Written by Alexa Evans, VIP-BOLD Initiative Intern. March 16, 2014

I attended a webinar entitled “Suspending the Rules: Creating and Sustaining Safe Learning Environments for LGBTQI Youth.” The presenter was Darnell Moore, a writer, educator, and the co-founder of a social good organization for LGBTQ youth entitled the You Belong Initiative. Darnell began by encouraging active participation and interaction throughout the chat feature, and indeed the first activity involved us sharing our own ideas, descriptions, and images surrounding different identities, including a straight man, lesbian teenager, black “DL” adult male, and poor transgender. The purpose of this activity was to allow the participants to face their own preconceived notions and perceptions, and realize that they can be false and potentially harmful.

He then went on to define several terms: sex, gender, sexual orientation, sexual identity, and gender identity. Speaking specifically to how to create safe environments for youth, Darnell encouraged us to allow them to identify themselves rather than preemptively classifying them. This can be as simple as asking youth for their preferred gender pronouns instead of assuming they ascribe to a particular gender identity. He then defined the meaning of each letter within the acronym LGBTQI, T-S: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning/queer, intersex, and two-spirit (a term used within indigenous communities).

After establishing these important definitions, Darnell asked us to think about how our own beliefs about gender and sexuality can impact the way we work with young people, both implicitly and explicitly. A lot of great examples were given, such as they lack of non-heterosexual couples in teaching materials and books, the selecting of prom king and queen, and even the use of bathrooms. All of these can erase LGBTQ identities and ways of being through the implicit teaching of the “right” ways to live and giving attention only to the identity categories that we believe to really matter. These environments can become unsafe and oppressive, even more so when intersected with other oppressions such as racism and sexism. LGBTQ youth are at an increased risk for substance abuse/use, depression, anxiety, truancy, eating disorders, and HIV/STIs, and not for any inherent characteristic of their identities but due to external pressures. They can face disapproval, rejection, harassment, violence, and prejudice from their family, peers, ethnic and

faith communities, and other institutions.

Lastly, Darnell discussed different ways that we can create a safe environment for LGBTQ youth. This absolutely must start with changes within ourselves and active self-reflexivity. Once that is achieved, we can then work to change the institutional culture, including changes in language, thoughts, ideas, and interactions, both implicit and explicit. It is important to always make sure that the LGBTQ youth in our communities are safe, and ask them in what ways we can be helpful. Again, this goes back to allowing youth to identify and speak for themselves.