Queer Youth

The reparative therapy described in "Hiding Out" and my later related reportage chronicled torture practices that were coercive and, in many ways, the same as what was happening in the Iraqi torture sites: humiliation, isolation, extreme physical positions, and forced confessions.

We are thrilled that today, March 9, 2012, the Ruth Ellis Center will partner with the White House Office of Public Engagement and the Department of Housing and Urban Development to hold the first-ever LGBT Conference on Housing & Homelessness.

The media's singular focus on LGBTQ youth suicides creates a deadly echo chamber. The repetitive tale about our collective failure to address the pain felt by many LGBTQ youth doesn't translate into inspiration for the kids who are still here.

Thank you for knowing that it gets better. What you might not know yet is that you're making it better. In speaking up about your life, you've made it better for countless other bi youth -- and bi adults -- who are dealing with biphobic violence every day.

How could a 17-year-old trans woman from a town just 30 miles from San Francisco, America's queer holy land, be murdered and buried in a shallow grave by the side of the road by her supposed peers?

I do not believe that straight and gender-conforming people are any less caring or are any less concerned about our youth. Yet there is too little said and done to save the lives of LGBT youth.

A solution to the homeless youth problem that is affecting not only Chicago's Boystown but other urban areas all over the country will involve more than just one father figure, for it takes a queer village to raise our children, too.

Appearances do matter -- public appearances, the kind that a confused and lonely kid in Russia or Kansas or your neighborhood might see. "It gets better" is a nice but passive sentiment; come out, go out and help make it better.

Twenty to 40 percent of homeless youth identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, yet only 3 to 5 percent of the general population does the same. Shock was the first thing I felt when I heard this statistic, and then sadness.

This article is my third in less than three years about teen bullying and the tragedy of suicide among LGBT youth. Today, I write an almost identical article with practically the same statistics that I have written for the past two years.

For Jamey, and potentially many more young people in a similar situation, being told and believing that "it gets better" is not enough. For Jamey and these other youth, the situation must be made better -- now.

Natasha Dillon began investigating the social resources for LGBT youth in New York and found nothing. So, Dillon set to work, beginning the process of forming the first LGBTQ youth mentoring program in New York City.

LGB youth really, really need to hear about the good stuff. Because while it's not awesome to be queer in most places of the world yet, it's less and less scary and sucky than it used to be.

Against my better sonic judgment, I believe that artists such as Lady Gaga have the electromagnetism to gift my gay brothers and sisters with the inspiration and tools they need to cultivate self-love and respect.

There is something about compartmentalizing my relationships that gives me stability: college roommates, professional acquaintances, Twitter friends, best friends, boyfriends, fiancé. Mingling things seems likely to lead to a tangled mess.

I witnessed Chicago's gay community conflicted over at-risk LGBT youth and the violence they brought upon Boystown. It got me thinking about getting older, the stability of settling down, and what it means to make a family of one's own.