V. THE FOUR STREAMS

C. Safety and the Prevention of Violence Towards Queer Youth in Health

This stream used an interactive and hands-on approach to making its recommendations. Workshop participants had an opportunity to take part in a meditation and a "heart circle." A simple walking, sitting, standing meditation not based on dogma was demonstrated and practised. People then formed a circle and spoke from their heart in a safe supportive environment.

In addition, safety stream participants discussed negotiating safer sex from the perspective of how a queer youth can deal effectively and safely in a sexual environment. Participants were afforded the opportunity to practice negotiation skills using role-playing, conflict resolution, and management and boundaries in small groups. Increased awareness, stress reduction and bonding were the main goals of this interactive workshop.

This workshop was the most highly attended workshop and attracted the attention and participation of many of the youth delegates. Of the approximately 20 queers who took part in this workshop 3/4 of them were youth.

Workshop participants discussed what is it that they wanted out of life from a health and youth perspective. Everyone agreed that health includes not only medical health but also physical, mental and spiritual health. Everything plays a role in creating safety or risk for the health of LGBT/GLBT youth. Participants discussed safer sex and what leads to high-risk behaviour, why LGBT/GLBT youth run away and end up remaining in unsafe and unhealthy situations.

At the outset, one participant noted that self-esteem is the major issue that affects queer youth, "When we respect ourselves, others will respect us." Another participant later noted, "No child ever chooses the streets of their own free will. Street involvement for queer youth is a health, spirit and education issue. Empowerment will come when we advocate for our rights."

Participants noted that youth are more vulnerable to hatred and attacks, and need to be aware of their surroundings. Others noted that queer youth are subjected to hatred and ageism, adults see no need to listen to the 'hormonal follies' of youth, ageism and homophobia give permission to harass, cajole and dismiss queer youth.

One queer youth when asked what it was he wanted out of life noted, "I've never been asked that before. What I want is one partner. I don't want a series of one-night stands. I want to be married or in a gay equivalent to marriage and I want a little white house with a white picket fence and pink curtains in the kitchen. If it is possible for gay men to have children I want to be a father, to somehow raise a family, that's what I want."

This comment opened the door for a difficult, controversial conversation that many of the gay youth needed to have safety to discuss, the topic that some older gay men are predators.

The youth participants in the workshop took a risk in discussing the difficult often silenced issue, of older gay men who present as mentors but who are really interested in having sex. One youth pointed out that there is a great deal of healing that needs to happen in the gay male community. "We hate to be called 'chicken' or to be looked upon as 'chicken'." Youth are vulnerable, they often have no family or their family is not supportive of them and they do not have the option of staying home due to the discrimination and resulting violence they experience. So they are forced to leave, already with low self-esteem and no visible means of support.

Hungry and homeless and depressed, they make relatively easy prey for a segment of the gay male community, which sees them as "easy" sexual objects. "When you're hungry and you don't have any place to live you'll take that [sex with older gay men]. You end up feeling degraded when you already lack self-confidence. You don't get support at home or at school and you're seen as prey in many parts of the gay community." These gay men often give advice to the youth, who is often just coming out, to experiment with high-risk promiscuous behaviour such as 'barebacking' (unprotected anal sex) and prostitution. The predators know that gay youth who are disenfranchised, can't go home again.

One youth noted, "Negotiating around safer sex involves communication and self- esteem. When we don't feel good about ourselves, we choose hurtful situations to feel anything." Another youth noted that now in the 90's safer sex equals how not to be infected with HIV, while before the 80's it was how not to be infected with syphilis, gonorrhoea or how to avoid pregnancy.

A few tips on refusing unsafe sex :

• Know that sex is healthy, wonderful and fun;
• Work at loving yourself;
• Be your own person;
• Know that you can say no and still be worthwhile, and;
• Sleep with yourself.

"How do we negotiate when we feel shame?" We often turn to self-abuse and use drugs and alcohol to have sex. Workshops need to be created on negotiating safer sex with a focus on addressing self-esteem and shame issues.

Speaking about healing, one participant said, "We are all conditioned socially, people who judge others (queers) are sexually repressed and shamed themselves and struggle with people who are not chained, but who are joyful and spontaneous. Our next step in reclaiming a healing position is in acknowledging we have a proud history."

Other participants noted that good health involves being in touch with feelings - living life mindfully - being aware and knowing that peace of mind is not always related to the experience of feelings. Life is in a constant state of flux and movement. Queers need to trust their spirits, to nurture and know themselves with the constant change in society.

Participants noted that the Ministry does not seem to understand that there is not an option to send youth safely back home and often it is not safe away from home. Options are needed for gay youth such as LGBT/GLBT youth safe houses and more queer positive support services. One suggestion was a partnership with large corporations or unions that are queer positive who may partner with the queer community to match funds, dollar for dollar. These funds would be used for education campaigns and for supports like queer safe houses or drop-ins. In particular, inter-ministerial coordination is needed, as well as discussion and healing in the gay community, in order to begin to resolve this painful and difficult issue.

Participants also noted that health issues related to school are huge, youth need to access counsellors, educate them and create resources for them to give to students. Youth are generally responsible to educate school counsellors, teachers, therapists, doctors, nurses, parents, vocational trainers on pan-gendered (balanced between both genders/having all genders within), two-spirited (Aboriginal queers), transgendered, lesbian, gay and bisexual youth issues such as violence, lack of jobs, home security, street involvement and health issues. Schools need to hire queer counsellors. Counsellors need to demonstrate an open door policy and inclusiveness through posters and signs on the door. There is a strong need for peer counselling and outside school education. It should be made mandatory that schools support peer counsellors.

Health stream participants also questioned the role of Health Canada and community health clinics where they noted the following issues:

• In 1980, Health Canada mandated medics, therapists and sexologists to educate people (service providers). They are, however, generally out of their depth when it comes to queer youth issues.
• The Canada Health Act has left women without answers. Women are only mentioned in the reproductive section, the rest mentions adults, youth and pre-adolescents, and women are left out.

Support is necessary for walk-in clinics with a focus on queer youth. Clinics need the support of information and materials. Community health centres, like Seymour Clinic, need to have a dedicated youth day, including a dedicated day for queer youth.

One youth questioned, "How many community health centres are there throughout BC? What is their mandate, how much control does Health Canada have in running Community Health Units?" Participants thought recommendations needed to be passed on to both Health Canada and Community Health centres.

One participant passionately spoke, "Health is a human right!! The delivery of health care has two main foci: primary care is through physicians while secondary care is through counsellors and public health. Youth need to form a lobby with partnerships with community organizations and health care providers. Health care professionals do care but they need to be educated."

One participant, speaking about being pan-gendered, noted, "Health care providers and community service providers often confuse someone who is pan-gendered with being bi-polar or having multiple personalities."

One young man in the workshop acted as a 'mom' to other youths and a number of them had formed a family with that young man as the mom. He provided emotional and social support and helped all of them to challenge themselves and question societal 'norms.' He noted, "At times I feel like a youth, other times I feel old. I don't really see age as a linear construct. Nor do I see gender that way. Sometimes I feel like a man and dress as a man and others I feel like a woman and dress like a woman. I have incorporated both genders and identify as pan-gendered."

One health stream participant noted that queers have not always been the subject of prejudice and hatred. They said, "Queers have had the illusion of acceptance throughout history. Homophobia was not always present, it is a relatively new phenomenon associated with Christianity. In many cultures such as Aboriginal, Celtic and Greek societies, queers were seen as shamans, priests(esses) and strong medicine holders who were revered and considered blessed by spirit. However today, acceptance is not a gift. In the words of Gandhi, 'The oppressors will not give us what we need, we need to take it.' " Another noted that, "Even the most non-political trans, lesbian, gay, bisexual person living out of the closet are intense social activists."

One lesbian, with many years of experience in social activism, spoke about political correctness. "Internalized homophobia is a scary component of our lives. Self-hatred has claimed too many. We have to talk about entitlement: Who is worthy? Who creates rules for political correctness? Not trans people, not people with disabilities, nor youth. Political Correctness silences us by not allowing ideas to come up, ideas which allow us to look at our feelings and decide what doesn't work for us and other people. PC was developed to broaden our minds to include others, now PC silences our language and our actions."

C. Health Stream Recommendations

a. Awareness and Education

• That queer community leaders coordinate with all social services and contractors with the BC Ministries to create a process to ensure education and sensitivity workshops on queer health issues for all Ministry staff and branches. This training would include health care workers and social workers outside the BC Ministries such as social service agencies.
• That a queer youth organization be funded to prepare a 'Queer Youth Coming Out' handbook that starts from an anti-oppression point. This handbook would contain information and resources for queer youth, including issues surrounding coming out in a holistic sense and which includes tips on how to negotiate through situations of conflict and negotiating around safer sex.
• That a 'Train the Trainers' workshop be created to deal with potential conflicts, for queer youth leaders and supporters to self-empower youth to resolve potential conflicts, including those with parents. This workshop could possibly use the negotiation model used at the Justice Institute for business conflicts. This training would be passed on to other queers and incorporated into Pride Speaks.
• That a survey be taken to health care providers and community service providers to assess their levels of knowledge and sensitivity towards LGBT/GLBT youth.
• That a follow-up education package and an action kit be created and that this be presented in workshops to the health care and community service providers to educate and sensitize them on LGBT/GLBT health issues.
• That a detailed descriptive list of LGBT/GLBT positive resources, counsellors and providers in the community be created to enable an interface of gay-positive resources for health care and community service providers and youth in the community.

b. Support for Queer-Positive Resources

• That Queer and Queer-positive safe houses be supported through the provision of funding new resources like the Pride House proposed by the Pride Society and also through queer youth sensitivity training and anti-ageist, queer supportive policy development for existing resources.

c. Inter-Ministerial Coordination

• That Ministry of Social Security and Economic Development and the Ministry of Children and Families accept that gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans youth cannot always return to live at home and that these Ministries review their policy of sending youth back home if there is no history of physical abuse or violence.
• That the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Social Security and Economic Development and the Ministry of Children and Families work together to provide health supports for queer youth, including the provision of Provincial Health Insurance cards for queer youth, both youth out of home and those in the home.
• That these Ministries review their policy of sending youth back home if there is no history of physical abuse or violence.
• That support systems be set up outside the nuclear family due to the lack of stable supportive environment at home.
• The Queer and Queer-positive safe houses be supported through the provision of funding new resources like the Pride House proposed by the Pride Society and also through queer youth sensitivity training and anti-ageist, queer supportive policy development for existing resources.

d. Healing the Queer Communities

• That the Ministries support an open and constructive dialogue within the gay community about healing the gay community in order that youth will not continue to be socialized or manipulated by older gay men, but will be accorded their right to be free to choose their own expression of sexuality and attraction. This dialogue must address the clear power imbalances and other inequities that occur within the queer communities including those created by age and gender. This dialogue must address issues of shame, low self -esteem and internalized homo/trans/lesbo/bi-phobia as well as other oppressions such as racism, ableism, classism and sexism.

e. Taking Action on Queer Youth Health Through Real Input

• That workshops on negotiating safer sex be given for all youth using role playing techniques such as conflict resolution, anger management, anti-violence and anti-oppression workshops.
• That the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Children and Families, Ministry of Social Development and Economic Security, Ministry of Skills and Training and the Attorney General create and listen to queer youth-led advisory groups and provide them with adequate supports so that appropriate actions can take place.
• That a support system be created, including queer positive safe homes, for youth (gay and trans men) in violent same sex relationships or who have been sexually or physically assaulted.
• That specific support systems be created for trans men in violent relationships or who have been sexually or physically assaulted due to the general lack of support they receive and their unique issues.
• That lesbians in violent same-sex relationships or who have been sexually or physically assaulted be also provided with support through the provision of sensitivity training and an education package on lesbian same sex battering. Although some lesbians can access women's transition houses it is not always safe to use these resources.
• That previous health related recommendations be acted upon; such as the strong recommendation from the December 9 Coalition national conference, "Talk Family to Me" that recommended the creation of queer Big Brothers and Big Sisters in order to provide queer youth with positive role models; and that there be queer youth and queer youth positive clinics and counsellors so that queer youth can access health care as is their right, as noted in "Safely Out."

Listen to queer youth; provide them with adequate supports so that appropriate actions can take place.

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