#youth

Jul 17, 2018

No, a Proposed House Amendment Wouldn’t Ban Same-Sex Couples From Adopting—It’s Even Worse Than That

This article originally appeared on July 16th, 2018 in Rewire. On Wednesday, the U.S. House Appropriations Committee voted to add an amendment to an appropriations bill that included a provision permitting licensed child-welfare agencies to discriminate on the basis of religion. The amendment drew immediate ire from the LGBTQ community, as many organizations framed the legislation as “barring gay and lesbian couples from adopting.” That’s not quite accurate: The amendment, in

May 11, 2018

LGBTQ Girls Are Much More Likely to Face Discipline in School

This article originally appeared on May 11, 2018 in ReWire.News. In 2015, the University of Arizona interviewed LGBT students across three states asking them about their experiences with over-discipline and school pushout. In response, one student said, “The teachers … they thought we were selling weed in school, they thought that me and her were both selling weed ‘cause like, the way we were dressing, ‘cause we were the only girls at that middle school that dressed like boys

Apr 20, 2018

The Truth About Bisexual College Students And Hunger

This article originally appeared on the Huffington Post on April 13, 2018. In a USA Today opinion column published Thursday, contributor James Bovard takes issue with a new study finding 36 percent of students at colleges and universities experienced food insecurity in the last month. The study looked at data from 43,000 students at two- and four-year schools from 20 states and Washington, D.C. Researchers also found that 36 percent of students experienced housing insecurity

Apr 17, 2018

The Trump-Pence Administration Is Trying to Leave LGTBQ Kids Out of Its Survey on Crime

This article originally appeared on ReWire.news on April 17, 2018. The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) is a federally administered survey that provides some of the most crucial data in the United States on the demographics of crime victims, including their sexual orientation and gender identity. The NCVS is administered to youth and adults in households across the country, but last week the Bureau of Justice Statistics issued a public comment proposing to raise the

Apr 4, 2018

High Risk, Few Resources: Bisexual Kids Lack Help When They Need It Most

This article originally appeared in ReWire.news on April 4, 2018. In early March, 12-year-old Andy Leach of Mississippi died by suicide. The causes of death by suicide are never fully known. But there is evidence that he had been struggling at school after telling his peers that he thought he might be bisexual. He experienced bullying and harassment there as a result. And Andy wasn’t alone: Bisexual young people (who make up the largest proportion of LGB students) face intens

Sep 27, 2016

Addressing the Most Forgotten Letter in LGBT

This article originally appeared in the Advocate on September 27, 2016. Despite making up more than half of the lesbian, gay, and bisexual population, bisexual people are often overlooked and invisible. Bisexual people are frequently assumed to be gay, lesbian, or heterosexual based on the gender of their partner. Yet when bisexual people are open about their sexuality, they face increased levels of violence from intimate partners; rejection by community, family, and peers; a

Apr 5, 2016

At the Intersections: The unique experiences of bisexual youth experiencing homelessness.

This article appears in full in At the Intersections. Please visit the site for the full text and citations and to read more about the experiences of LGBTQ youth experiencing homelessness and how to support their success. The largest proportion of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) youth experiencing homelessness identify as bisexual: in a recent study of street outreach programs by the Administration on Children, Youth, and Families, 20.0% of youth identified as bisexual, comp

HERON GREENESMITH

Attorney, Analyst, Advocate, Author