http://www.washingtonblade.com/2011/03/03/helping-lgbt-youth-in-d-c/ the gay community's news source Sun, 19 May 2013 20:09:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://www.washingtonblade.com/2011/03/03/helping-lgbt-youth-in-d-c/#comment-18105 Marc Clark Fri, 04 Mar 2011 15:04:01 +0000 http://www.washingtonblade.com/?p=18572#comment-18105 I applaud the efforts of SMYAL. One aspect of the data collection challenge is exploring same gender loving experiences among African Americans. Adding items for LGBTQ youths to the local YRBS in 2007 was important. Hopefully, researchers will take up the challenge to explore family effects amng Black and working class LGBTQ youths. Is SMYAL collaborating with local universitites or the DC Department of Health and DCPS to ensure that the YRBS remains a vital tool–among others–to collect data about youuth in DC? Are there other funding steams they can and should explore? The great work of Caitlin Ryan–though groundbreaking–has not yet published findings on African American families and gay adults, while White and Latino gay men have discussed their family histories re the “coming out” phenomenon and unmet mental health needs. There is an unfortuante history of Black exclusion and disparities in service delivery in the mental health arena. SMYAL and others can help address the unmet health needs by documenting the challenges facing local LGBT youth of color.

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