Resources for gay teenagers

will brady's journal

resources for gay teens

queer teens

Before you get all angry about my writing about teens and gay orientation let it be known that I was once one of the legion of gay youth who looked in vain for legitimate, non-threatening supports but didn't find them. How much easier my life could have been if even one of these resources were available for me to contact when I was a teenager, cause I certainly already knew I was gay. That said, here's some places for queer kids nowadays. Parents with gay kids can learn a great deal as well.

!OutProud! / the Natn'l Coalition for GLBT Youth with resources and online supports for kids who are gay / http://www.outproud.org/menu.html
Bear Youth / actually probably more for kids just at "legal" age. A scan of the site will give one pause (paws? heh heh) when confronting stereotypes about what gay teens look like / http://www.bearyouth.org/
Coalition for Positive Sexuality / not a "gay site" per se. the site asserts that teens "...have the right to complete and honest sex education..." / http://www.webcom.com/~cps/
Cool Places for Queer Teens / Scott Bidstrup's self-help info for teens who have already asked themselves "if they are gay" and provides practical suggestions on effectively dealing with this / http://www.pe.net/~bidstrup/cool.htm
Virtual Safe Zone / as of 15 mar 00, this site is being reconstructed / http://www.youthsource.com/safe/
Books for gay & lesbian teens / Lambda Rising put together this extensive list of books, many of which sound like first person accounts of what it was like growing up as a teen who knew her or she is gay / http://www.youth.org/yao/docs/books.html
PFLAG / Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays main page / http://pflag.org/pflag.html
Suicides and gay youth / Surprise! This article comes from a Roman Catholic publication / http://www.catholiccourier.com/oldotm/otm924.html

child abuse

NOTE: Info on subsequent pages will be a reality check for some. If it isn't, thank you, you know what "different" teens have to deal with, and hopefully, you are working at doing something about it. If what you find here is a jolt to you, then shame on you. For those ignorant about "different" kids (and this includes hetero and gay, parents and singles alike) you participate in compromising the future of our species. Get with it. Help out kids who need help, but don't just shove 'em off in institutions

People need to know about what happened (what continues to happen) to gay and lesbian kids when "institutional systems" take them in and work to cure them. Actually, this applies whether the kid is "gay," "A.D.D.", has an "oppostional defiant" or "borderline disorder." All kids who are seen as "different."

The institutional settings (or "systems") for juveniles (be they "hospitals," "treatment centers," "training schools," or "homes for bad boys") have a profound effect on not only the kids placed in them, but on society as a whole.

Humanity must take witness to what happens to these kids and reflect on what it says about that society, of which we each comprise a part. The following sites are not necessarily about gay kids, but about all kids stuck in these "systems" and isolated from society {for I cannot in any honesty call it "civilization." 'Nough said. Go there ~NOW!

Wounded Boys, Courageous Men / Instituionalized Child Abuse / http://www.adss.on.ca/ejmundy/
Healing from Childhood Sexual Abuse / Scott Abraham's review of books on this woefully underacknowledged subject / http://www.vix.com/menmag/sexabuse.html Institutional Child Abuse / 1997 Report from the Law Commission of Canada / http://www.lcc.gc.ca/en/papers/rapport/sevices.html
Links between Woman battering & child abuse / Baffles me why this should be surprising news. / http://www.mincava.umn.edu/papers/nij.htm
New York State's dirty Secret: Child "Protective" Services fail to do their job / Another one of those facts that should come as no surprise yet... / http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/edocs/investigation/secrets.htm
Mental Health Matters! links to child abuse & trauma resource sites / Cheers to Judi Castelli for providing this valuable resource / http://www.mental-health-matters.com/abusechild.html
Male Sexual Abuse / not certain of the author of this page but the links are good ones / http://members.aol.com/cnslr100/index.html
Male Sexual Abuse Recovery / Sexual Assault Information Pages's links. Check the "unfortunately necessary" notes on the opening page. / http://www.cs.utk.edu/~bartley/index/mensResources/

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I hope you've found this site interesting, even thought provoking. Please don't write to me about the content of other peoples' sites linked from here. On the other hand, please let me know of any inactive links. Constructive comments, suggested links to add, are welcome.

This website is maintained by Will Brady / wbrady@connix.com / Last update: 15 mar 00