The LGBT Community: Video Analysis

More and more kids and teens are realizing that, they are not who they want to be. Meaning that, they want to, or have already changed their gender identity. This doesn’t seem like the problem, but these kids, teens, and even adults don't have the rights we have on a regular daily bases. According to Discovery Education, it says that, these kids and teens aren’t allowed to use the bathroom of the gender they choose to be. This is a big problem throughout the United States, especially in elementary, middle, and high schools. The government also took away the law stating that transgender people, are to use

Most LGBT youth become happy with who they are which gives them room to thrive during their adolescent years. Attending a school that has a safe and comfortable environment for every student is especially important. Positive environments can help all youth achieve good grades and maintain good mental and physical health. However, some youths are more likely than their straight peers to experience bad health and life outcomes. Experiences with violence, compared to other students, come easy to LGBT individuals that can cause increased risks for unfortunate circumstances.‘Violence’ includes behaviors such as teasing, harassment, and physical assault. It is important that students at risk have access to resources and support to deal with any questions or challenges they may have or face as they mature. Surveyed LGBT students reported 10% were threatened or injured, 34% were bullied, and 28% were bullied electronically.

Luna LeFort is a young, born male, transgender/gender-fluid that came out to his parents at the age of sixteen. LeFort presents as a female fifty percent of the time and male the other half, and depending on what gender LeFort is that day depends on what washroom they use. LeFort feels that transgenders should be able to use the bathroom they identify with and shouldn’t be scared to. On top of this life story, there is a shocking statistic that shocks most. According to theglobeandmail.com, eighty-seven percent of transgender teens don’t feel safe in school washrooms, changing room, and hallways. While two in five say they have been physically harassed, eight out of ten say they have been verbally harassed. Transgender adolescents share their stories of society is a pressure to them.

It has been made aware that a lot of individuals are struggling to come out to their families, or with struggling with gender issues that often lead to them killing themselves for not being accepted. This community often works with individuals within a group setting, to recognize the issues that they are experiencing to get advice on how to handle their issues or the emotions they are dealing with. Engaging with individuals of the LGBT community generally display a point of group facilitators with established values (Corey et al., 2010). Taking on this population will call for working with adults and children who are dealing judgments on being who they really are. It is important as a counselor to be prepared to protect the client in any way possible to lay those criticisms to rest and help clients of this group to be more comfortable in their own

It is shocking of how there is such a lack of understanding about LGBT youth. There are some professionals who don’t understand the difference between lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (Majd, Marksamer & Reyes, 2009). Lesbian is a female with interest in

Grossman, Arnold H. Anthony R. D’Augelli. “Transgender Youth: Invisible and Vulnerable.” Journal of Homosexuality. Vol. 51, No. 1 (2006): pages 111-128. Web. 25 June 2015. Arnold H. Grossman, a professor of Applied Psychology at New York University, and Anthony R. D’Augelli, professor of Human Development at Pennsylvania State University, did a study of Transgender youth from ages 15 to 21. The study was designed to determine the factors that affect the youth, who either identify as transgender or their gender does not fit the normal gender descriptions. Focus groups were used as nonthreatening environment to examine the youths’ social and emotional experiences. The study not only provided insight on their emotional and social experiences but

Around the age of three, children start establishing their gender identity. Humans involved in their life usually inform of material such as: Girls have long hair, boys have short hair, girls wear dresses, and boys wear pants. However, if one of these children discovers that they belong to the homosexual portion of our country during their post-adolescence time period, they will fail to obtain mutual respect from their peers because the elderly figures in their peers’ lives have educated them on how the “regular”girl or guy

The assigned readings for this course have been extremely beneficial in helping me formed a foundation of understanding towards the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community. Because of these readings I have increased my understanding of the many obstacles that individuals in this community must overcome; specifically the youth. LGBT individuals are often faced with a unique set of problems that clinical social workers should be aware of. Most times, this group of sexual minorities feels that they are being discriminated against by their friends, family, and the society as a whole (Bennett, 2013, p. 1). Unfortunately this feeling and thinking of alienation and discrimination subjects them to stress, anxiety and depression. All of which

Violence and bullying towards transgender students exist in schools across the nation. Transgender students endure more acts of victimization and feel less safe than their non-transgender and heterosexual peers (Wernick, Kulick, & Chin, 2017). Research proves wellbeing of students is tarnished when bullying and violent behavior towards transgender groups is ignored or allowed to exist. In the past, administrators and educators were faced with making changes and decisions in order to provide equal opportunities and safety for all students due to various differences, with the newest being the protection and rights of LGBTQ and transgender students (Bowskill, 2017). Socioeconomic status, sex,

When people are picked on and treated unfairly they begin to get depressed and feel like everything they do is wrong because that is all they see at school and home, they get picked on and judged by everyone and that leads them to wanting to commit suicide. “Suicide is the leading cause of death among gay and lesbian youth, gay and lesbian youth are 2 to 6 times more likely to attempt suicide. Over 30 percent of all reported teen suicide each year are committed by gay and lesbian youth .”(Blackman). The LGBT youth are being put in situations where they think that suicide is the only way to escape the harsh reality of being different due to how their peers and people around them make them feel because they are constantly getting put down. The

Over the past decade, there has been a growing body of research on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth. Compared to their heterosexual peers, sexual minority (LGBT) youth struggle significantly, as they try to navigate through the social stigma attached to their sexual orientation. This population faces significant struggles due to a lack of social support, a hostile school environment, and incidences of bullying, harassment, and physical abuse. Compared to their heterosexual peers, sexual minority youth report experiencing more harassment and discrimination, due to their sexual orientation or gender expression. These experiences also include verbal and physical harassment, sexual harassment, isolation from peers, and difficulty

These specific identities are not necessarily more common, but they are the better known identities. Gender and sexual identity is something that is commonly hidden for most of a person's young life. Many people do not realize that the person they know is on the spectrum unless the LGBTQ+ person comes out and informs them of who they are and what they identify as. 9 in 10 LGBTQ+ people say that they are out to their close friends, and 64% say that they are out to their classmates. There are many risks that come with revealing a person's sexual or gender identity, but there are also a lot of possible benefits. There is always the chance that those within the person's community will not be accepting of a person's gender or sexual identity. Many LGBTQ+ youth find it to be a release of stress when they no longer have to hide who they are. However, 42% of the LGBTQ+ youth believe that they are not welcome in their community because of their gender or sexual orientation. Gender identity and sexual orientation can have a huge impact on an LGBTQ+ person's life and their relationships with those around them. The close knit nature of the LGBTQ+ community developed over many years in response to the adversity the LGBTQ+ community faced and

Nicholas Heck studied the mental health of LGBT students who had been victims of hate based bullying and abuse. His research in “School Belonging, School Victimization, and the Mental Health of LGBT Young Adults: Implications for School Psychologists,” found that “when compared to heterosexual youth, ...evidence indicates that the odds of experiencing bullying and victimization are 124% and 82% higher, respectively, for lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) youth” (as cited in Fedewa & Ahn, 2011). This is especially damaging because LGBT students usualy do not have the option to confide in their heterosexual counterparts. They are handling their abuse on their own which can have a serious effect on their mental

Unfortunately, many youth are unsupported by their families, schools, and communities, and struggle psychologically. As mentioned before, the torment of being unaccepted and hated can lead to drastic effects. For one example of the grief LGBT+ youth can feel, one can look at the story of Leelah Alcorn. Leelah was a transgender girl who lived in Ohio. On December 28, 2014, at the age of seventeen, she committed suicide because of the many, many struggles she faced. Her family, specifically, caused a lot of grief for her, as she would explain in the suicide note she scheduled to post after her death on her blog on Tumblr, an online social media platform. She was very firm in her identity, saying that first learning what transgender meant had made her weep with joy to know

Rejection. Death. Hatred. These are the consequences lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adolescent individuals face as members who are a part of parentally unaccepted families. In America, approximately 3.4% of adolescent individuals identify as homosexual. The breakdown of this population included 1.6% who identify as gay or straight, 0.7% who identify as bisexual, and 1.1% who don’t identify within those standards (Ward, Dahlhamer, Galinsky & Jostli, 2014, 1). Compared to the 96.6% of the American population who identify as heterosexual, these statistics seem insignificant. However, the sexual identity of adolescents has an important impact on their overall interpersonal and family relationships. For a long time, there was minimal support of homosexual marriage within the United States. However, a little under two years ago, the Supreme Court declared LGBT individuals the right to wed. This transformation has lead to a modification of the typical marriage standards, which includes a man and a woman. Over the years, the most recent generations have become more accepted of homosexuality, due to the commonality of homosexuals. However, members of older generations typically seem to be stricter about their beliefs on marriage and relationships. Adolescents and their peers typically view same-sex interactions as a personal preference, to each his own. Their parents are often less welcoming of homosexuality, because when they were