WHAT'S NEW?
We are happy to announce that we will, from time to time, be publishing articles on Mental Health topics related to LGBTQI+ Youth on our new MENTAL HEALTH page. Our first contributor is Molly Anderson from recoveryhope.org. Please take a moment or two to check out our MENTAL HEALTH page!
We are happy to announce that we will, from time to time, be publishing articles on Mental Health topics related to LGBTQI+ Youth on our new MENTAL HEALTH page. Our first contributor is Molly Anderson from recoveryhope.org. Please take a moment or two to check out our MENTAL HEALTH page!
BREAKING NEWS:
KYLP JOINS TREVOR PROJECT
IN CALLING ON KENTUCKY
LAWMAKERS TO
PROTECT LGBTQ YOUTH
FROM DANGEROUS
"CONVERSION THERAPY"
The Kentucky Youth Law Project, Inc. announced today that it has joined with the Trevor Project in a new effort to protect LGBTQ youth from the dangerous and discredited practice of so-called "conversion therapy," and supporting the passage of House Bill 258 in the Kentucky General Assembly.
Conversion therapists falsely claim to be able to change LGBTQ youth into straight and cisgender youth. Prominent professional health associations, including the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, among numerous others, oppose the use of conversion therapy on youth, call the practice harmful and ineffective. If successful, Kentucky would be the 10th state to pass legislation limiting the practice though another 40 states still allow this terrible crisis to continue.
House Bill 258, if enacted, would prohibit practitioners from engaging in conversion therapy with anyone under age 18; require violations to be subject to board discipline and false claims laws; and prohibit public funds from being used for conversion therapy. Because the practice of conversion therapy is an on-going threat to the health and welfare of LGBTQ youth, the bill seeks to be declared an emergency.
"Conversion therapy" is defined, for purposes of this bill, as any practice or treatment that seeks to change an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity, including efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same gender. The term does not include counseling that provides assistance to a person undergoing gender transition, or counseling that provides acceptance, support, and understanding of a person or facilitates a person's coping, social support, and identity exploration and development, including sexual-orientation-neutral interventions to prevent or address unlawful conduct or unsafe sexual practices, as long as such counseling does not seek to change an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity.
The bill would apply to physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists, psychological practitioners, psychologists with autonomous functioning, or psychological associates, social workers, clinical social workers, marriage and family therapists, marriage and family therapist associates, professional counselors, professional clinical counselors, professional counselor associates, and pastoral counselors licensed or certified to practice under Kentucky law.
"The bill's sponsors, Rep. Jim Wayne, Rep. Mary Lou Marzian, Rep. Kelly Flood, Rep. Ruth Ann Palumbo, and Rep. Attica Scott are to be applauded for championing this bill," said Keith D. Elston, legal director for the Kentucky Youth Law Project, Inc. "We strongly encourage our supporters to contact House Leaders and their own Representatives to urge passage of HB 258," Elston added. The legislature switchboard can be reached at 1-800-372-7181.
The Kentucky Youth Law Project, Inc., based in Lexington, is Kentucky's only legal services organization dedicated to protecting the legal rights and entitlements of LGBTQ youth through direct legal assistance, education, and public policy advocacy.
The Trevor Project is the leading and only accredited national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ people under the age of 25.
Media Contact:
Keith D. Elston, Legal Director, (859) 225-2348
KYLP JOINS TREVOR PROJECT
IN CALLING ON KENTUCKY
LAWMAKERS TO
PROTECT LGBTQ YOUTH
FROM DANGEROUS
"CONVERSION THERAPY"
The Kentucky Youth Law Project, Inc. announced today that it has joined with the Trevor Project in a new effort to protect LGBTQ youth from the dangerous and discredited practice of so-called "conversion therapy," and supporting the passage of House Bill 258 in the Kentucky General Assembly.
Conversion therapists falsely claim to be able to change LGBTQ youth into straight and cisgender youth. Prominent professional health associations, including the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, among numerous others, oppose the use of conversion therapy on youth, call the practice harmful and ineffective. If successful, Kentucky would be the 10th state to pass legislation limiting the practice though another 40 states still allow this terrible crisis to continue.
House Bill 258, if enacted, would prohibit practitioners from engaging in conversion therapy with anyone under age 18; require violations to be subject to board discipline and false claims laws; and prohibit public funds from being used for conversion therapy. Because the practice of conversion therapy is an on-going threat to the health and welfare of LGBTQ youth, the bill seeks to be declared an emergency.
"Conversion therapy" is defined, for purposes of this bill, as any practice or treatment that seeks to change an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity, including efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same gender. The term does not include counseling that provides assistance to a person undergoing gender transition, or counseling that provides acceptance, support, and understanding of a person or facilitates a person's coping, social support, and identity exploration and development, including sexual-orientation-neutral interventions to prevent or address unlawful conduct or unsafe sexual practices, as long as such counseling does not seek to change an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity.
The bill would apply to physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists, psychological practitioners, psychologists with autonomous functioning, or psychological associates, social workers, clinical social workers, marriage and family therapists, marriage and family therapist associates, professional counselors, professional clinical counselors, professional counselor associates, and pastoral counselors licensed or certified to practice under Kentucky law.
"The bill's sponsors, Rep. Jim Wayne, Rep. Mary Lou Marzian, Rep. Kelly Flood, Rep. Ruth Ann Palumbo, and Rep. Attica Scott are to be applauded for championing this bill," said Keith D. Elston, legal director for the Kentucky Youth Law Project, Inc. "We strongly encourage our supporters to contact House Leaders and their own Representatives to urge passage of HB 258," Elston added. The legislature switchboard can be reached at 1-800-372-7181.
The Kentucky Youth Law Project, Inc., based in Lexington, is Kentucky's only legal services organization dedicated to protecting the legal rights and entitlements of LGBTQ youth through direct legal assistance, education, and public policy advocacy.
The Trevor Project is the leading and only accredited national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ people under the age of 25.
Media Contact:
Keith D. Elston, Legal Director, (859) 225-2348
A SHOUT OUT TO OUR RUSSIAN FRIENDS
In the past month, this website has received 48 views from Russia, all from the city of Moscow. In the spirit of international brotherhood, we want to say to our Russian friends,
Добро пожаловать в наши друзья из Москвы! Мы надеемся, что вы найдете что-то полезное здесь. Мы находимся в знак солидарности с лесбиянок, гомосексуалистов, бисексуалов и транссексуалов и допроса молодежи России!
(Translated, that means: "Welcome to our friends from Moscow! We hope you find something helpful here. We stand in solidarity with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth of Russia!") (1/18/2015)
In the past month, this website has received 48 views from Russia, all from the city of Moscow. In the spirit of international brotherhood, we want to say to our Russian friends,
Добро пожаловать в наши друзья из Москвы! Мы надеемся, что вы найдете что-то полезное здесь. Мы находимся в знак солидарности с лесбиянок, гомосексуалистов, бисексуалов и транссексуалов и допроса молодежи России!
(Translated, that means: "Welcome to our friends from Moscow! We hope you find something helpful here. We stand in solidarity with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth of Russia!") (1/18/2015)
February 27, 2015
Kentucky Senate votes 27-9 to send Trans-discriminatory bill to House
FRANKFORT -- The Republican-controlled Kentucky Senate voted today in favor of Senate Bill 76, the so-called "Bathroom Bully Bill," by a vote of 27 - 9. The bill, supported by Senator C. B. Embry, and pushed by the Kentucky Family Foundation, proposes to restrict the use of school restrooms and other facilities in which students may be in a state of undress to the gender they were assigned at birth. "This bill completely disregards a person's gender identity, which is a better indicator of a person's gender than their genitalia," said Keith D. Elston, Legal Director of the Kentucky Youth Law Project, Inc., a nonprofit legal services organization advocating on behalf of LGBTQ youth in Kentucky. "It clearly violates both the letter and the spirit of the federal Equal Protection Clause and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, and therefore, if it were to become law in Kentucky, it would require school districts to discriminate against transgender and gender non-conforming students on the basis of sex."
Elston said he remains hopeful that the bill will be stopped in the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives, but it is certainly possible, if it does become law, that his organization will file suit to have the law declared invalid. "Surely the school districts have better ways of spending their funds than to have to use those funds to pay potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages and attorney fees," said Elston.
On February 19, the Kentucky Senate Education Committee scheduled a hearing on SB 76 in the middle of a statewide snow emergency. Both supporters and opponents of the bill turned out, despite the weather, to testify. When a vote was called, however, the bill failed to get the required seven votes, and thus it died in committee. Then, on February 20, Committee Chairman Mike Wilson announced that he was calling a special meeting of the committee for Monday afternoon, February 23. No notice was given concerning what bills were to be considered, and even as late as late afternoon on the 23rd, the Legislative Research Commission's Bill Watch site did not list any agenda for the called meeting. And yet that evening, Wilson called the committee into session to reconsider SB 76, and only allowed two supporters of the bill to speak to the committee. Shortly after those supporters addressed the committee, the committee voted again, 9 - 1 (with two previous opponents of the bill absent) to favorably report the bill out of committee for consideration by the full Senate.
"This was a shameful abuse of the democratic process," said Elston. But he called on KYLP supporters to contact the senators who voted "No" today, to thank them for their vote and their support. Those senators were: Jared Carpenter, Julian Carroll, Perry Clark, Denise Harper-Angel, Morgan McGarvey, Gerald Neal, Julie Raque Adams, John Schickel, and Reginald Thomas. The switchboard number is 1-800-372-7181.
The bill goes to the Kentucky House of Representatives now.
###
Kentucky Lawmaker Wants To Pay Students $2,500 If They See A Transgender Person In The ‘Wrong’ Bathroom
BY ZACK FORD POSTED ON JANUARY 15, 2015 AT 9:14 AM UPDATED: JANUARY 15, 2015 AT 10:34 AM
CREDIT: ThinkProgress.org.
Last year, Atherton High School in Louisville approved a policy ensuring that transgender students can access all spaces and activities in accordance with their gender identity, but now a Kentucky state senator wants to ban all transgender students from safely using the bathroom.
Sen. C.B. Embry Jr. (R) has introduced what he calls the Kentucky Student Privacy Act (SB 76), which would force all students to be identified by their “biological sex” as determined by their chromosomes and what was assigned to them according to their anatomy at birth, essentially erasing transgender students. The bill requires that bathrooms and locker rooms must be divided according to “biological sex,” and schools are forbidden from accommodating transgender students by allowing them access to any facility “designated for use by students of the opposite biological sex while students of the opposite biological sex are present or could be present.”
Instead, transgender students requiring accommodation must settle for “access to single-stall restrooms, access to unisex bathrooms, or controlled use of faculty bathrooms, locker rooms, or shower rooms.” This means that if the only such facility is in the nurse’s office, for example, a student would be required to schlep as far as that office is to use the restroom — or not go at all.
Moreover, Embry wants to actually punish schools (like Atherton) that respect trans students’ identities. The bill provides that any student who encounters “a person of the opposite biological sex” in a bathroom or locker room shall have a legal cause of action if it’s because the school gave the trans student permission or didn’t explicitly prohibit the trans student from using that facility. The “aggrieved” student would be entitled to $2,500 from the offending school “for each instance” he or she encountered a trans student in a sex-divided facility in addition to monetary damages “for all psychological, emotional, and physical harm suffered” and attorney fees.
Embry claims in the bill that allowing trans students to use the bathrooms they identify with “will create a significant potential for disruption of school activities and unsafe conditions” and “will create potential embarrassment, shame, and psychological injury to students.” He also identified the legislation as an “emergency” bill because “situations currently exist in which the privacy rights of students are violated.”
There is no evidence that respecting trans identities will create unsafe environments in schools. So far, California’s statewide law protecting trans students has generated no such problems. This is no surprise, as many of the state’s schools already had such protections in place for many years without incident. That hasn’t stopped conservatives from trying to place transphobic parents in the spotlight, who claim that their daughters are unsafe simply because they saw a trans student in the bathroom — fully clothed.
Other states like Utah have proposed similar anti-transgender bills, but so far they have not advanced.
Despite Embry’s urgent concern for cisgender students who might happen to see a transgender student in the bathroom, he isn’t worried at all about what challenges LGBT students might be facing. In 2013, then-Rep. Embry opposed a comprehensive anti-bullying bill that would have added sexual orientation and gender identity to the state’s protected classes. He claimed that the state already had sufficient laws against bullying. “We have a death penalty against rape and murder but they still happen,” he said at the time.
Some parents tried to challenge Atherton’s policy, but the Jefferson County Public School appeals board stood by it. Atherton Principal Thomas Aberli said that after several months, there were no problems with the policy. “Our decisions were founded on facts and on the proper way to treat people,” he explained.
Kentucky Senate votes 27-9 to send Trans-discriminatory bill to House
FRANKFORT -- The Republican-controlled Kentucky Senate voted today in favor of Senate Bill 76, the so-called "Bathroom Bully Bill," by a vote of 27 - 9. The bill, supported by Senator C. B. Embry, and pushed by the Kentucky Family Foundation, proposes to restrict the use of school restrooms and other facilities in which students may be in a state of undress to the gender they were assigned at birth. "This bill completely disregards a person's gender identity, which is a better indicator of a person's gender than their genitalia," said Keith D. Elston, Legal Director of the Kentucky Youth Law Project, Inc., a nonprofit legal services organization advocating on behalf of LGBTQ youth in Kentucky. "It clearly violates both the letter and the spirit of the federal Equal Protection Clause and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, and therefore, if it were to become law in Kentucky, it would require school districts to discriminate against transgender and gender non-conforming students on the basis of sex."
Elston said he remains hopeful that the bill will be stopped in the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives, but it is certainly possible, if it does become law, that his organization will file suit to have the law declared invalid. "Surely the school districts have better ways of spending their funds than to have to use those funds to pay potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages and attorney fees," said Elston.
On February 19, the Kentucky Senate Education Committee scheduled a hearing on SB 76 in the middle of a statewide snow emergency. Both supporters and opponents of the bill turned out, despite the weather, to testify. When a vote was called, however, the bill failed to get the required seven votes, and thus it died in committee. Then, on February 20, Committee Chairman Mike Wilson announced that he was calling a special meeting of the committee for Monday afternoon, February 23. No notice was given concerning what bills were to be considered, and even as late as late afternoon on the 23rd, the Legislative Research Commission's Bill Watch site did not list any agenda for the called meeting. And yet that evening, Wilson called the committee into session to reconsider SB 76, and only allowed two supporters of the bill to speak to the committee. Shortly after those supporters addressed the committee, the committee voted again, 9 - 1 (with two previous opponents of the bill absent) to favorably report the bill out of committee for consideration by the full Senate.
"This was a shameful abuse of the democratic process," said Elston. But he called on KYLP supporters to contact the senators who voted "No" today, to thank them for their vote and their support. Those senators were: Jared Carpenter, Julian Carroll, Perry Clark, Denise Harper-Angel, Morgan McGarvey, Gerald Neal, Julie Raque Adams, John Schickel, and Reginald Thomas. The switchboard number is 1-800-372-7181.
The bill goes to the Kentucky House of Representatives now.
###
Kentucky Lawmaker Wants To Pay Students $2,500 If They See A Transgender Person In The ‘Wrong’ Bathroom
BY ZACK FORD POSTED ON JANUARY 15, 2015 AT 9:14 AM UPDATED: JANUARY 15, 2015 AT 10:34 AM
CREDIT: ThinkProgress.org.
Last year, Atherton High School in Louisville approved a policy ensuring that transgender students can access all spaces and activities in accordance with their gender identity, but now a Kentucky state senator wants to ban all transgender students from safely using the bathroom.
Sen. C.B. Embry Jr. (R) has introduced what he calls the Kentucky Student Privacy Act (SB 76), which would force all students to be identified by their “biological sex” as determined by their chromosomes and what was assigned to them according to their anatomy at birth, essentially erasing transgender students. The bill requires that bathrooms and locker rooms must be divided according to “biological sex,” and schools are forbidden from accommodating transgender students by allowing them access to any facility “designated for use by students of the opposite biological sex while students of the opposite biological sex are present or could be present.”
Instead, transgender students requiring accommodation must settle for “access to single-stall restrooms, access to unisex bathrooms, or controlled use of faculty bathrooms, locker rooms, or shower rooms.” This means that if the only such facility is in the nurse’s office, for example, a student would be required to schlep as far as that office is to use the restroom — or not go at all.
Moreover, Embry wants to actually punish schools (like Atherton) that respect trans students’ identities. The bill provides that any student who encounters “a person of the opposite biological sex” in a bathroom or locker room shall have a legal cause of action if it’s because the school gave the trans student permission or didn’t explicitly prohibit the trans student from using that facility. The “aggrieved” student would be entitled to $2,500 from the offending school “for each instance” he or she encountered a trans student in a sex-divided facility in addition to monetary damages “for all psychological, emotional, and physical harm suffered” and attorney fees.
Embry claims in the bill that allowing trans students to use the bathrooms they identify with “will create a significant potential for disruption of school activities and unsafe conditions” and “will create potential embarrassment, shame, and psychological injury to students.” He also identified the legislation as an “emergency” bill because “situations currently exist in which the privacy rights of students are violated.”
There is no evidence that respecting trans identities will create unsafe environments in schools. So far, California’s statewide law protecting trans students has generated no such problems. This is no surprise, as many of the state’s schools already had such protections in place for many years without incident. That hasn’t stopped conservatives from trying to place transphobic parents in the spotlight, who claim that their daughters are unsafe simply because they saw a trans student in the bathroom — fully clothed.
Other states like Utah have proposed similar anti-transgender bills, but so far they have not advanced.
Despite Embry’s urgent concern for cisgender students who might happen to see a transgender student in the bathroom, he isn’t worried at all about what challenges LGBT students might be facing. In 2013, then-Rep. Embry opposed a comprehensive anti-bullying bill that would have added sexual orientation and gender identity to the state’s protected classes. He claimed that the state already had sufficient laws against bullying. “We have a death penalty against rape and murder but they still happen,” he said at the time.
Some parents tried to challenge Atherton’s policy, but the Jefferson County Public School appeals board stood by it. Atherton Principal Thomas Aberli said that after several months, there were no problems with the policy. “Our decisions were founded on facts and on the proper way to treat people,” he explained.
KYLP TAX EXEMPT STATUS APPROVED
On December 23, 2014, the Internal Revenue Service approved the Kentucky Youth Law Project's application for tax exempt status under IRC 501(c)(3). We are classified as a Public Charity under IRC 509(a)(2). Therefore, contributions to KYLP are fully deductible on your income taxes. Because our application was approved within 24 months of the date we became an organization, our tax exempt status is back-dated to March 24, 2014, the date on which KYLP became a registered corporation under Kentucky law. Therefore, any contributions made between March 24, 2014 through December 31, 2014 are deductible on your 2014 taxes!
KYLP took advantage of a new program offered by the Internal Revenue Service to fast-track our approval. Under the old system, organizations applying for tax exempt status were required to complete a 26-page application and attach quite a bit of documentation. The application fee was $800; and the approval process took up to two years and was very arduous, often requiring multiple corrections, addenda, and substantiation. However, on July 1, 2014, the IRS issued a new guideline permitting small nonprofit organizations to file a simplified application, called the 1023-EZ. Under these new guidelines, the application is a mere three pages in length, little additional documentation is required, the application fee is only $400, and if you qualifiy under this new program, approval is immediate and retroactive to the start of your organization. In order to qualify for the 1023-EZ application, your organization has to reasonably expect that it will not receive more than $50,000 in income in any of the first three years of its existence, nor will it have more than $250,000 in assets in any of the first three years of its existence.
The KYLP Board made the determination that these requirements actually assist us in growing our organization thoughtfully and deliberately over the next three years. A nonprofit organization is nothing if it doesn't have the trust and confidence of its donors and supporters. The KYLP Board of Directors is committed to exercising good stewardship and oversight of our donor's funds. Therefore, now that we have planted the seeds of this organization, we are dedicated to nurturing them, building a good solid root system, and making our organization grow strong and healthy so we can be here to help Kentucky's LGBTQ youth well into the future. (1/13/2015)
On December 23, 2014, the Internal Revenue Service approved the Kentucky Youth Law Project's application for tax exempt status under IRC 501(c)(3). We are classified as a Public Charity under IRC 509(a)(2). Therefore, contributions to KYLP are fully deductible on your income taxes. Because our application was approved within 24 months of the date we became an organization, our tax exempt status is back-dated to March 24, 2014, the date on which KYLP became a registered corporation under Kentucky law. Therefore, any contributions made between March 24, 2014 through December 31, 2014 are deductible on your 2014 taxes!
KYLP took advantage of a new program offered by the Internal Revenue Service to fast-track our approval. Under the old system, organizations applying for tax exempt status were required to complete a 26-page application and attach quite a bit of documentation. The application fee was $800; and the approval process took up to two years and was very arduous, often requiring multiple corrections, addenda, and substantiation. However, on July 1, 2014, the IRS issued a new guideline permitting small nonprofit organizations to file a simplified application, called the 1023-EZ. Under these new guidelines, the application is a mere three pages in length, little additional documentation is required, the application fee is only $400, and if you qualifiy under this new program, approval is immediate and retroactive to the start of your organization. In order to qualify for the 1023-EZ application, your organization has to reasonably expect that it will not receive more than $50,000 in income in any of the first three years of its existence, nor will it have more than $250,000 in assets in any of the first three years of its existence.
The KYLP Board made the determination that these requirements actually assist us in growing our organization thoughtfully and deliberately over the next three years. A nonprofit organization is nothing if it doesn't have the trust and confidence of its donors and supporters. The KYLP Board of Directors is committed to exercising good stewardship and oversight of our donor's funds. Therefore, now that we have planted the seeds of this organization, we are dedicated to nurturing them, building a good solid root system, and making our organization grow strong and healthy so we can be here to help Kentucky's LGBTQ youth well into the future. (1/13/2015)
KYLP Joins Other Youth Advocacy Groups in Calling for an End to Harmful "Reparative Therapy"
LEXINGTON -- The Kentucky Youth Law Project has joined with youth advocacy groups from across the nation to call for an end to the harmful practice of so-called conversion, or reparative, "therapy" for minors under the age of 18. In June, KYLP signed on to a letter produced by the National Center for Lesbian Rights, as part of their national project, #BornPerfect: The Campaign to End Conversion Therapy.
The campaign, which rolled out in late June, has brought together a wide variety of mental health organizations, youth advocacy groups, faith leaders, LGBT organizations, and reproductive justice advocates from around the country.
Two states, California and New Jersey, have enacted laws protecting minors from conversion therapy, and several others have legislation pending. These laws prevent licensed mental health professionals from using these practices with minors because of the lack of proven effectiveness and the high risk for long-term emotional and psychological damage that such "therapies" can produce. The laws do not address reparative therapy in adults, nor do they prevent religious groups from engaging in these practices.
"Primarily, these laws are designed to protect young people, who can be forced to participate by otherwise well-meaning parents and guardians, from the damaging influences of conversion therapy," said Keith D. Elston, Legal Director of the Kentucky Youth Law Project. "Kentucky's youth need such a law, and the legislature should act swiftly to protect these young people."
See our blog for additional details.
LEXINGTON -- The Kentucky Youth Law Project has joined with youth advocacy groups from across the nation to call for an end to the harmful practice of so-called conversion, or reparative, "therapy" for minors under the age of 18. In June, KYLP signed on to a letter produced by the National Center for Lesbian Rights, as part of their national project, #BornPerfect: The Campaign to End Conversion Therapy.
The campaign, which rolled out in late June, has brought together a wide variety of mental health organizations, youth advocacy groups, faith leaders, LGBT organizations, and reproductive justice advocates from around the country.
Two states, California and New Jersey, have enacted laws protecting minors from conversion therapy, and several others have legislation pending. These laws prevent licensed mental health professionals from using these practices with minors because of the lack of proven effectiveness and the high risk for long-term emotional and psychological damage that such "therapies" can produce. The laws do not address reparative therapy in adults, nor do they prevent religious groups from engaging in these practices.
"Primarily, these laws are designed to protect young people, who can be forced to participate by otherwise well-meaning parents and guardians, from the damaging influences of conversion therapy," said Keith D. Elston, Legal Director of the Kentucky Youth Law Project. "Kentucky's youth need such a law, and the legislature should act swiftly to protect these young people."
See our blog for additional details.
LGBTQ Youth in Foster Care.
According to the Child Welfare Information Gateway, there are approximately 175,000 youth ages 10-18 in foster care in the United States. Of these youth, an estimated 5-10 percent, and likely even more, are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning (LGBTQ).
LGBTQ youth face challenges in foster care that their non-LGBTQ counterparts simply don't face, including homophobia or transphobia, and the need to evaluate the safety of their communities, schools, social networks, and homes so that they can decide whether to disclose their sexual orientation or gender identity/gender expression, and if so, who they will disclose to, when they will disclose, and how they will disclose. They rarely have any support from the adults in their live to assist them in making these decisions, and worse, sometimes the adults in their lives, foster parents, social workers, teachers, guardians ad litem and other lawyers, and judges either intentionally or inadvertently take even that choice away from them and out them in ways that can actually make their lives more difficult, or even more dangerous.
The primary factor determining whether a young LGBTQ person becomes homeless or is removed from their home and placed in out of home care is whether they have a supportive family structure. A large majority of homeless LGBTQ youth report that they were homeless principally because their families rejected them, or made their lives so miserable that they felt forced to leave their homes.
Many LGBTQ youth report that their families attempted to get them to undergo so-called "conversion therapy," sometimes referred to as "reparative therapy," "ex-gay therapy," or "sexual orientation change efforts," and which include a range of dangerous and discredited practices aimed at changing a person's sexual orientation, including efforts to change gender identity or expression. While we cannot know precisely how many Kentucky youth have been subjected to these practices, experts believe that up to one-third of LGBT youth experience attempts to change their identity. These harmful practices are based on the false claim that being gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender is a mental illness that should be "cured." In fact, this view has been rejected as scientifically invalid by the American Psychiatric Association and every major mental health group. Unfortunately, young LGBT people may be coerced and subject to these harmful practices, which put them at risk for serious harms such as depression, substance abuse, and suicide.
We know that 40% of homeless youth identify as LGBT, compared to only 7 % of the general LGBT youth population. Homeless LGBT youth attempt suicide at much high rates (62%) than homeless non-LGBT youth (29%).
Yet when LGBTQ youth find themselves in foster care or residential/transitional/independent living placements, they are once again subjected to the same rejecting and coercive behaviors by their caregivers, who often come from conservative religious backgrounds where they have absorbed much misinformation about the nature of sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. So much so, that many of these youth say they would prefer living on the streets.
I frequently speak of the downward spiral these young people face, and a primary objective of KYLP is to disrupt this downward spiral. Our preference, naturally, is to reunify these young people with their families, if their families are willing to receive training so that they can commit to providing a safe and stable home environment that respects these young people's sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression. Short of that, we would like to provide training to Kentucky's foster families in order to improve the quality of care they are providing these young people, even if they have not self-identified to the resource families.
If you think this work has value, please consider sending a contribution to KYLP, P.O. Box 21964, Lexington, Kentucky 40522-1964. We would appreciate your generous support.
According to the Child Welfare Information Gateway, there are approximately 175,000 youth ages 10-18 in foster care in the United States. Of these youth, an estimated 5-10 percent, and likely even more, are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning (LGBTQ).
LGBTQ youth face challenges in foster care that their non-LGBTQ counterparts simply don't face, including homophobia or transphobia, and the need to evaluate the safety of their communities, schools, social networks, and homes so that they can decide whether to disclose their sexual orientation or gender identity/gender expression, and if so, who they will disclose to, when they will disclose, and how they will disclose. They rarely have any support from the adults in their live to assist them in making these decisions, and worse, sometimes the adults in their lives, foster parents, social workers, teachers, guardians ad litem and other lawyers, and judges either intentionally or inadvertently take even that choice away from them and out them in ways that can actually make their lives more difficult, or even more dangerous.
The primary factor determining whether a young LGBTQ person becomes homeless or is removed from their home and placed in out of home care is whether they have a supportive family structure. A large majority of homeless LGBTQ youth report that they were homeless principally because their families rejected them, or made their lives so miserable that they felt forced to leave their homes.
Many LGBTQ youth report that their families attempted to get them to undergo so-called "conversion therapy," sometimes referred to as "reparative therapy," "ex-gay therapy," or "sexual orientation change efforts," and which include a range of dangerous and discredited practices aimed at changing a person's sexual orientation, including efforts to change gender identity or expression. While we cannot know precisely how many Kentucky youth have been subjected to these practices, experts believe that up to one-third of LGBT youth experience attempts to change their identity. These harmful practices are based on the false claim that being gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender is a mental illness that should be "cured." In fact, this view has been rejected as scientifically invalid by the American Psychiatric Association and every major mental health group. Unfortunately, young LGBT people may be coerced and subject to these harmful practices, which put them at risk for serious harms such as depression, substance abuse, and suicide.
We know that 40% of homeless youth identify as LGBT, compared to only 7 % of the general LGBT youth population. Homeless LGBT youth attempt suicide at much high rates (62%) than homeless non-LGBT youth (29%).
Yet when LGBTQ youth find themselves in foster care or residential/transitional/independent living placements, they are once again subjected to the same rejecting and coercive behaviors by their caregivers, who often come from conservative religious backgrounds where they have absorbed much misinformation about the nature of sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. So much so, that many of these youth say they would prefer living on the streets.
I frequently speak of the downward spiral these young people face, and a primary objective of KYLP is to disrupt this downward spiral. Our preference, naturally, is to reunify these young people with their families, if their families are willing to receive training so that they can commit to providing a safe and stable home environment that respects these young people's sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression. Short of that, we would like to provide training to Kentucky's foster families in order to improve the quality of care they are providing these young people, even if they have not self-identified to the resource families.
If you think this work has value, please consider sending a contribution to KYLP, P.O. Box 21964, Lexington, Kentucky 40522-1964. We would appreciate your generous support.