Love Makes A Difference

This is something that I think we know already, having a support network makes all the difference in the world between life and death. Even though this three years old it still is important to bring up in today’s climate.

Simply Having a Gay Straight Alliance Reduces Suicide Risk for All Students
In schools with GSAs heterosexual boys were half as likely to attempt suicide
The Smithsonian
By Rose Eveleth
January 23, 2014


Facilitating friendships between gay and straight students benefits everyone, according to a new study from the University of British Columbia.

Students in Canadian schools with gay-straight alliances were less likely to be discriminated against, had lower odds of suicidal thoughts and had fewer suicide attempts—regardless of whether they were gay or straight.

“We know that LGBTQ students are at higher risk for suicide, in part because they are more often targeted for bullying and discrimination,” Elizabeth Saewyc, lead author of the study and professor with the UBC School of Nursing, told the UBC press office. “But heterosexual students can also be the target of homophobic bullying. When policies and supportive programs like GSAs are in place long enough to change the environment of the school, it’s better for students’ mental health, no matter what their orientation.”
[…]
There's definitely something to be said for having school that would support and implement a GSA in the first place. But the effects that the study documented were stronger for longer-lived GSAs, which suggests that GSAs themselves are helping, too. When GSAs were around for three years or more, the numbers the researchers documented were even more impressive. Gay and bisexual boys had 70 percent lower odds of suicidal thoughts.

It is amazing how having someone care about you makes so much difference in our lives. It is true not only in school but also in life.

But when there is hate suicides go up and the haters crawl out from the swamp.

How Trump administration pressure to dump 4-H's LGBT policy led to Iowa leader's firing
USA Today
By Courtney Crowder and Jason Clayworth
November 18, 2018

The Trump administration pushed the national 4-H youth organization to withdraw a controversial policy welcoming LGBT members — a move that helped lead to the ouster of Iowa's top 4-H leader earlier this year, a Des Moines Register investigation found.

The international youth organization, with more than 6 million members, introduced the new policy to ensure LGBT members felt protected by their local 4-H program — part of a larger effort to modernize the federally authorized youth group and broaden membership.

Several states posted the policy on their websites, including Iowa, where it prompted fierce opposition from conservatives and some evangelical groups.

If ran the 4-H organization I would have answered the conservatives and the evangelical groups saying we believe in family values… of love and inclusion, not hate and exclusion.

And then the Trump administration stepped in with their hate and bigotry,

But within days of the LGBT policy's publication, Heidi Green, then-chief of staff for Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, requested that it be rescinded, Sonny Ramaswamy, then-director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the federal department that administers 4-H, told the Des Moines Register.

Afterward, a NIFA communications manager sent an "urgent" email to at least two states — Iowa and New York — urging 4-H organizations to remove the LGTB policy from their websites, the Register found.

Then some of the states spoke out against the Trump administration and created turmoil within the 4-H with some states standing pat with the inclusion policies and other states caving in to the administration’s pressure.

Iowa 4-H director fired after gay, transgender inclusion policy inflames conservative groups
USA TODAY
By Courtney Crowder, Des Moines Register
August 3, 2018

DES MOINES, Iowa — The leader of Iowa 4-H Youth Development was fired Thursday, just a week before the start of the Iowa State Fair, the focal point of the 4-H calendar.

John-Paul Chaisson-Cárdenas,the first Latino statewide youth leader in 4-H's 115-year history, confirmed his departure but declined to provide details when reached by phone in Ames.

His termination comes months after a suggested 4-H LGBTQ inclusion policy, which has since been withdrawn, drew rebuke from conservative groups and praise from LGBT advocates, resulting in hundreds of comments submitted to Iowa 4-H.

"Through my life and through my career I have always tried to foster inclusive environments that welcome diversity for all youth and all people," Chaisson-Cárdenas said. "That's what I believe my career was built upon."

What do you think that this battle with bigotry and hate that the Trump administration is fostering is doing to the LGBT children?