It Gets Better

In honor of National Coming Out Day, I decided to write my blog post about a project I think is absolutely wonderful - it's called the "It Gets Better Project". This project is to help young LGBT youth who are struggling with their sexuality to see how much better it gets if they can just get through their teen years. It also helps LGBT youth to see that they are not alone and have support all around the globe from people with similar experiences. As a future social worker, I am sure that I will work with people from all populations. I feel like this site (listed at the bottom) will be a great resource to use and direct youth towards if they are feeling alone in their struggle with their sexuality. Some of the videos are so inspiring - definitely check it out if you have the chance!!

http://www.itgetsbetter.org/

Transgender Bias

In my social justice class last week, we had a call to action presentation dealing with the LGBT community. They particularly focused on the transgender community and the many struggles that people in the transgender community face. So I decided to look up some news dealing with the trans community. I read one article that gave me a little bit of hope - that it is now illegal to discriminate against or deny medical treatment to someone who identifies as transgender. The article is here if you would like to read it:

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/transgender-bias-now-banned-federal-law/story?id=16949817#.UHDWmU0R7X4

Hearing the statistics in my social justice class was very disheartening. The trans community is bullied more than any other population in the LGBT community, and they are more likely to drop out of high school. One thing that I think perpetuates this discrimination is a lack of understanding among the general population. In my opinion, the best way to prevent discrimination/violence against the trans community would be have better public education about this community. The students in my class talked about how it is hard for people to accept someone who is trans because they do not know how to address them, especially in the transitioning stages. I think that it is important that we begin to have an open dialogue about these tough issues so that we can all understand one another better. Knowledge is powerful and can definitely aid in people's understanding of a community, such as the trans community, which they may have had little to no exposure to.

Darkness to Light

Recently, I found out about an organization called "Darkness to Light". It is a great organization whose goal is preventing child sexual abuse. According to their website, 1 in 4 girls will be sexually abused before she is 18. That number is terrifying. This organization offers training classes all over the US for free in order to help empower people to prevent child sexual abuse. The website has tons of useful information for organizations who may be at risk for child sexual abuse and they utilize powerful statistics which show why this is such a detrimental problem. Not only does the website focus on organizations, they also give parents valuable information on how they can prevent child sexual abuse. In North Carolina, there are 29 upcoming free trainings. I plan on attending one in the next month. I do not currently work at a job with children; however, as a future social worker I feel it is my responsibility to be informed on social justice issues which may be of use in my career down the road. If anything, the training will be priceless personally if I ever have children of my own.

For more information you can visit:
http://www.d2l.org/site/c.4dICIJOkGcISE/b.6035035/k.8258/Prevent_Child_Sexual_Abuse.htm

For the NC Training List, visit:
http://www.d2l.org/site/c.4dICIJOkGcISE/b.6221615/k.9AB5/North_Carolina.htm