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[Community Resource] Welcome Friend Association

The Welcome Friend Association aims to educate and spread awareness regarding gender, sexual identities and orientations. Their 3 main programs include

Rainbow Camp

Rainbow Online Connection

Various events and seminars

Physical Development

The Welcome Friend Association provides a summer camp that includes many physical outdoor activates. Note that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, they have switched their programming to virtual platforms, but still encourage the physical activity through staff-guided programming.

Some of their programming includes: swimming, gaga ball, canoeing, water games, fire building and survival skills, nature walks, basketball, fort building, field games, beach yoga, compass navigation, soccer, building sandcastles, and beach volleyball.

Physical activities encouraging youth to enjoy an active healthy lifestyle are quite standard to any summer camp, because first and foremost to these campers, they are adolescents in development. Added with their workshops regarding activism that include programs such as Coming Out: Tips/Tricks and Safety Plans and Trans 101 valuing their safety and body image, healthy physical development is supported.

Emotional Development

A volunteer clinical social worker of the Welcome Friend Association, Kelsey Dugas, provides free counselling for LGBTQ+ youth aged 12-17 and parents of LGBTQ+ youth. Each session is one on one through video conference or phone and the form of the therapy varies on the challenges being presented. You can make inquiries by phone calling Welcome Friend Association at 1-888-909-2234 Ext 101. Kelsey can also be contacted through her website.

Social Development

Youth that have attended on or more of the Welcome Friend Association programs have reported overwhelmingly positive experiences. Making friends, feeling validated, having a place to belong, connecting with others, were all valuable experiences in reviews and comments. Having a safe space where LGBTQ+ youth can ultimately be themselves and have fun ultimately give them the strength and confidence for the real world. 

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[General Resource] Our Dreams at Dusk

Our Dreams at Dusk (Japanese: しまなみ誰そ彼) is a manga series written and illustrated by Yuhki Kamatani (鎌谷 悠希). The series follows a gay teenage boy ready to commit suicide after being involuntarily outed at school. However, in a turn of events, he finds himself in a lounge full of LGBTQ+ individuals. Emotional and heartfelt, Our Dreams at Dusk is a realistic take on the struggles of queer individuals coming to terms with themselves.

This manga has a beautiful art style and I particularly love the use of visual metaphors. The story is compelling and nuanced. I recommend this series to anybody regardless of their gender or sexual orientation. It’s nothing short of a masterpiece in my opinion.

Social Development

Fictional narratives tell stories of what it means to belong to certain gender, race, and other social groups. As social animals that rely on a sense of community and interactions with others to survive. Media depictions teach us how about the social world, how to navigate it, what to to assume of various social groups and their intersections, and where you belong in society.

Seeing a lack of representation of the social group you belong to or even harmful stereotypes has a profound impact on one’s sense of self. Healthy and realistic depictions of minority groups such as LGBTQ+ identities in entertainment media is critical to breaking stigmas. Normalizing stories with representation validifies the existence of LGBTQ+ individuals in real life, as fiction and the stories we share have in impact on the real world.

For further reading on how representation in media affects development, here’s a comprehensive journal.

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[General Resource] Hello, Cruel World by Kate Bornstein

Research has shown that suicide rates among LGBTQ+ youth are significantly higher when compared to the general population. Egale has collected a few statistics such as:

LGBTQ+ youth are 4 times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers.

Adolescents rejected by their families for their LGBTQ+ identity are 8 times more likely to attempt suicide than heterosexual adolescents.

47% of trans youth in Ontario had thought about suicide and 19% had attempted suicide

Statistics such as these highlight the urgency in which suicide among LGBTQ+ youth needs to be addressed.

Subtitled as “101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks and Other Outlaws” this self-help book focused on suicide prevention for young and vulnerable audiences. Written by author, playwright, actor, and gender theorist: Kate Bornstein, there is also a heavy focus on gender identity, expression, and sexual activity. This post will include one of the admin’s thoughts on the book. 

First picking up the book, I thought it was going to be general suicide prevention book with a focus on mental health. The first half of the book focuses on self-affirmation, with a run down on sex and gender theory. It’s written for teenagers, so there’s none of that intimidating university professor writing style. This also makes it approachable and comprehensible for older audiences as well. The second half of the book lists the proposed alternatives for suicide, ranging from ridiculous to practical to outright controversial. These diverse recommendations are not meant to “fix” or “cure” anyone, but instead to help struggling youth survive and find a way to be comfortable with themselves. Throughout the book, it’s undeniable to feel the support coming from Bornstein’s writing.

Emotional Development

As LGBTQ+ youth face many stressors and barriers, ensuring sound mental health can be incredibly challenging. Hormonal shifts that occur during adolescent years can increase emotional reactivity. Alongside the additional social stigmas surrounding their identities, this creates a greater likelihood to develop hopelessness and depression if left unattended. Self-help books such as this one are a way to seek out help and guidance when it feels as if you can’t go to anybody. Building a much-needed support system requires external help and internal self-affirmation, which self-help books are designed to address.

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[General Resource] Sending the Right Message

“Send The Right Message is a campaign of the LGBTQ Youth Initiative. Our goal is to encourage straight and cisgender youth to challenge every day instances of homophobia, biphobia and transphobia. We're here to help them be allies to their LGBTQ friends.”

This website is very streamlined, simple, and easy to comprehend. If you’re ever having trouble explaining something related to the LGBTQ+ community, this website can be very convenient to send to your friends. There are guides and breakdown of concepts, a glossary of vocabulary, and additional readings.

Social Development

Whether you identify as a member of the LGBTQ+ community or not, keeping an open mind to educate yourself is the first step to respecting other people. As gender is a socialized among us, it has a great influence on how individuals interact and treat each other. The site breaks down various forms of discrimination such as transphobia, homophobia, and biphobia. For allies, there are explanations of how your actions and the language you use may build stigmas, what privilege is, how to be a good ally, how to apologise when you’ve made a mistake regarding these things. Challenging these stigmas and learning about the identities of others will create a more welcoming space for all.