By Rita Price
Unlike their straight counterparts, gay teens don’t often cite grades, college plans and finances as their biggest challenges.
More often, their worries cut deeper: not being accepted by their own families, getting bullied at school, fearing the consequences of coming out.
“Think about the stress on your physical and mental well-being to carry that,” said Ellen Kahn, director of the Family Project at the Washington, D.C.-based Human Rights Campaign.
The civil-rights organization that advocates for people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender recently polled more than 10,000 LGBT teens 13 to 17 years old — the largest known survey of its kind — to ask what it’s like growing up LGBT in America.
Results from Ohio respondents are being released today. Leaders from the Human Rights Campaign, local gay community and city officials will visit Kaleidoscope Youth Center, a Columbus haven for LGBT youth.
The survey included a corollary study of straight teens, and survey organizers say the comparison shows great disparities.
While 67 percent of the straight teens described themselves as happy, 37 percent of the LGBT group said the same.
More than twice as many LGBT teens said they experiment with drugs or alcohol, and more than half said they are harassed and called anti-gay slurs at school.
One-third of the LGBT respondents in Ohio and nationwide said their families aren’t accepting.
“No one would say that growing up LGBT is easy, but this survey is a stark wake-up call to the daily toll that discrimination takes on vulnerable young people,” Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin said. “We have a responsibility to change that because we know all too well that there are real-life consequences to inaction.”
DeMarcus Scott, 19, said his years at a Columbus high school were tough.
“I didn’t accept myself, in addition to everyone else not accepting me,” he said. “It was like being in a constant state of stage fright.”
Scott said he started hanging out at Kaleidoscope, eventually serving on its youth advisory board and helping to organize the group’s prom.
“I came to terms with just the reality that I am who I am,” said Scott, who lives in Columbus and attends a technical school. “I’m out to everybody now. But it’s a difficult step that not everybody can take.”
Scott agreed with survey results that show LGBT teens saying their most important problems aren’t the typical challenges of youth. “I couldn’t focus on my grades because I was always worried about someone finding out,” he said.Elizabeth, a 26-year-old who was involved with Kaleidoscope for years, still isn’t out to all her extended family. She didn’t want her last name used for fear that her grandfather would read it in The Dispatch.
Still, she and others say, acceptance is growing. It tends to come faster from peers. About three-quarters of respondents nationwide and in Ohio said that most of their peers are OK with their identity.
“In some ways, you have to choose your family,” Elizabeth said.
Kahn said the survey results also show resiliency. The teens seek out resources and strive for connections.
“Access to the Internet is a lifeline,” she said. “Speaking as someone who came out 35 years ago, that’s a huge change, in and of itself. “We hope it’s not the only vehicle to connect, but it’s an important one, especially for youth who don’t have a center, a (gay-straight alliance) or a family member who’s supportive.”
Amy Eldridge, executive director at Kaleidoscope, said the survey can help parents, teachers, health professionals and others who work closely with teens.
“How bad can it be? We know that the suicide rate is three to four times higher for LGBT youth,” she said. “The story is one of improvement from where we’ve been. But we still have a ways to go.”
For more information, go to www.hrc.org.
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