Community Pride and Support for 2SLGBTQ+ Youth

Morning Buzz August 1, 2023
Episode 452

SP!ce Radio interview with Dr. Elizabeth Saewyc: a summarized transcript.

Mankiran Aujla:   You are listening to Sp!ce Radio 1200 AM The Morning Buzz with Mankiran Aujla. Now the annual Vancouver Pride Festival begins Friday and runs through Sunday, August 6, the day of the Vancouver Pride Parade. I want to talk about the wellbeing of 2SLGBTQ+ young people’s health and the importance of having the Pride Festival to bring awareness to these issues. We are now speaking to Dr Elizabeth Saewyc professor in the school of nursing at UBC and executive director at Stigma and Resilience Among Vulnerable Youth Centre. Dr Saewyc, thank you so much for joining us.

Dr. Elizabeth Saewyc: I’m glad to be with you.

MA:    Now let’s talk about 2SLGBTQ+ young people’s health and wellbeing. When it comes to this particular area, are we seeing a lot more support?

ES:       I wish I could say yes we are, but what we’re actually seeing right now is a really troubling backlash, misinformation, disinformation campaign, a lot of it happening in the US, but definitely crossing the border in to Canada that is speaking primarily around trans- and non-binary young people, but the discourse seems to keep moving and it also includes just generally 2SLGBTQ+ people and young people especially. There’s this messaging that somehow after 20+ years of talking about and identifying the health and wellbeing of young people and recognizing that they do better when they’re supported and when they’re not being bullied, and when they get a chance to recognize and be who they are. The messaging out there right now seems to be that there is no such thing as lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, queer, questioning, trans- non-binary young people. That that’s just young people who are confused and that adults are putting this on them and we should ignore this all and stop, which flies completely in the face of my years of working with young people that indicate that no, they definitely identify their sexual orientation and their gender identity well before adulthood and for most of them the reason that they are not out and proud is because it is not safe to be so.

MA:    And that’s very troubling to hear, because there is an assumption when we see things like Pride that there’s an assumption that there is more of an acceptance, so it is disconcerting to see that things seem to be going back, and with social media, that makes things even more complicated. So with that in mind, what role do communities play in addressing and showing their support?

ES:       It’s really important to remember – or be reminded – that here in Canada, our Human Rights Code both at the national level and in every single province and territory enshrines both sexual orientation and gender identity and expression as protected categories. We are not allowed to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity and expression.

And there’s no age limit there so you can’t discriminate against high school students who are gay any more than you can discriminate against adults.

So, keeping that in mind, we also know from our research how important it is for communities to send the messages that we know you are here, we accept you are here, we welcome you, and we care about all of our young people.

So, some of the ways that communities can show that caring is first to be quite explicit about “we will not allow” and “we will speak out against discrimination, bullying, harassment and negative actions towards 2SLGBTQ+ youth, but also even those small messages around embracing diversity, so the rainbow stickers and signs, but also the rainbow sidewalks. Young people identify that when they see those kinds of messages it really lets them know and signals that hey, we see you, we care about you, you are welcome here. So that is something that they do pay attention to.

It is also really important, some of the research we have done has identified that when communities have pride parades, or pride celebrations, when they have pride games or days of remembrance or celebration around 2SLGBTQ+ youth or communities that this actually contributes to feeling safer in the community for young people and when they feel safer, they also feel better from a mental health perspective.

Some of our research has suggested that when young people are in communities that are more actively supportive of 2SLGBTQ+ people when they have those pride parades and such, they’re less likely to be suicidal or to attempt suicide. So clearly, being supportive of the community and that means safe, caring and supportive schools, that means supporting families to support their young people, and creating community settings where young people can find the information they need, can see themselves and people like them mirrored in role models and in public spaces and where they can be safe to be who they are in the public environment.

MA:    Have we seen a shift in schools where conversations are being held and support is being given to 2SLGBTQ+ people?

ES:       I think we’ve definitely seen a shift there across the province here in BC. A number of years ago, maybe in 2017 or earlier, the province’s Ministry of Education indicated that all schools needed to have anti-bullying and anti-discrimination policies that explicitly called out discrimination on the basis of SOGI. And we’ve identified a number of ways that schools can be more supportive. So, gender and sexuality alliances, or GSAs, are one way that schools create a welcoming environment. They are either social justice clubs or social clubs for 2SLGBTQ+ youth and their heterosexual and cis-gender peers to come together and to do work either just to be social and provide support for each other, or to actually create campaigns and work within schools for 2SLGBTQ+ people to create visibility around calling out homophobia, transphobia, bi-phobia, racism and other forms of oppression that people may experience. So, these are ways that schools are creating some supportive space.

Other things may be that they bring in speakers or movies. So there’s Out In Schools, a program that brings movies and videos and plays across BC and creates an opportunity for young people to see stories about the diversity of sexual orientation and gender identity in ways that are developmentally appropriate and interesting for elementary students and high school students.

So, there are ways that schools are creating a more inclusive environment.

MA:    And now especially, we’re having this conversation because we are having the Pride Festival that is happening in Vancouver beginning on the weekend. So how important is it to have events like Pride to keep the conversation going and bring awareness?

ES:       I think it’s important. I do know that in some of the research we’ve done over the years across BC, the number of young people from well beyond Vancouver who actually speak about the Pride Parade, who watch it on cable or who may actually travel so that they can come to the festival and be here during that time is something that’s really important – a touchstone. It also signals to people in other cities and communities around the province who also have their pride celebrations and their pride parades throughout the summer. It’s a chance to be visible where they might not be at other times of the year. It’s an opportunity to see people like yourself celebrated and not just accepted but people being proud of the community and the many contributions they’ve made in history, in society and today.

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