A Case of Shifting Focus Friction: Extension Directors and State 4-H Program Leaders’ Perspectives on 4-H LGBTQ+ Inclusion

Contemporary Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning (LGBTQ+) youth are identifying and communicating their identities earlier in childhood than generations before as a result of more awareness and more acceptance of gender identity and sexual minorities by society. A qualitative study of U.S. 4-H program leaders and Extension directors generated an emergent theme around the importance of serving LGBT youth and the resulting implementation challenges. The administrators of 4-H, the largest youth serving organization in the country, recognize the presence of LGBTQ+ youth in 4-H and believe the organization must be inclusive. But challenges remain in ensuring youth experience inclusion at all levels of the organization and to manage political and societal pressures resulting from shifting focus friction.

Suicidal ideation in LGBT youth: a literature review

A review of the literature on experiences and meanings surrounding suicide ideation in LGBT youth was conducted. It was found that a large part of the studies were carried out in Anglo-Saxon populations that tended to compare "heteronormative" with "non-heteronormative" populations, through eminently quantitative designs, where the main results were greater vulnerability in comparison to the heterosexual population, internalized homophobia and rejection of one's own sexual orientation. Social and family vulnerability that fed the experience of diverse violence in different areas of their lives. In addition, alcohol and drugs were predictors of suicidal ideation. These living conditions favored mood disturbances and affected mental health, as well as a tendency to develop self-injurious behaviors. However, family and social support were protective against suicidal ideation. Few authors used the recognized categories within the LGBT community to describe their participants, the category most commonly used was "non-heteronormative population", tending to reproduce heterosexist models. Most of the papers on experiences and meanings did not give their participants a voice.

Supporting LGBT+ People Experiencing Hate: Perspectives from LGBT+ Youth and Community Workers

Based on data taken from lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT+) youth and community workers, this article highlights the occupational stressors experienced by LGBT+ professionals who provide emotional support to service users and theorises the potential for vicarious victimisation to occur as a result. Research suggests that the emotional harms of ‘hate’ can indirectly victimise those with a shared identity as the primary victim, through emotional contagion. However, little research has been carried out on those who support victims of hate. I theorise that vicarious victimisation may occur where an individual, who shares the primary victim’s identity, takes on their experiences through a therapeutic relationship as a negative consequence of the emotional labour performed.

Divides Within the LGBT Community: Exploring the Impact of Generational Stereotypes

Age is a unique, often overlooked, aspect of identity, which is particularly problematic within the LGBT community. While sexuality, sexual orientation, and gender identity are central to the identities of LGBT people, they are verboten for older adults. Thus, older LGBT individuals’ voices are inadvertently silenced. This talk will present data that demonstrates the reinforcing role that stereotypes play in maintaining the generational divide and address some of the unique inter-generational differences within the LGBT+ community that arise from differential experiences of cultural acceptance and historical events of LGBT youth coming of age across decades. For example, in the 1970’s the DSM criteria would have classified LGBT people as mentally ill; stark contrast to the 2010’s in which LGBT youth have grown up with legal protections against hate crimes, and marriage equality as a basic right. We will conclude with a discussion on cultivating community and productive conversations across generations.