Bruce E. Smail, the CEO & Founder of Social Justice Consultants, LLC will be a guest on the BEYOND EMPOWERMENT radio show on WSTX 970 AM in St. Croix Virgin Islands. The weekly talk show airs on Tuesday, November 2, 2010 from 10:00 am – 12 noon (Eastern Time). If you are outside the territory, you may listen to the show live online (click here to link to WSTX online).
Last week’s broadcast opened the dialogue on “Heterosexual Views on Gays & Lesbians in the Virgin Islands.” Beyond Empowerment took a big risk in raising a topic that is often silenced in the Virgin Islands. After calling into last week’s broadcast and follow-up discussions with the host, Charlene Springer, this week will provide a LGBT perspective to the LGBT Community in the Virgin Islands.
I will be joined by a colleague and we will share our stories and perspectives of the LGBT community in the Virgin Islands. It is a rare opportunity to hear personal stories and perspectives. We will also provide our professional experiences in LGBT and HIV/AIDS issues.
I encourage you to review the HIV/AIDS information on this blog. It will give you some perspective of the national numbers. Some of the issues we will also discuss will be found on some key national websites:
The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force - provides various studies on a multitude of LGBT issues.
The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs - provides information on violence against the LGBT community.
The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention – provides the latest information on the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the United States.
Key Issues:
The following charts (2009_USVI_HIVAIDS_AllCharts) were created based on The United States Virgin Islands HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report – Cumulative Cases Reported up to 2009. Data was provided by the VI Department of Health on 9/22/2010.
The results of a study (PEDIATRICS Vol. 123 No. 1 January 2009, pp. 346-352), “Family Rejection as a Predictor of Negative Health Outcomes in White and Latino Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Young Adults, ” indicate the following:
Higher rates of family rejection were significantly associated with poorer health outcomes. On the basis of odds ratios, lesbian, gay, and bisexual young adults who reported higher levels of family rejection during adolescence were 8.4 times more likely to report having attempted suicide, 5.9 times more likely to report high levels of depression, 3.4 times more likely to use illegal drugs, and 3.4 times more likely to report having engaged in unprotected sexual intercourse compared with peers from families that reported no or low levels of family rejection. Latino men reported the highest number of negative family reactions to their sexual orientation in adolescence.
The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs 2009 Report found that LGBT domestic/intimate partner violence reports rose 15% since 2008 and is a pervasive social problem at a time when LGBTQ-specific programs were losing staff or closing altogether due to the economic crisis. In 2009 NCAVP document 6 murders related to LGBTQ domestic/intimate partner violence, representing a 50% rise since 2007.
The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force’s “An Epidemic of Homelessness” reported that:
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that the number of homeless and runaway youth ranges from 575,000 to 1.6 million per year. Our analysis of the available research suggests that between 20 percent and 40 percent of all homeless youth identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or trangender (LGBT). Given that 3 percent and 5 percent of the U.S. population identifies as lesbian, gay, or bisexual, it is clear that LGBT youth experience homelessness at a disproportionate rate.
I will update this blog after the presentation and provide additional links as necessary. Many thanks to Beyond Empowerment for its leadership in discussing this important issue for the Virgin Islands.
