Tag: LGBT teens

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Corey Nichols and the story of two families

Queerty shares a very powerful story of Corey Nichols and the two families who would claim him.

Growing up, Corey heard loud and clear that being a “fag” was not an option according to his father – “If any fag lived in this house, I would shoot them in the head with a shotgun.”

According to Corey, his father would be beat him.  And eventually, the day came when Corey ‘came out.’

“He was yelling and screaming about how a fag was living in his home and he can’t believe the devil was in his presence,” Corey told Out In Santa Cruz. “I locked myself in my room when my brother came home. The first thing my father did was tell him about how his brother was nothing but a worthless fag.”

Corey left home with no idea where he might land. He found refuge in the home of his friend, Aubrey. Aubrey’s parents, Mindy and Dale, took Corey in and gave him a home. Eventually, Mindy and Dale filed to adopt Corey. The day of the adoption hearing Corey’s birth parents didn’t even show up. Today, Corey’s birth family dispute the facts.

Perhaps this resonates with me not only because I’m gay, but my father took in kids when I was growing up. For months at a time. My entire life it’s been normal to let people live in whatever home I have. I don’t write that to try and acquire some “credit” for helping folks. It’s what we all do. Or at least, it’s what I was taught people do.

I can’t tell Corey’s story better than Graham Gremore has at Queerty.   I tried, but I really urge you to read the full story there.

This happens, believe it or not, in America. Still.

Dale says that he occasionally sees Corey’s birth father around town. “He knows how to put on a front,” he explained. “He smiles and acts like nothing is a big deal. He says, ‘thanks, appreciate what you are doing for my boy.”

Dale will nod his head and move along, then quietly whisper: “I have news for you. He is not your boy. He’s my son.”

Hear Corey and Mindy’s full interview with Out In Santa Cruz below.

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Florida: Kaitlyn Hunt, 18, rejects plea offer on sexual assault charges; heading to trial

Kaitlyn Hunt with her father Steven Hunt

Kaitlyn Hunt, 18, today rejected a plea offer from Florida prosecutors and will go to trial on charges that her consensual relationship with a younger female schoolmate constituted sexual assault.

She had been arrested and charged with sexual battery for the consensual relationship.  Kate’s girlfriend, a freshman, was 15 at the time the couple began dating. Kate was 17.

From WPBF:

“The other teen’s parents moved to press charges against the 18-year-old Hunt, and she was arrested in February and eventually expelled from Sebastian River High School.

“A conviction could land Hunt in prison for 15 years. A plea deal would have kept her on probation for two years but still could have potentially derailed her future goals to be a nurse.

“Julia Graves, the attorney for the Hunt family, read a statement shortly before noon Friday following Hunt’s decision: “Our client is a courageous teenager who is choosing not to accept the current plea offer by the state of Florida,” Graves said. “It’s a situation of two teenagers who happen to be of the same sex involved in a relationship. If this case involved a boy and a girl, we don’t believe there’d be the media attention to this case.”

A couple of things to point out here:

One, Kaitlyn was 17 when she became ‘romantically’ involved with the younger girl at the beginning of the school year.  The younger girl’s parents waited until Kaitlyn was 18 in February to press charges.  Hunt has also been expelled from her Florida high school at the younger girl’s parents urging.

Two, the younger girl’s parents have refused to even deal with Kaitlyn’s parents to try to handle the situation.  Apparently, the mother of the younger girl is so against the idea of her daughter being lesbian that she is bent on destroying Kaitlyn’s life for “making her gay.”

According to Kaitlyn’s father Steven Hunt, “Kate has offered to permanently cease contact and leave the state if charges are dropped, but that offer has been rejected by the prosecutor and the girlfriend’s parents.”  
Steven places the blame for this being blown out of proportion on the parent’s of the younger girl.  Says Steven, “These people never came to us, never tried to speak to us, didn’t try to get the school involved to speak to us and tell us they had a problem with the girls dating, not one single word. Instead, they set out their vengeance and had Kate arrested on felony charges.”

If Kaitlyn had taken the plea bargain she could have been labeled a “sex offender” for the rest of her life.

These are two young girls experimenting in their teenage years.  Who knows if they will be lesbian or not?  This is what teenagers do.

The prosecutor’s offer had included two years of house arrest and a guilty plea to “child abuse” for what has been described, so far, as a consensual relationship.

Florida’s age of consent is 18, but “close age” relationships are exempt if the older party is under 24 and the younger is 16 or older.

Hunt’s case has garnered international attention and over 100,000 signatures on a supportive petition.

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Tennessee: “Don’t Say Gay” Bill is back, requires teachers to “out” students

From ThinkProgress: Tennessee’s so-called ‘Don’t Say Gay‘ bill died with the adjournment of the state assembly last year. But now the measure is back — with new, harsher requirements.

The bill, SB 234, still bars Tennessee teachers from discussing any facet of “non-heterosexual” sexuality with children in grades K-8. But the newest iteration also includes a provision requiring teachers or counselors to inform the parents of some students who identify themselves as LGBT.

Family rejection is a serious risk for LGBT youth. Kids who are LGBT often face alienation, if not outright abandonment, because they come out. Forty percent of homeless youth are LGBT, and many of them report that the reason they left home was to escape an environment hostile to their sexual orientation.

LGBT youth who experience family rejection are at high risk for depression and suicide.

More at ThinkProgress

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Touching PSA highlights the challenges LGBT teens face for acceptance “Everyone Is Different”

Towleroad points up this beautiful PSA for a Dutch LGBT youth support group that highlights the challenges faced by LGBT youth, telling the stories of several kids as they struggle to find acceptance among their peers while facing the individual realizations that they are, and can be different.

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Sioux City Journal devotes entire front page to anti-bullying editorial

In a rare and forceful act of advocacy, an Iowa newspaper devoted the entire front page of its Sunday edition to an anti-bullying editorial after a gay teen committed suicide.
The Sioux City Journal’s front-page opinion piece calls on the community to be pro-active in stopping bullying and urges members to learn more about the problem by seeing the acclaimed new film, “Bully,” which documents the harassment of a Sioux City middle school student. It notes that while many students are targeted for being gay, “we have learned a bully needs no reason to strike.”
Relatives have said 14-year-old Kenneth Weishuhn Jr. suffered intense harassment, including threatening cellphone calls and nasty comments posted online, after coming out to family and friends about a month ago. He died April 15 from what the local sheriff’s office described only as a “self-inflicted injury.”
“In Kenneth’s case, the warnings were everywhere,” the editorial said. “We saw it happen in other communities, now it has hit home. Undoubtedly, it wasn’t the first life lost to bullying here, but we can strive to make it the last.”
Bravo to the Sioux City Journal!  Click here to read the entire editorial. 
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LGB teen suicide rates increase in conservative environments

A study published today in Pediatrics reveals that lesbian, gay, and bisexual teens are more likely to attempt suicide when they live in a community that is less supportive of their identities. A more supportive social environment was significantly associated with fewer suicide attempts. LGB youth were significantly more likely to attempt suicide in the previous 12 months, compared with heterosexuals (21.5% vs 4.2%).

It’s documented fact that LGB youth already attempt suicide at higher rates than their heterosexual peers, but the rates are even higher when there is less visibility of same-sex couples, a higher proportion of registered Republicans/conservatives, and fewer school gay-straight alliances and nondiscrimination policies:

Gay, lesbian and bisexual teens living in counties with the lowest social index scores were 20 percent more likely to have attempted suicide than gays in counties with the highest index scores. Overall, about 25 percent of gay teens in low-scoring counties had attempted suicide, versus 20 percent of gay teens in high-scoring counties.

Strikingly, the study also found that heterosexual youth were more likely (9%) to attempt suicide in the less supportive environment, demonstrating the importance of LGBT education for all young people. Moreover, the data demonstrate that it is environmental factors that contribute to the increased rates, not the individuals’ actual identities.

This is not the first study to show such results in terms of environment and disapproval. A 2009 study by the Family Acceptance Project showed that LGB young adults were 8.4 times more likely to attempt suicide if they were rejected by their family. A 2004 National Research Council study found that rates of suicide completion are much higher in rural areas.

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Lesbian students enter to cheers at High School Pep Rally

MinnesotaProm

Two lesbian high school students who fought for the right to walk together as part of a royalty court made their entrances Monday to the cheers of hundreds of classmates.

Sarah Lindstrom and Desiree Shelton wore matching black suits with pink ties and held hands as they entered the Snow Days Pep Fest at Champlin Park High School in Minneapolis’ northwest suburbs.

“It felt amazing,” said Shelton, adding that she was too nervous to notice dozens rise to give her a standing ovation as she walked in with Lindstrom. “I think we were too focused on getting to the stage.”

Champlin Park is part of the Anoka-Hennepin school district, Minnesota’s largest, which has been in the spotlight in the past year for its handling of issues involving gay and lesbian students.

More from AOL News.