Tag Archives: LGBT youth

Seeker reports: Gay conversion therapy aims to turn gay, lesbian or transgender individuals into heterosexuals. Patients are predominantly minors or young adults and many are forced or pressured into it. Just this month, the tiny island of Malta became the first European nation to outlaw gay conversion therapy. Evidence increasingly shows that it can cause serious medical and psychological harm, …

The Associated Press reports: The Pittsburgh City Council has unanimously voted to ban mental health professionals in the city from using on minors a therapy that attempts to change sexual orientation or how people identify their gender. City spokesman Timothy McNulty tells the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that Mayor Bill Peduto plans to sign the legislation. Numerous medical and psychiatric groups oppose …

The Washington Blade reports: Organizers of a newly launched D.C.-based organization aimed at stopping so-called “conversion therapy” for LGBT minors throughout the country announced on Monday they will work with activists and lawmakers in 45 states to advocate for bills to ban the practice. The organization, called 50 Bills 50 States, will operate as an all-volunteer group. It has already …

Via press release: Councilman Mark Squilla (1st District) on Thursday introduced a bill to ban the practice of so-called conversion therapy on LGBTQ youth in the City of Philadelphia. Also referred to as “reparative” or “ex-gay” therapy, conversion therapy is any practice by a mental health provider that seeks to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity, including efforts …

The Guardian reports: Malta has become the first country in Europe to ban gay conversion therapy after the parliament in Valetta unanimously approved a bill outlawing attempts to “cure” homosexuals of their sexuality. Under the new Affirmation of Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Gender Expression Act, anyone found guilty of trying to “change, repress or eliminate a person’s sexual orientation, …

The Orlando Sentinel reports: A federal appeals court Tuesday overturned a lower-court ruling that supported the Lake County School Board’s decision to block middle-schoolers from forming a gay-straight-alliance club to combat bullying. In a battle dating to 2011, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling found that the Equal Access Act, which requires federally funded secondary schools to treat all …

The Today Show reports: For Lady Gaga, kindness has been the key to finding peace in her own life. “I’ve been searching for ways to help myself. And I found that kindness is the best way,” she told TODAY recently while on a visit to Harlem’s Ali Forney Center, a shelter for homeless LGBT youth, to surprise the teens living …

The New York Times reports: Since Gov. Mike Pence was chosen as Donald J. Trump’s running mate in July, he has faced complaints from groups critical of his record on gay and transgender rights, who said he has long been an opponent of the gains made by the L.G.B.T. community in recent years. Mr. Pence has been particularly dogged by …

Posted this afternoon to Madonna’s Instagram account: “Had so much fun sharing Thanksgiving at the Ali Forney Center in Brooklyn! This center protects LGBT Youth from the harms of homelessness and empowers them to reclaim their lives. Each year the Ali Forney Center provides care for over 1,200 youth who are rejected by their family due to their LGBT identity. …

From Joe: Beloved readers, on this Thanksgiving Day, as on every other day of the year, uncountable LGBT kids are living on the streets, turned out by the very people who are supposed to love them. As we do every Thanksgiving, today we turn JMG over to Ali Forney Center founder Carl Siciliano. Please click and read his message below…. …

Agence France-Press reports: Canada’s attorney general announced Tuesday a move to repeal legislation used to effectively prosecute gay youths who engage in anal sex, calling it “discriminatory.” Section 159 of the Criminal Code makes anal sex involving youths who are above the age of consent but not yet 18 punishable by up to 10 years in prison. It was quashed …

“Are you fed up with sexual weirdness and anti-Christian bigotry being packaged and sold to our children as ‘inclusion’ and ‘civil rights’? Especially when it’s done in the name of ‘preventing bullying’? Well, if Hillary Clinton becomes president, she has a plan to take deceptive propaganda to the next level. And it’s all Donald Trump’s fault, according to Hillary’s cronies. …

The Associated Press reports: A former Rutgers University student whose roommate killed himself after being secretly recorded on a web camera kissing another man pleaded guilty Thursday to attempted invasion of privacy. Dharun Ravi’s plea comes after a New Jersey appeals court last month threw out a 15-count conviction against him and ordered a new trial on other counts. The …

USA Today reports: The Supreme Court agreed Friday to take up the controversial issue of transgender rights, instantly transforming what had loomed as a holding-pattern term with only eight justices into one featuring another major social policy issue. The justices will consider a Virginia school district’s challenge to Obama administration regulations requiring that schools allow transgender students to use restrooms …

The Buffalo News reports: The Buffalo Public Schools have a new gender identity policy to dictate how transgender students are treated. The polarizing policy allows a transgender student to use the restroom and locker room that corresponds to the student’s consistently expressed gender identity at school. Students can access the alternate restrooms as soon as their parent or legal guardian …

The Salt Lake Tribune reports: Equality Utah sued the state’s education office in federal court late Friday, challenging Utah’s curriculum laws that bar teachers and students from positive discussions about homosexuality in public schools. Filed in Salt Lake City’s U.S. District Court, the suit asks a federal judge to strike what it calls anti-lesbian, -gay, -bisexual and -transgender curriculum laws …

GLAAD reports: With a sea of staffers dressed in purple on the steps of the Old Executive Office Building in Washington DC on Thursday, The White House voiced its strong support for LGBTQ youth and took a powerful stand against bullying. But the White House team was just one of many among elected and public officials speaking out. Take a …

The Ali Forney Center, NYC’s beloved and overburdened homeless shelter for LGBT youth, holds their annual gala tomorrow night at Capitale in lower Manhattan with Sandra Bernhard hosting. This year’s honorees include NYC Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, Council Member Rosie Mendez, and actor Matthew Saks, who will deliver a tribute to one of AFC’s most famous benefactors, his mother, gay …

Tomorrow is GLAAD’s annual anti-bullying Spirit Day in which folks wear purple to show their support for LGBT youth. Seen above are cast members from ABC’s The Real O’Neals and other major participants include Kellogg’s, who tomorrow morning will host openly gay America’s Got Talent breakout star Brian Justin Crum at their NYC cafe. Tony The Tiger will even be …

Via press release from the Clinton campaign: In honor of National Coming Out Day, Vice Presidential nominee Tim Kaine sat down with ATTN: Editor-In-Chief Matthew Segal, telling him that it is incumbent upon adults in leadership positions to promote the message of acceptance. Amid clips of LGBT kids describing the bullying and hate-speech directed at them, Senator Kaine says that …