Guest writer Laura Finlay writes on the importance of LGBTQ
Societies for the positive mental health of LGBTQ students.
I’ve been
asked a lot of times by a lot of people why there are a need for gay bars,
LGBTQ support groups, and even why colleges need LGBTQ societies. These people
usually go on to give about about what they see as self-imposed segregation, and
think that we make ourselves different by acting different and by socialising
in different places. My answer to these people is always the same. It’s nothing
to do with segregation, or a need to be different. It’s to do with the concept
of a safe space, somewhere we can go without being afraid, somewhere we can
just ‘be’, without the fear of homophobic slurs at best, or being gay bashed at
worst.
Whenever
the subject of LGBTQ mental health comes up, my mind always goes back to one
particular night about 3 years ago. I was in Pantibar with a large group of
people. At the time, I was tossing around the idea of running for USI LGBT
Rights Officer, and what my main interests and campaigns would be if I ran.
There were 11 of us at the table, of different ages, from different backgrounds
and from different places…. And we were all comparing the effects of our
anti-depressant medications, and how good/irritating our counsellors were. That
was the moment that really drove it home to me, that we have a serious problem
here.
I don’t want this article to be all
about facts and figures, but we’ll need to address at least a few of them. The LGBT
Lives Survey (Mayock et al, 2009) contained a lot of chilling statistics
about LGBTQ mental health in Ireland. In the publication, they refer a lot to
the idea of ‘minority stress’, which is “how the experiences of stigmatisation, discrimination, social exclusion
and harassment can have negative mental health consequences for members of
minority groups such as LGBT people. Minority stress places people at higher
risks of developing mental health problems.” And that alone is why we need LGBTQ societies in colleges. They’re a place to feel included,
where a LGBTQ student can feel less isolated and most importantly, they’re a
place where you can be yourself. I’ll never forget my first UCD LGBT coffee
morning. I’m from Roscommon, there aren’t that many gays left in the village,
so it was a really empowering experience to be in a room full of people like
me. Just the fact that there was this group of people I could hang out with and
not feel like an outsider was in itself amazing.
According to the report, the most
common age for people to realise their sexual orientation or gender identity is
12, but the most common age for people to start coming out is 17. When you look
at those numbers in relation to 16 being average age of first self-harming among the most vulnerable LGBTQ
people, and 17.5 being the average age of the first suicide attempt amongst the
most vulnerable LGBTQ people, it’s clear that younger members of the LGBTQ
community need support. The average time
period for young LGBTQ people to conceal their identity is 5 to 7 years, which
“coincides with puberty, school and a critical period of social, emotional
and vocational development. The period prior to coming out to others was
particularly stressful because of fear of rejection and isolation” The report goes to on say that “There are
3 common LGBT-specific stresses: fear of rejection when considering coming out;
negative school experiences; and experiences of harassment and victimization.” 27%
of people who completed the survey had self-harmed and 85% of these did so more
than once. 18% had attempted suicide, and a third of those aged 25 years and
under had thought seriously about ending their lives within the past year. With
statistics showing that 58% of respondents reported homophobic bullying in
their schools, 40% of whom were verbally threatened, and 25% physically
threatened, causing 20% of them to miss school because they were afraid, then
it’s obvious that having somewhere to go just a couple of years later is an
amazing thing.
We’ve
all seen the ‘It Gets Better’ campaign, and while yes, no one should have to
wait for it ‘to get better’, the sad fact of the matter is that college is the
first time many LGBTQ people have a chance to truly be themselves. 3rd
level is the ‘better’ for them. There is a hell of a lot of work that needs to
be done when it comes to promoting positive LGBTQ mental health in this country
and an active and vibrant LGBTQ society is a good start down this road.
If anyone wants to
read the full results of the survey, see:
Useful
links:
National
LGBT Helpline: 1890
929 539
stealing that argument for next time i get asked why there's a need for gay bars brill article
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