Institutional Homophobia

I just came across this video online. Regardless of anybodies agendas(which is clear in this video), the documentary evidence presented in this video is absolutely staggering.

The Facts: (as per the video)
* A 15 year old youth is abandoned by his parents
* He is bullied in school
* He lives rough on the street
* Despite being informed of the situation, Social Services ignored his case
* He was subjected to routine police harassment

A 15 year old youth is systematically ignored, abused, hassled by a System which exists to protect all minors under its control regardless of a person's orientation is not only a failure on the part of the State but also a failure on the part of his parents.

The situation which this video poses, strikes a particular cord with me. In 2006, Johnny
released a report on LGBT Hate crimes in Ireland: Of that group surveyed, 41% had been victims of hate crimes* and of those attacks, 80% had not reported it to the authorities because it was felt that there was no point. What scared me last year about that figure was, that in the non-reporting of hate crimes, figures are askewed and do not accurately reflect the realities of being gay in Ireland, young, old or inbetween.

What links into this story about this particular youth in Cornwall, is the fact that a Northern Ireland Mental Health Study, in conjunction with SHOUT concluded that young gay males are five times more likely to be medicated for Depression, whilst one in three of them will have attempted suicide. Now I am not going to go down the route of blaming all young male suicide on the non-existence of a caring sphere which accepts a persons sexual orientation ; I certainly think it is a factor but not the only one. However when the State's institutions fail to recognize the differences within our youth; fail to organize adequate responses to issues; fail to respond to the needs of our youths and institutionally block efforts of equality, either through the deliberate ignorance of the issue eg. The Lydia Foy Case (3-4 days left for the implementation of that ruling if I'm not mistaken) or a blocking/delaying of an issue such as the issue of Civil Unions, then the State sets itself up for figures which the SHOUT survey in NI discovered, and I have no doubt that the LGBT Lives survey, will find something similar.

The State has a responsibility to provide role models for society to follow. Those role models now extend to the LGBT community. But with Institutional blocks in place, it is hard to have good role models in our communities, whom have existed up to this point invisibly, whose relationships are not valued or recognized by the State. I may remind people that there is no differentiation in the constitution of this great Republic between the taxes of straight people and those of gay people. There is already differentiation between Married people & single people. If people want to argue a case against Civil Unions, on the basis that it would cost too much, as the Irish Independent voxpop on their website did last week, Don't!.




*either verbal or Physical

Youth workers criticise alcohol advertising code

Youth workers criticise alcohol advertising code
07/11/2007 - 14:11:17

Youth workers are today criticising the alcohol industry's voluntary advertising code, saying it is too weak and is not being fully adhered to.

The criticism follows a report by the Alcohol Marketing Communications Body, which has identified a number of breaches of the code.

The complaints include cinema advertising, screening of ads in the morning and insufficient information on advertisements.

Youth Work Ireland says the code is too liberal and allows ads to be aired at inappropriate times when young people are tuned in.

It wants the Government to honour its promise to legislate in the area if the industry's voluntary approach failed to work.

Source: http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/mhmhojojmhau/

The side to Gay Life we don't see: Aging

We never think about it. We go out most weekends; We glam up; We meet our mates; We score some hot young guy; We become the older stalwarts of the community by 25 & jaded by the process and after a couple of months/years out of it, we go back and do it all over again, all in the name of maintaining our view that we are young & continue to be attractive & did I mention young?
The NYTimes this week ran a fantastic article on the concept of growing old as an out gay man and the stigma & prejudice which is attached to this, with regards the provision of care. The article is very well put together, and does in many ways highlight a number of issues in our Society as a whole, the issue of care and whose role is care perceived to be for? It provides a very rude awakening for a culture of young gay men in this country and in most of the Western world where boundaries are broken down, almost on what seems like a daily basis these days. Thought provoking, but will it provide the incentive to do something about it.
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Aging and Gay, and Facing Prejudice in Twilight

Even now, at 81 and with her memory beginning to fade, Gloria Donadello recalls her painful brush with bigotry at an assisted-living center in Santa Fe, N.M. Sitting with those she considered friends, “people were laughing and making certain kinds of comments, and I told them, ‘Please don’t do that, because I’m gay.’”

The result of her outspokenness, Ms. Donadello said, was swift and merciless. “Everyone looked horrified,” she said. No longer included in conversation or welcome at meals, she plunged into depression. Medication did not help. With her emotional health deteriorating, Ms. Donadello moved into an adult community nearby that caters to gay men and lesbians.

“I felt like I was a pariah,” she said, settled in her new home. “For me, it was a choice between life and death.”

Elderly gay people like Ms. Donadello, living in nursing homes or assisted-living centers or receiving home care, increasingly report that they have been disrespected, shunned or mistreated in ways that range from hurtful to deadly, even leading some to commit suicide.

Some have seen their partners and friends insulted or isolated. Others live in fear of the day when they are dependent on strangers for the most personal care. That dread alone can be damaging, physically and emotionally, say geriatric doctors, psychiatrists and social workers.

The plight of the gay elderly has been taken up by a generation of gay men and lesbians, concerned about their own futures, who have begun a national drive to educate care providers about the social isolation, even outright discrimination, that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender clients face.

Source & contd: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/09/us/09aged.html?em&ex=1192161600&en=252f4521b8e5d635&ei=5087%0A