The LGBTQ Youth in Utah Need Our Help
LGBTQ youth are too often not accepted as a part of the community in Utah. This is seen in the lack of support in many local community centers, suicide rates much higher then the national average, and the disproportionate amount of homeless LGBTQ youth. Even in schools, LGBTQ students are often shut out of the conversation, unfairly punished, and moved around so that the issue can be avoided. This became very clear when Equality Utah filed a lawsuit over anti-gay school laws that singled out and isolated students who are part of the LGBTQ community. Many outed youths throughout our nation face similar hardships, but the youth in Utah seem to have an even harder time finding their place within our community.
There is lack of support from the public and their community centers as shown by patrons of the Hurricane Public Library. An unnamed public official complained about a LGBTQ display that was up for Pride Month. “An exhibit for Pride Month titled “Got Pride?” featuring a collection of LGBTQ themed items. Some patrons reportedly complained, according to Tucker, as did an unnamed county official,” (Peet 2018). As a library, a place that is there for the public to gain knowledge on anything they may want, it was shocking that the person in charge of the county libraries sided with removing a display when they had told the workers to take down the display and put up a sign that says “June Is Pride Month”. After it was taken down a directive was put in place to not have any LGBTQ type displays in the future. As the employees changed the display to Libraries are for everyone; the employees thought they could supplement the change by wearing buttons, “that said, ‘Ask me about LGBTQ Reads,” a site featuring LGBTQ-themed material, author interviews, guest blogs, and more,” (Peet 2018). These also ended up being taken away as complaints came in from patrons. The incidents at the Hurricane library show us that those who control the narrative often intentionally exclude members of the LGBTQ community from the larger communities around them.
In Utah there is a suicide problem, the rates of suicide amongst youth have taken a jump since 2011. “Suicide is the number one cause of death of all Utah youth; this is not the case nationally, and Utah consistently ranks above the national average for suicide deaths,” (Barker, Parkinson, Knoll 2016). In their study there is a very drastic jump in that suicide rate in Utah that correlates with the November 2015 LDS handbook policy change. This policy change, “identified members who participate in same-sex marriages as ‘apostates’ and forbade children in their households from receiving baby blessings of baptisms,” (Barker, et. all 2016). The image below from the Salt Lake Tribune shows the rate of youth ages 10 to 17 dying by suicide in Utah vs United States totals, from 2011-2015 the rate per 1000,000 people. This shows the big difference in Utah to National average for suicide of youth.
With most of the state being of the LDS faith more support needs to set up to help for LGBTQ youth to help lower these rates.
“ ‘LGBTQ youth and heterosexual students in schools with anti-homophobia policies and GSAs had lower odds of discrimination, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts, primarily when both strategies were enacted, or when policies and GSAs had been in place for three years or more’ This study also found that LGBTQ youth in supportive environments experience fewer suicidal thoughts and attempts by about two-thirds. Interestingly, suicidal thoughts and attempts also dropped among heterosexual boys and girls in the schools that put these policies into place,” (Barker, et. All 2016).
Support in schools is getting better here but are we as citizens of Utah choosing to help or hinder the help to these youths.
Nationally there are a disproportionate number of LGBTQ that end up homeless, “Approximately one third of youth identified as LGBTQ. Over half of the youth in the sample had been in foster care, while 43% indicated some other form of child welfare system involvement. Of those who had been in the foster care system, 11% were eligible to return to care based on their age. When compared to their heterosexual, cisgender counterparts, a greater percentage of youth who are LGBTQ had been kicked out of their homes, had been homeless for more than one year, reported being abused as a child, were victimized while they were homeless, indicated a mental health problem, and identified adult friends or a professional contact (rather than family members) as a source of support. Fully 95% of both groups in the sample reported some form of trauma,” (Forge, Hartinger-Saunders, Wright, Ruel 2018). That may feel like a staggering ratio to think about when living in a place where it is always about family and the children. Then again with the stated change to the LDS Handbook it doesn’t seem a far step to end up with, “Youth report becoming homeless for a variety of reasons, including social, economic, and environmental influences, but youth who identify as LGBTQ most often report experiencing homelessness due to running away or being ejected from their home of origin because of their sexual orientation or gender identity,” (Forge, et. All 2018).
With the lack of support from the community in something as small as a display at a library to having policies that disproportionately affect a group of students because of the sexuality, it shouldn’t be a surprise that there are such high numbers for LGBTQ homeless. The numbers tell us that Utah is doing something wrong. Until we acknowledge the facts, more kids will inevitably be put in situation where the outcome is anything but good.
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Sources
Peet, Lisa. “Dispute over LGBTQ Display, Buttons in Utah: Library Workers Take Concerns over Directive to Local Press.” Library Journal, no. 15, 2018, p. 9.
Barker, Michael, et al. “The Lgbtq Mormon Crisis: Responding to the Empirical Research on Suicide.” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, vol. 49, no. 2, Summer 2016, pp. 1–24.
Forge, Nicholas, et al. “Out of the System and onto the Streets: LGBTQ-Identified Youth Experiencing Homelessness with Past Child Welfare System Involvement.” Child Welfare, vol. 96, no. 2, Mar. 2018, pp. 47–74.
Romero, McKenzie. AEquality Utah files lawsuit over what it calls ‘anti-gay school laws’.” Deseret News, October 2016