THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 28, 1995 TAG: 9502280009
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Opinion
SOURCE: By JORGE C. SAGUE
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
I am one of the advisers to Youth Out United, the gay and lesbian youth group mentioned in the article on the Fifth Annual Gay Pride Festival at Old Dominion University (News, Feb. 12).
Youth Out United was begun in 1988 in an abandoned warehouse by the youths themselves and later moved to space provided by a local church. They wanted to end the isolation that they and all gay and lesbian youth experience when they become aware of their sexual orientation. They believe they are the only ones with the same feelings. After recognizing their identity they see and hear the message that our society is sending them and they become despondent and are two to three times more likely to attempt suicide than are heterosexual youth.
If their peers and parents find out that they are gay or lesbian, they are usually physically isolated too. Half of all gay and lesbian youth are kicked out of their homes once their parents know. These young people are left on their own to fend for themselves in extremely dangerous and terrifying streets. Most have substance-abuse problems and must use sex as their only currency to gain the basics such as food, shelter, attention and what they perceive as love.
The mission of Youth Out United is to end the isolation of these precious young people, to give them accurate non-judgmental health/safe-sex information, to facilitate access to social services for gay and lesbian youth, to provide them a safe alcohol- and drug-free place to talk and meet. We also encourage them to stay in school and to prepare for college and employment.
We also like to instill pride in these young people. An African American can take just pride in James Baldwin, Audre Lorde and Zora Neal Hurston. I, as a Latino, take great pride in Frederico Garcia Lorca. Italians can take immense pride in Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. But why can't a gay or lesbian teen not be told the truth - that these people of immense value to humanity were also gay and lesbian?
These kids need role models like Martina Navratilova and Colonel Cammermeyer.
This society perpetuates a terrible hypocrisy, and the price we pay are the lives of our gay and lesbian youth. Straight kids lose also because they never see gays and lesbians for the people we really are - just like them.
Michaelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci have inspired both gay and straight kids to be artists; why can't we be honest with these young people? All of us have gay and lesbian friends, teachers, doctors and famous people in our world. Let's recognize it once and for all.
The disease to be cured is homophobia, not homosexual orientation. The price for this dishonesty is too high.
To see a young person walk in the door scared, homeless, out of school and hungry is a sign of our society's failure. After a couple of months, I have seen youngsters like these go back to school, feeling good about themselves and starting to think of this world as a place where they belong.
We adults - gay, lesbian and straight - are all responsible for our youth. When a young person ends his or her life because he or she has no hope, we, all of us, are responsible. I don't want one more child's death, be he gay, straight or lesbian, on my conscience. Please make sure the death of a child isn't on yours. MEMO: Mr. Sague lives in Norfolk and is vice chair of Eastern Virginia HIV
Consortium, a group that cares for people with AIDS. by CNB