Tag: It Gets Better MTV

Senior tells MTV about coming out

Ross

Senior and student body president, Greg Wolk, went on MTV’s new show “It Gets Better” to describe coming out to his school friends, classmates and parents.

He was one of three people on the first episode, and he told about the struggle he went through while hiding being gay for so long.

“I was so stressed I had to go to the emergency room a few times,” Wolk said on the show…

Senior tells MTV about coming out

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Childhood Gender Nonconformity: A Risk Indicator for Childhood Abuse and Posttraumatic Stress in Youth

Brett

RESULTS: Exposure to childhood physical, psychological, and sexual
abuse, and probable PTSD were elevated in youth in the top decile
of childhood gender nonconformity compared with youth below median nonconformity. Abuse victimization disparities partly mediated
PTSD disparities by gender nonconformity. Gender nonconformity predicted increased risk of lifetime probable PTSD in youth after adjustment for sexual orientation.

CONCLUSIONS: We identify gender nonconformity as an indicator of
children at increased risk of abuse and probable PTSD. Pediatricians
and school health providers should consider abuse screening for this
vulnerable population. Further research to understand how gender
nonconformity might increase risk of abuse and to develop family interventions to reduce abuse risk is needed.

 

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2012/02/15/peds.2011-1804.full.pdf+html

Homeless youth: the next battle for gay equality

Brett

NEW YORK — Iro Uikka clutches his throat as he describes the violent clash that led to spending his nights sleeping in New York City subway cars.

“When I told my mother I was gay, she grabbed me by the neck and threw me out,” he says. “Then she threw my coat on top of me and shut the door.”

That was five years ago when he was 18, still living at home in Florida.

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/AP792f48e4f5f14b378e368178e4cdd2cd.html#printMode

Vida/SIDA Opens LGBT Homeless Shelter

Brett

http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/lgbt/Vida-SIDA-opens-LGBT-homeless-shelter/36476.html

It took years of revised plans and fundraising, but on March 3 Vida/SIDA cut the ribbon on its much-anticipated LGBT homeless youth shelter, the first of its kind in the Midwest.

More than 75 people packed into the Humboldt Park organization to celebrate the opening of El Rescate.

“This is about hope,” said Cook County Commissioner Edwin Reyes. “It’s about dignity, and it’s about saving lives.”

The transitional housing facility, located on the 4th floor of Vida/SIDA ( 2703 W. Division ) , will house up to 12 LGBT youths ages 18-24 and provide young people with social services like employment and education resources, skills training and case management.

The brightly-painted space contains bedrooms with bunk beds and desks, a lounge and a full kitchen/ dining area.

Plans to open the shelter have been in the works for more than three years. Vida/SIDA had announced the housing as a 2010 goal but struggled through fundraising and red tape to make it happen.

But on March 3, the doors finally opened.

Vida/SIDA, the only local HIV/AIDS organization that specifically serves Latino/as, was founded 1988 to address a lack of culturally competent healthcare for HIV-positive Puerto Ricans. Roberto Sanabria, a longtime activist with the Puerto Rican Cultural Center ( PRCC ) which oversees Vida/SIDA, said that the organization has grown to respond to other gaps in services in the Latino/a community.

 

The Runaway Youth Longitudinal Study

Brett

http://www.impactprogram.org/researchers/the-runaway-youth-longitudinal-study/

The National Runaway Switchboard (NRS) recently released a longitudinal study characterizing runaway youth and describing the long-term effects of running away. One aim of the study was to identify differences between runaways and non-runaways in terms of demographics and risk factors that might lead to running away.  The second aim was to understand the relationship between running away as an adolescent and the health, education, and economic outcomes in adulthood.  The data set spans 15 years with the most recent sample’s age range between 24-32 years.

It Gets Better Press Coverage – February 21, 2012

Ross

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David Gorshein ‘It Gets Better” on Cable, with Commercials

Brett

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-gorshein/it-gets-better-mtv_b_1294812.html

I have long admired Dan Savage’s advice, especially to struggling queers. Like Kate Bornstein’s advice to Teens, Freaks and Other Outlaws, Savage’s advice inspires me to keep in mind the invisible struggles of non-conformers. I have also found daily inspiration in the viral responses to Savage’s (and Terry Miller’s) “It Gets Better” campaign. It is revolutionary and empowering to watch videos on demand in which, as Chris Rovzar wrote in 2010 in New York Magazine, “grown-ups … tell gay kids that things will be easier in the future, when they are out of school, or when they are simply older and more comfortable with who they are.”

While the “It Gets Better” campaign initially intended to represent happy and adjusted older queers to struggling younger queers, the campaign evolved to encourage anyone to tell a struggling person that the future will be easier and more fun than the present. Since its inception, more than 40,000 videos have been uploaded onto the “It Gets Better” archive. Many videos feature the confessional testimonies of celebrities such as Ellen DeGeneres, politicians such as President Obama, and institutions such as Google and UCLA.

The Advocate: Dan Savage Hits National TV, Strikes Back at Critics

Ross

In an interview with The Advocate, the lead Google bomber explains why Rick Santorum is newly “terrifying,” responds to trans glitter bombers, and explains why tonight MTV is giving him his own special.

…When MTV premiers a one-hour special tonight calledIt Gets Better, host Dan Savage will yet again become the face of the LGBT adult world as it delivers a message to young people. This time, he’s sending them three, documentary-style coming out stories instead of the thousands of YouTube videos from adults promising a better future.

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