ACLU – Schools and Youth

The Youth & Schools program strives to make public schools safe and bias-free, defending free expression in public schools and working to help students establish gay-straight alliance clubs.

Making Schools Safe Manual

Protect and help LGBT students

The most effective way to protect these students, allowing them to receive the safe and effective education they deserve and protect schools from potential liability is

(1) to adopt and implement laws and policies that explicitly prohibit discrimination and harassment on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity;

(2) to establish clear procedures for responding to complaints under the policy;

(3) to provide training for staff and teachers necessary to implement these laws and policies.

Source

Lack of Family Support

LGBT youth leave home more often, experience higher levels of physical victimization, substance abuse and depression than their heterosexual counterparts. Lesbian and gay youth report violence perpetrated by family members. Sexual minority youth generally can not rely on their families to provide them with the skills or the validation necessary to negotiate hostile societal waters.

Problems faced by LGBT youth

• LGBT youths are forced to drop out of school because of harassment resulting from their sexual orientation
• Gay youth are more than 4 times as likely to skip school because they feel unsafe.
• In incidents of anti-gay harassment of students in schools, adults witnessed the harassment but did nothing to help. Students victimized in such incidents may attempt suicide.
• LGBT students are verbally harassed because of their sexual orientation and their race/ethnicity.
• LGBT youth report physically harassment and physical assault!

Unchecked harassment correlates with poor performance (lower GPAs) and diminished aspirations (fewer aspire to college).

The intense stigma associated with sexual minority status makes it difficult for these youth to interact authentically with peers.
The lack of cohort comparisons, societal confirmation, and peer affirmation contributes to difficulties in achieving many of the developmental tasks of adolescence including the development of a positive sexual identity.

Source

Annual conference at CCSU – True Colors XIV

This Friday and Saturday True Colors XIV is holding their annual conference at CCSU. True Colors focuses on the needs of LGBTQ youth and their allies through a comprehensive annual conference. The conference includes but is not limited to youth leadership training, on-going support for school and community based gay/straight alliances, as well as diversity and support groups geared toward activism, tolerance, and social justice. True Colors, Inc., in collaboration with the Connecticut Department of Children and Families and the Connecticut Association of Foster and Adoptive Parents, provides mentoring and foster and respite care to LGBT and questioning youth.

Will try to attend with the high school kids that have agreed to be a part of this project, to get a snapshot of the support system there and the conferences.

In CT

can we design a gay person?

Techniques used to change the genetic make-up of the embryo allows parents to have a child without certain defects and genetic diseases. Is it then possible to have a baby who is destined to be gay?

Does Soy make you gay?

It is being claimed by Jim Rutz of Megashift Ministries that, “Soybean products are feminizing. If soy is so harmful as to potentially alter sexual physiology and behavior, why haven’t the Chinese and Japanese all died off or become homosexual centuries ago?”

Dear reader, I would welcome a discussion on this topic, feel free to expound your theories.

Although soy is not a miracle food, it is very beneficial in a number of ways.

Prevention and care of hypertension

Treatment of hypertension in young urban males.

Watch Dr. Martha Hill speak. She was the first non-physician to serve as the President of the American Heart Association.

Follow the DASH Diet when dining out

According to the National restaurant Association, follow these tips if you wish to watch your calorie intake -

• Order salad dressings and other sauces on the side.

• When ordering pasta dishes, look for tomato-based sauces.

• Drink water, diet soda, or unsweetened tea or coffee.

• Share the appetizer and dessert with a friend.

• Stop eating when you are full.

Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension – DASH Diet -