Everything you ever wanted to know about working with gay youth, from a to z

1. Angel Brown Director of Outreach & Community Partnerships Isaiah Webster III Director of Capacity Building October 15, 2010 Everything you ever wanted to know about working with gay youth, from a to z

2. Goal • This professional development workshop will explore 26 things youth services providers need to know about working with young people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning (LGBTQ). Formatted as a roundtable, this training will allow for rich discussion and will allow time for participants to ask questions and network.

3. Objectives • By the end of this training, participants will be able to: • Define terms and slang relative to LGBTQ youth • Dispel myths about LGBTQ youth, their culture and community norms • Explore best practices in working with LGBTQ youth for HIV/STI prevention  • Explore successful youth-adult partnership models  • Discuss the nuances and unique perspective of LGBTQ youth in D.C. • Discuss resources available to LGBTQ youth in D.C.

4. Introduction Activity

5. Group Agreements/Parking Lot

6. Expectations?

7. Agenda • 9:30-10:30 • A-F • 10:30-10:45 • Morning Break • 10:45-12:00 • G-L • 12:00-12:30 • Lunch (provided) • 12:30-2:00 • M-R • 2:00-2:15 • Afternoon Break • 2:15-4:00 • S-Z

8. Relevance to HIV/AIDS work? • How and why is understanding youth who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning (LGBTQ) important to HIV/AIDS service providers?

9. Asexual Lacking sex or functional sex organs; devoid of sexuality.

10. Bisexual Of, relating to, or characterized by a tendency to direct sexual desire toward “both” sexes

11. Myths about bisexuality • It’s just a phase • It doesn’t really exist • Bisexual people are really gay but unwilling to acknowledge it yet • Only women are really bisexual • Bisexual people are promiscuous

12. What percent of people are bi?

13. The Kinsey theory • Alfred Kinsey (1894 –1956) was an American biologist and professor, who in 1947 founded the Institute for sex research at Indiana University, which is now known as the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction. • Kinsey is generally regarded as the father of sexology, the systematic, scientific study of human sexuality. He initially became interested in the different forms of sexual practices around 1933. • During this work, he developed a scale measuring sexual orientation, now known as the Kinsey Scale which ranges from 0 to 6, where 0 is exclusively heterosexual and 6 is exclusively homosexual.

14. The Kinsey Scale

15. The points on the Kinsey Scale • 0 Exclusively heterosexual • 1 Predominantly heterosexual, only incidentally homosexual • 2 Predominantly heterosexual, but more than incidentally homosexual • 3 Equally heterosexual and homosexual; bisexual. • 4 Predominantly homosexual, but more than incidentally heterosexual • 5 Predominantly homosexual, only incidentally heterosexual • 6 Exclusively homosexual • X Asexual, Non-Sexual*

16. Dissenting viewpoints over Kinsey’s work • Today, many sexologists see the Kinsey scale as simplistic. They suggest that sexual orientation and sexual identity are more complex and varied. • Other criticisms of Kinsey’s study: • Sample size and selection criteria in 1948 study of men • Over-represented groups (jailed men, commerical sex workers) • Lack of diversity

17. Closet Refers to persons who do not openly acknowledge their sexual orientation. Ex: Susan is gay, but she is in the closet about it.

18. Coming Out of the Closet • The process of “coming out” is ongoing and continues throughout life • The coming out experience is varied and not experienced by all LGBT people • National Coming Out Day is October 11.

19. Down Low Refers to men who have sex with men (MSM), but who don’t self-identify as “gay” or publicly acknowledge any gay sexual behavior.

20. Men on the DL Facts about the “Down Low” • “DL” is not limited to African-American men • Men on the DL are not responsible for HIV rates in black women • The Down Low was stigmatized and sensationalized by pop culture and books

21. Effeminate Having feminine qualities untypical of a man; not manly in appearance or manner Ex: He had a high and somewhat effeminate voice.

22. Gay = Effeminate? Jay & Miss Jay John Amaechi

23. Questions, Concerns, Comments?

24. Fabulous A term used in the youth community to describe a person, place or thing that is pleasing, supportive or generally superior.

25. Gender Reassignment Also known as sex reassignment surgery or sex-change operation, gender reassignment is a term for the surgical procedures by which a person's physical appearance and function of their existing sexual characteristics are altered to resemble that of the other sex. Generally a procedure conducted for transgender individuals, it may also be performed on intersex people, often in infancy.

26. Homosexual A person who is emotionally, spiritually, physically, and/or sexually attracted primarily to those of the same gender (clinical term).

27. The Circles of Sexuality

28. Intersex A general term used for a variety of conditions in which a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male. For example, a person might be born appearing to be female on the outside, but having mostly male-typical anatomy on the inside. Or a person may be born with genitals that seem to be in-between the usual male and female types. Source: Intersex Society of North America

29. Jesus The Jewish religious teacher whose life, death, and resurrection as reported by the Evangelists are the basis of the Christian message of salvation — called also Jesus Christ.

30. Religion’s impact on LGBTQ Youth

31. Gay & Religious • GLBTQ youth often find themselves struggling to negotiate their sexual orientation with their religious/spiritual beliefs.  • Many GLBTQ youth believe that their religion viewed homosexuality as “wrong and sinful. • In many Latino communities, machismo and Catholicism contribute to homophobic attitudes that hamper efforts to reach Latino gay and bisexual youth with HIV prevention information. • Though many religious communities frown upon homosexuality there are some safe spaces within religious/spiritual communities: • Affirmation: Gay & Lesbian Mormons www.affirmation.org • Association of Welcoming & Affirming Baptists http://www.wabaptists.org/ • Brethren/Mennonite Council http://www.bmclgbt.org/index.shtml • DignityUSA http://www.dignityusa.org/ • The Institute for Judaism and Sexual Orientation at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion http://www.huc.edu/ijso/

32. King Drag kings are mostly female performance artists who dress in masculine drag and personify male gender stereotypes as part of their performance. A typical drag king routine may incorporate dancing and singing or lip-synching. Drag kings often perform as exaggeratedly macho male characters.

33. Questions, Concerns, Comments?

34. Lesbian Of or relating to homosexuality between females. Ex: Susan and Rebecca are lesbians.

35. Metrosexual Describing a man who displays attributes stereotypically associated with homosexual men (such as a strong concern for his appearance), although he is not homosexual. Ex: Ryan Seacrest is not gay; he’s just metrosexual.

36. Exploring stereotypes of LGBTQ people The Stereotype… The Fact…

37. Nature v. Nuture The nature versus nurture debates concern the relative importance of an individual's innate qualities ("nature", i.e. nativism, or innatism) versus personal experiences ("nurture", i.e. empiricism or behaviorism) in determining or causing individual differences in physical and behavioral traits.

38. The Heterosexual Questionnaire

39. Out Refers to being publicly open about one’s sexual orientation. “Out” can also mean “out of the closet.” Ex: He’s out to his family now, so he brings his boyfriend home for holidays.

40. Openly gay people…an Activity

41. Pride The quality or state of being proud; a reasonable or justifiable self-respect. “Pride” can also refer to events where LGBTQ people and their allies gather to celebrate their community. Ex: I’m so excited about Pride this year; Mya is performing!

42. Queer Differing in some odd way from what is usual or normal. “Queer” is also a political term that has been reclaimed by some LGBT people who find it empowering. Ex: I’m not gay; I’m queer!

43. Questions, Concerns, Comments?

44. Realness Related to ball culture, “realness” refers to the ability to present oneself as the gender that does not match the sex they were born as and to be accepted as such.

45. You Better Work! • In the Ball culture, the house system, the ballroom community and similar terms describe the underground LGBT subculture in the United States in which people "walk" (i.e. compete) for trophies and prizes at events known as balls. Those who walk often also dance and vogue while others compete in various genres of drag often trying to pass as a specific gender and social class. Most people involved with ball culture belong to "houses" led by a single leader.

46. Same-Gender Loving (SGL) Same gender loving, or SGL, a term coined for African American use by activist Cleo Manago, is a description for homosexuals, particularly in the African-American community. It emerged in the early 1990sand is often used by those who prefer to distance themselves from terms that they see as associated with "white-dominated" lesbian, gay, and bisexual communities.It is considered by many to be more descriptive of emotional links between gay individuals than the identity "gay.” Same gender loving (SGL) is a Black culturally affirming homosexual identity. Sources: Communities of African Descent Media Resource Kit, Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and “Multiple Identities: Creating Community on Campus for LGBT Students,” New Directions for Student Services

47. Transgender Of, relating to, or being a person who identifies with or possesses a gender identity or gender expression that differs from the one which corresponds to the person's sex at birth. Ex: Mike was born female, but now lives as an open trans man.

48. Transgender is an umbrella term

49. Unisex Unisex refers to things that are suitable for either sex. It can also be another term for gender-blindness. The term was coined in the 1960s and was used fairly informally. Ex: All restrooms at the youth center are unisex.

50. Violence Exertion of physical force so as to injure or abuse