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Home » Forum » Various » Society » A need in the LGBT community

A need in the LGBT community

Hi guys and girls:

I am a college student and have been learning about all the structural injustices that minorities face for 3 years now. After 2 years, I started feeling quite discontent simply learning about the discrimination so many communities suffer. Finally this year, I have decided to try to start a social justice program that would try to meet the needs of a certain community -- the LGBT community.

I was wondering what are some problems you see in the LGBT that you think would benefit greatly from the development of a social justice program?

Personally, I played around with the idea of starting a mentorship program. From speaking with some presidents of LGBT groups, experiences of my friends and myself, I felt that teenagers would really benefit from having mentors who are more similar to them and can advise them about what life is like as a LGBT. The advice might be more applicable to their lives, and possibly they might feel more open to confide in their mentors. This is a much debated topic in education in general -- do students who are of ethnic backgrounds do better when they have teachers who they can ethnically identify with. Another reason I wanted to develop a mentorship program is that I know there are not as many LGBT role models in mainstream media, so having one that you can actually interact with might be very beneficial.

Those are my ideas, what do you guys think? Is this a demand that needs to be met? Especially in the Bay Area [specifically San Jose or the South Bay] which is where I am.

‹ Fagbug - College student turns anti-gay graffiti into activism Gay or Straight? Can you tell by the way someone walks? ›
Submitted by
loveurmindnsoul (2 posts)
on April 22, 2008 - 11:29pm.
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Katherine's picture

I'm a san jose native...

Submitted by
Katherine (212 posts)
on April 23, 2008 - 12:05am.

And I think creating some sort of mentorship program is a good start. At least, growing up in San Jose I didn't really have anyone or think there were any resources available to me (besides the internet, and afterellen!).

I do think LGBT minorities face different situations than maybe white LGBT people do... at least in my experience, minority families may be more socially conservative and not as accepting of LGBT... so maybe having LGBT people of color mentoring other LGBT people of color (or anyone, really, as long as there's a diverse group) could help LGBT youth growing up feel better about themselves...

I don't know if that helped. But I guess, no matter what you do, as long as people know it exists, some of them will come... the thing is even if I had some sort of mentor thing like this I probably wouldn't have gone... maybe just raising awareness and letting people know they're not alone is somewhere to start. OkayI'm done haha.

omg, inbd

loveurmindnsoul's picture

I agree

Submitted by
loveurmindnsoul (2 posts)
on April 23, 2008 - 12:17am.

I am also afraid that people will not be interested enough to join up to look for a mentor. Or they cannot join because they do not want their parents finding out, but I was thinking if that was the case, I could just pair them up with a mentor that is not "obviously" gay.

When I was in high school and to an extent even now in college, I really do not reach out if I need help, so I understand your sentiment. It is scary to try new things by yourself.

Thanks for your comment. It does help me get some perspective :]

Pyewacket's picture

As it is, I think any teen these days could use a mentor.

Submitted by
Pyewacket (1812 posts)
on April 23, 2008 - 12:11pm.
As a teacher, I have found that so many kids need at least one adult in their lives who show some interest in that teen's life...someone to ask them, how did your day go? Even good parents who care and love their kids are very busy and overwhelmed most of the time. Then add the additional element of perhaps questioning their sexuality or coming to the realization that she or he is gay...and it can be too much for the teen. So if a teen who fit into the lgbt category who had an adult in their lives...and they felt safe to share this aspect of themselves with that adult (instead of hiding)...and they knew they would not be judged...I think it would help so many teens to be able to naviagate the rough teen years and to not act out in one way or another. But as has already been mentioned...even if you have such a mentoring program...how do you get the teens to the mentors...? Will they even seek such help for themselves? What do they tell their parents? How to physically get the teens to their respective mentors? MAYBE the answer is through the net. At least to start. Maybe some organization like PFLAG or The Trevor Project could start something under their watchful eyes (to protect the kids) to match mentors to teens. That way, a concerned adult who cares and can advise would be just an email or a text message or a cell call away. My idea could be totally off...but the mentoring idea is a great one...I think it could make such a different in a teen's life.

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