Trans-Forming Communities: Making Queer Youth Matter

Trans-forming Communities: Making Queer Youth Matter was launched in Fall 2011 with the intention of making educational training available to youth service providers that increases attention to how young people make meaning of Queer identities in environments not always considerate of gender and sexual diversity. Such educational opportunities will include Anti-Transphobia & Homophobia, Suicide Intervention, and Small Group Facilitation training. It is hoped that through these sessions those efforts already being made by individuals and groups committed to improving circumstances for Queer Youth can be strengthened.

Growing up today as a young person can be a confusing and isolating experience with increasing economic despair creating questions about the future. This experience can be compounded for LGBTQ* (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Two-Spirited, Transgender, Queer, and Questioning) youth because of heterosexist environments that erase sexualities and genders different from heterosexual male and female roles. Community supports like Gay/Straight Alliances, PFLAG and informal networks exist in our region, these only operate voluntarily and are thus not consistently available to members of Cape Breton’s Queer Community. As a result of these experiences with oppression, Queer Youth are disproportionately at greater risk of suicide and other negative health outcomes such as drug and alcohol addiction.

We aim to build stronger alliances among service providers interested in improving circumstances for Queer Youth, increase their capacity to understand and address the circumstances these youth experience, and foster the creation of additional resources that could make our Cape Breton community more affirming to the sexual and/or gender diversities among its citizens. Such efforts we see as not only ensuring the wellbeing of Queer Cape Bretoners but also making our island a more desirable place to continue living, allowing this community to be key players in increasing the vibrancy of our region. CBers can provide an example to other rural communities in supporting an active queer community.

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