Happy MLK Day!

Happy MLK Day!

“Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like everyone else under the law, for if we are truly created equal then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well.” – President Barack Obama at his inauguration today.

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: ‘What are you doing for others?’” – Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

Today two of my favourite organizations – HRC  and Larkin Street  – came together for the benefit of LGBT homeless youth.  I joined a group of volunteers from BlackRock to assemble care bags.

Sandy and me in front of some interesting youth art at Larkin Street

Thanks to very generous donations from Dr Paul Tan DMD, BlackRock employees, and store manager Kenneth from the Walgreens at 1300 Bush, we were able to assemble about 200 bags of toiletries, dental supplies, hats, socks and t-shirts.  And we had a load of fun.

Kenneth from Walgreens very kindly gave us a ton of free socks, hats and toiletries

The last year has been a year of achievement and celebration for LGBT equality.  Today our president made history with the first mention of gay rights in an inauguration speech, putting our rights in the context of the civil rights movement.

But while we should be proud of headline achievements, we still have a long way to come to ensure that opportunity, dignity, love and support are provided to all in our community.

The statistics on LGBT youth are sobering:

• Of the 2 million homeless youth in the US, 40% are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (a much larger proportion than the 3-5% of the general population who identify as LGBT).
• The largest causes of gay homelessness are family rejection and abuse.
• Schools are not always safe for gay kids: 86% of LGBT kids reported verbal harassment; 44% physically harassed or assaulted. (And the numbers are even higher for transgender youth).
• 73% of LGBT youth have considered suicide.

What can we do?

Research has identified family rejection and abuse as the primary causes of homelessness, and unfortunately these tend to correlate with religiosity and conservatism.

Immediately converting the world to secular liberalism is wishful and impractical.

But patience could help. Conservatives have been wrong about every single civil rights issue to date (from women’s suffrage to women’s reproductive rights, to racial equality and now gay rights) but the tide of progress eventually moves them forward.  We can soon enjoy their embarrassment at previous public statements and their acceptance – if not their embrace – of gay equality.

More practically, as parents and members of the community, we can let our kids know that it’s cool for them to be whoever they want to be, and that the characteristics that make them different are often what brings them the most success as adults.  This kind of support makes a huge difference.

There are many organizations do great work in this area. Here’s a very incomplete list:

• Larkin Street has dedicated programs such as the Castro Youth Housing Initiative to address the needs of homeless LGBT youth. 
• PFLAG was launched in 1972 by a mother publicly standing up for her gay son, and has grown into a community of 200,000 parents, families, friends and straight allies who campaign for LGBT equality.
• GSA network supports young people to create safe and supportive environments for gay kids in schools.

Please check them out, and don’t forget that you can support Larkin Street through the widget on the right hand side of this blog page, or at this link.