Understanding the LGBTQIA Community

Understanding the LGBTQIA Community

Introduction 

    I am an advocate for humanity. I feel that everyone should respect everyone for the benefit of humankind. Respect, understanding, and cultural diversity is important in my philosophy of how we can strive as human beings. All types of communities and the earth should be respected, but for this blog i will focus on one community, which i have seen personally attacked and feel it is important to shed light so that we always fight the injustices we experience. 

Why is the LGBTQIA Community an important Subject? 

The LGBTQIA Community, is an important subject, not because i am defined by any of the labels given to those of different life styles, genders and thoughts, but rather many of my friends who are in the gay community have been attacked verbally and some physically. At one point a good Girl Friend of mine was attacked so severely, she had to be hospitalized for a week and was unconscious for a day and a half. This happened about two months after President Trump took office, but attack in the LGBTQIA community has been happening for over a hundred years. Individuals aren't the only perpetrators, but government laws, officials and Religion has persecuted individuals, of what is usually called perverted lifestyles. In this blog you will read about different historical facts of how the gay community was treated, and how it stands today.

Connecting the Mind & Body: Impact of the current social and Political climate

Mental Behavior Conference April, 27, 2019

How can i Change and better the community? 

Attending conferences such as, the Mental and Behavior Conference at California State University and Los Angeles, one can get ideas on how to better deal with issues of bullying, harassment and how to be informed in general. I am still a firm believer that we should care about each other and to be able to show this, we have to put in the effort of trying to understand and accept other feelings, thoughts, opinions, lifestyles, cultures and communities. 

Other ways of helping other communities and ourselves is to help, have care, and socialize with other communities so that we can hope to respect and understand each other and each others opinions. making friends and getting involved will help you not understand others, but understand yourself a little better.

Experience of the Mental & Behavioral Conference

The Mental and Behavioral Health Conference is dedicated to the mind and body and the impact of the social and political climate and many workshops were discussed, but unfortunately because of time constraint only three workshops were available for students to attend. I chose; Anxiety, Depression and Cannabidoil (CBD): Impact of the current Social and Political Climate, The intersectionality of the LGBTQIA and the Helping Profession: Education and Collaboration, Autism in Adulthood: Transition skills for success. Throughout, this reflection my opinion for each workshop will be discussed along with information shared and the total day event.

Mind & Body: Impact on the Current Social and Political Climate and Workshops

The conference began with the guest speaker Dr. Erika Felix on how we can make our schools feel safe and supported. Doctor Felix shared facts and finding that she found through personal research such as; school shooting and how national statistics were fabricating or misleading how many shooting have happened in the last decade or so. Doctor Felix found that one hundred sixty one out of two hundred thirty five were fabricated, as she called districts and teachers, principals and other staff said that “since, they have worked there, shootings had never happened”. Some had been working at the school for almost twenty years. She also discussed Cultivation theory and how our thoughts are disproportionately shaped because of social media, media, and the amplification of readily available sources. She gave testimonials of students and quoted “a lot of times kids bully in small ways, but after a year, it all adds up and no one really understands it”. In reference to bullying, fear, and trauma, at the end of her presentation Dr. Felix shared some helpful sources such as; Second Step and Expect Respect. After Dr. Felix’s presentation we were directed to go to our workshops of choice.

Anxiety, Depression and Cannabidoil (CBD): Impact of the current Social and Political Climate

The Anxiety, Depression and Cannabinoid (CBD) workshop was the first I attended and it was led by Professor Frances Siu, Emily Martinez and Chistiaan Kier. It was run as a discussion workshop, were students and attendees were invited to ask questions and participate. All members discussed the three topics while adding, that they are not promoting the use of CBD, but were discussing benefits and negatives of politics, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), and other forms of treatment for anxiety and depression. Professor Siu, mainly discussed statistics such as about eighty percent of forty million people are affected by depression and anxiety, about twelve percent of a hundred thousand are suicidal, and that forty percent of people taking antidepressants can experience more severe depression and can sometimes take two weeks to have effect.

Emily Martinez, a student of CSULA (California State University, Los Angeles), discussed personal testimony on her experience with depression, anxiety and the use of antidepressants and CBD. Her story was very emotional and the shaking of her voice, the nervousness of her body language and her strength to admit such thoughts were an endearing and motivational influence of her, not only courage, but the strength she has had to deal, learn and progress in her ability to better herself. Overall, her story was inspiring, very emotional and the attendees were all captivated and moved by her speech. Everyone was supportive and everyone wanted to applaud and comfort her and thanked her at the end. She was a true inspiration and although I did not reveal much in this reflection, I feel it is not my story to tell and I am sure anyone reading this could ask her any question and she may be happy to share.

The last person in this workshop was Professor Christiaan Kier, who discussed treatments for anxiety and depression, such as; meditation, exercise and physical activity and creating realistic goals to keep one motivated. She also explained in detail how CBD from the marijuana plant has I higher dosage than that of its counterpart in Hemp. She explained how only ten states allow CBD use legally and many that are with marijuana are not legal. Professor Kier, also reiterated that CBD is not regulated correctly and studies have found that some lotions, creams and other products with CBD showed an absence of CBD, other germs and viruses and a lower percentage. At the end of the presentation we thanked all the speakers and went for our lunch break.

Meditate: Create a Life of Joy, Peace and Love

After our lunch break, a meditation seminar was introduced by Dr. Michelle Windmueller. She discussed the book “The Inner Matrix: Tools to Consciously Transform”, where neuroscience and ancient wisdom knowledge are discussed to transform mind, emotions and intuitions. She discussed how this could help with kids and disabilities and how she has applied it to kids in a school setting and her personal life. We also participated in a meditation ritual with Dr. Windmueller and I can honestly say I did feel better after the meditation, even though I almost dozed off, seeing as how I was so relaxed. After this mediation seminar we continued with the other workshops.

The intersectionality of the LGBTQIA and the Helping Profession: Education and Collaboration

The LGBTQIA workshop was run by three speakers; Christiaan Kier, Constance Richard and Anthony Berumen, who was actually in quarantine, do to the measles scare and had to speak over the phone. Professor Kier began with many definitions of all types of genders and meanings such as; Cisgender, gender fluid, gender identity, gender non-conforming, heteromativity, heterosexism, internalized oppression, intersectionality, misgendering, neurodiversity and two spirits, which is a term by Native Americans and only used in the native community. She discussed how schools are adapting some progressive behavior with students in the Gay-Straight Alliances, who support the LGBTQIA community. She discussed feeling of depression of over seventy percent of this community, along with feeling of loneliness and hopelessness, trouble sleeping and how only about twenty six percent feel safe. Professor Richards and Buremen discussed how about bullying is prevalent in this community by almost two times more of the average person experiencing or observing bullying. Case Vignettes, Allyship training and other programs were discussed and how they are trying to implement these all over the nation. A big discussion among all three speakers was how language is to be applied for those in this community. After this workshop, we went to our final workshop.

Autism in Adulthood: Transition skills for success.

This workshop was led by Leigh Ann Tipton, Hung Jen Kuo, and Heidi Paul. It was a discussion workshop, where all can ask questions to be addressed with the focus being high school students transitioning to work, school and adulthood. Resources such as the IEP were discussed and how at sixteen years of age students with disabilities should began goal implemented IEP’s in regards to careers, colleges and other transitional goals after high school. They recommended that it should start at the earliest of fourteen years of age. A few parents with kids with developmental disabilities attended and questions were asked such as; how to motivate, how to work on behavior and how to prepare them for adulthood. All questions were answered and resources were shared such as regional center, department of rehabilitation and supplemental security income benefits that one can apply for as adults. After the workshop we thanked the speakers and walked over to get our certificates of completing the mental and behavioral conference.

Thoughts of the conference

Overall it was a good experience, very informative and very enlightening. Workshops such as the LGBTQIA, really shed light on how we can respect and make others feel comfortable, even if is outside of what we culturally believed before. The anxiety and depression workshop was really informative on how we can better ourselves and change behavior through meditations and other means. The last workshop I attended was a great eye opener on when we should start preparing kids to think about adulthood, how we can implement them and how we can advocate for them. The entire conference, in my opinion, was a success and I look forward to the next time I can attend. 

Research is another way we can educate ourselves on epidemics, understanding and knowledge of what current events are happening and how we can possibly help. In the article Music therapists’ attitudes and actions regarding the LGBTQ community: A preliminary report, by Annette Whitehead-Pleaux, Annette, et all, the study of how practitioners, educators, students and interns in music therapy, about half of 409 respondents did not know how to work with LGBTQ clients. This article reflected how they respond to multiple situations, stress, approach, language and when experiencing hate speech or bullying language toward this community. About 37% allowed all expressions, and only 3.6% would result in removing offenders. This is partly the result of now knowing how to handle these situations and not knowing appropriate language that is standard or considered hateful. 

Statistics 

As educators try to protect the youth of LGBTQ community, unfortunately legislation, politcs and other government outlets have not yet caught up. In some states, legislators require school officials to condemn LGBTQ people. In Texas its taught that homosexuality is not an acceptable lifestyle and a criminal offense (McGovern, A., 2019).

Other statistics

AccordingThe to the article Prevalence of Sexual Assault Against People Who Identify as Gay, Lesbian, or Bisexual in the United States: A Systematic Review by Emily F. Rothman1, Deinera Exner2, and Allyson L. Baughman. 

* The reported prevalence of lifetime sexual assault (LSA) ranged from 12% to 54.0% among gay and bisexual (GB) males and from 16% to 85.0% among lesbian and bisexual (LB) females.

 * The median estimate of lifetime sexual assault for GB men was 30%, and the median estimate of lifetime sexual assault for LB women was 43%. 

* Given that estimates of lifetime sexual assault prevalence among U.S. residents are 11–17% for women and 2–3% for men (Basile, Chen, Lynberg, & Saltzman, 2007; Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000), we conclude that GLB individuals may be at increased risk for sexual assault victimization. 

* Approximately, 39% of the studies involving GB men and 26% of the studies involving LB women used populationbased methods instead of convenience sampling. 

* Studies using convenience samples generally reported higher sexual assault victimization rates across all types of sexual assault as compared to studies using populationbased or census methods. 

* Studies of childhood sexual assault were more prevalent than studies of intimate partner sexual assault, adult sexual assault, lifetime sexual assault, or hate crime-related sexual assault.

NCAVP Statistics 2010

NCAVP 2017

NCAVP 2017

Thoughts on Statistics

comparing the 2008-9 to the 2017, we can see a recent increase on hate crimes, which is why i feel we need to better educate and have people understand the LGBTQIA community. 

Sources

Ashley E. McGovern, When Schools Refuse to Say Gay: The Constitutionality of anti-LGBTQ No-
   Promo-Homo Public School Policies in the United States, 22 CORNELL J. L. & PUB. POL'Y 465
    (2012).    Provided by: California State University, Los Angeles

Carrie L. Buist, Codie Stone, (2013), Transgender Victims and Offenders: Failures of the United 
    States Criminal Justice System and the Necessity of Queer Criminology, Springer
    Science+Business Media Dordrecht

Beverly Tillery, NEW YORK CITY ANTI-VIOLENCE PROJECT Audacia Ray, MA, NEW YORK
   CITY ANTI-VIOLENCE PROJECT Eliel Cruz, NEW YORK CITY ANTI-VIOLENCE
   PROJECT  Emily Waters, MSW/MPH, NEW YORK CITY ANTI-VIOLENCE PROJECT, Hate
   Violence against the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Communities in the United
   States in 2009, National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP), 2010

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and HIV-Affected Hate and Intimate Partner Ciionlence
   in 2017: A report from the national coalition of anti-violence programs,  New York City Anti-
   Violence Project • 116 Nassau St, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10038 • www.ncavp.org
   Suggested Citation: National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP). (2018). Lesbian,
   Gay,  Bisexual,  NATIONAL REPORT ON LGBTQ & HIV-AFFECTED VIOLENCE IN 2017

Vanessa r. Panfil and Jody Miller, the straight and Narrow: The Import of Queer Criminology for
   Criminology and Criminal Justice, , Rutgers University

Annette Whitehead-Pleaux, Amy M. Donnenwerth, Beth Robinson, Spencer Hardy, Leah G. Oswanski, MA, LAC, MT-BCd, Michele Forinash, Maureen C. Hearns,  Natasha Anderson, Xueli Tan, Music therapists’ attitudes and actions regarding the LGBTQ community: A preliminary report  The Arts in Psychotherapy, 2013

Eric Swank, Region, Social Identities, and Disclosure Practices as Predictors of Heterosexist
   Discrimination Against Sexual Minorities in the United States, Morehead State University Breanne
   Fahs, Arizona State University David M. Frost, Columbia University, Sociological Inquiry, Vol.
   83,  No. 2, May 2013, 238–258 © 2013 Alpha Kappa Delta DOI: 10.1111/soin.12004

Emily F. Rothman1, Deinera Exner2, and Allyson L. Baughman, The Prevalence of Sexual Assault
    Against People Who Identify as Gay, Lesbian, or Bisexual in the United States: A Systematic
    Review, Trauma, Violence & Abuse, 2011