Past Event

LGBT Youth Living in Fear: Bullying, Hate and Suicide

Café Society will meet at the Cultural Center on Wednesday, October 20

Lara Brooks, Manager of the Broadway Youth Center (a program of the Howard Brown Health Center), will be facilitating this conversation.

From Bullying, Teen Suicides Out of the Shadows by Stuart Biegel

“The tragic story of Tyler Clementi has crystallized for many the complex harshness of peer mistreatment, the failure of education institutions to address the problem, and the brutal despair that too often results. But those who work with young people in these settings can attest to the fact that similar scenarios have been playing out­ often in the shadows ­for a very long time and across every racial and ethnic group… It is not possible to solve problems without being able to talk about them. Yet not talking about problems only allows them to fester. And they have festered, in too many places and for far too long.”

Questions for Consideration:
Why is there still so much hostility towards youth who are stumbling to explore and accept their sexual orientation? Given that it is not legal for same-sex partners to get married or adopt in most states, what message does that convey about same-sex relationships? How can we create an environment that is welcoming of all youth regardless of how they identify sexually? What is a school’s role or responsibility in fostering acceptance? How can we explain or understand the recent spate of teen suicides? What can we do to challenge homophobia?

Want to learn more?

 


Free and open to the pubilc. For more information please call 312.422.5580.

If you need a sign interpreter or require other arrangements to fully participate, please call 312.422.5580. For parking locations near the facility, please visit ChicagoParkingMap.com.