Rainbow BC, took place at the Okanagan University College in Kelowna. This venue provided a comfortable setting away from a large city, as well as encouraged the participation of LGBT/GLBT persons who feel isolated from community support, especially as a result of living in small towns or rural areas of the province. Rainbow BC '99 had a special focus on youth, and the issues that matter to them. Approximately 50 participants, from across BC, about 40% were youths, attended the two-day conference that examined how queers, especially young LGBT/GLBT persons, may advocate for more protection for queer youths from violence and oppression in society. The conference organizers asked participants to choose one of four streams that were identified as areas where violence and oppression occur. The streams were:
Queer youth, in many ways, are just the same as any other youth. They experience relative powerlessness in their everyday lives; their bodies, minds, and spirits are in turmoil and are actively changing from moment to moment. One of the main differences from their heterosexual peers is that queer youth face this time without the same sources of support that other youth who may be also facing harassment, enjoy. Queer youth must decide, in the face of a hostile and unsupportive world whether to come out and disclose their sexual/gender identity, deny their identity or remain in hiding. Any decision can lead to increased stress and increased susceptibility to stress-related ill health. Queer youth are subjected to fear-related attacks, and harassment. As a result of these attacks and lack of support, queer youth face many social and health related problems such as:
Queer youth are at an increased risk for being harassed, threatened or injured at school, are more likely to have been physically or sexually abused at home and are much more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers. Queer youth face marginalization, not only from mainstream society, but also by the very communities in which they take part. They are often unsupported and not hired by established gay businesses while at the same time face discrimination when they seek employment in traditional mainstream workplaces. Queer youth face attitudes which are homophobic (being put down or discriminated against because of your sexual orientation), transphobic (being put down or discriminated against because you are, act like or look more manly or womanly than society thinks you should), racist (being put down or discriminated against because of your racial background), ableist (being put down or discriminated against because of your disability), classist (being put down or discriminated against because you are poor), ageist (being put down or discriminated against because of your age) and lookist (being put down or discriminated against because of how you look). The barriers caused by these fear and hate-related attitudes work to increase the marginalization of queer youth. LGBT/GLBT youth are further marginalized because they are made invisible by lack of inclusion in school curriculum and in the media and, as well, have few positive role models, if any. In spite of these powerful negative forces in their lives, queer youth are strong and brave, remarkably resilient and determined to succeed in the face of an often-hostile world. There is much healing and work that needs to be done in order to create the legacy of hope that we seek to leave behind for our next seven generations. As my Aboriginal elders tell me, "We must look to the next Seven Generations, for it is through them that All Our Relations will be cared for." Perhaps the next report would be better to focus on the positive characteristics of queer youth and the gifts that they give to us by their presence. This report is intended to take another step in taking responsibility for helping our future leaders and our next generation move forward and be proud. As a result of intense discussion of, and through personal knowledge of, the above issues, the conference delegates came up with key themes for action in the four areas the conference focused on: employment/income, education, health and spirituality. We hope that this conference and the resulting hard work and changes coming from this conference will take some mighty leaps towards creating and building a legacy of hope for queer youth in BC and elsewhere. It is our strong hope that this work will result in saving at least one queer youth's life and preventing at least one incident of homophobic violence. We also hope that we will build bridges of safety to end the isolation, shame, and rejection that queer youth so often feel. By this means, they can 'come out' and be their true, free, strong, funny, sad, shy, assertive, courageous, silly, self-loving selves. They can continue to further grow into the leaders they already are.
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