Lincoln Park High School is a pioneer for a new type of LGBTQ club that gives individuals the support they seek.
The Lincoln Park Youth Society is one of a growing number of schools that strive to go above and beyond a regular Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) club by providing one-on-one mentoring to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender students.
While GSAs have been around for a long time and provide a strong support system for students of all gender identities and sexual orientations, this Chicago school acknowledged that there was something lacking in those clubs. Christy Walker, the school’s new dean, realized that many youths struggling with their identities didn’t have an adult support system. “We have a lot of students in the program who are at risk, maybe homeless, struggling at school, and just need help with so many other pieces, aside from their identity,” she said.
Stephanie Tover, a student member of the Lincoln Park Youth Society, said that the group gave her a sense of belonging and community. “Some people are confused about who they are and what they like, and some people aren’t, and the people who are confused need to know that the people who aren’t are there for them.”
To get the organization off the ground, Walker reached out to Nico Lang, a graduate student in Chicago, who has had experience in student organizing and LGBTQ activism. Nico remembered starting a GSA program at his own high school in Cleveland and thinking that the students “didn’t have a lot of personal leaders or mentors to look up to,” making their time as a group less effective than it could have been. Together, Walker and Lang gathered a group of mentors and put together the program in Chicago, modelling it after Big Brothers Big Sisters—the mentors, many of whom are activists or went through similar identity crises during their own high school years, would help provide the stability that students maybe didn’t have at home.
“I guess you could say my experience being a gay teen in Kentucky is one of the driving reasons I want to be involved,” said Mark Nott, one of the mentors. “I had no one to talk to, no one to relate to. It really struck me that everything I went through—the identity issues, the insecurities, the lack of support—is all here as well,” he said, referring to the differences and similarities between his conservative hometown and the liberal city. “Going in, I thought, this has to be easier for people in a larger more liberal-minded city, but really, that doesn’t make high school any less difficult.”
Robert McGarry, the director of education at the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GSLEN), which started the GSA groups in the U.S. and fights for protection and support for queer students, said that the Lincoln Park program could have many of the same benefits of a GSA. His research has shown that with a GSA, supportive teachers, and policies that protect LGBTQ youths, students’ lives and grades can be improved.
“If they know they’re going to a place where there will be someone supportive of them, they’re more likely to come to that place,” McGarry said. And when that happens, McGarry continued, “students report a feeling of belonging more to the school because there is a place for them there.” Students are more likely to become involved with school activities and less likely to skip classes.
If the program in Chicago, along with others across the nation, proves to be helpful, perhaps more schools will adopt similar programs, and LGBTQ students can find a stable support system during their rocky high school years.
Photo: JGLsongs/Flickr
Don’t forget the other T for transsexual. Transgender and transsexual are not the same thing.
Don’t forget the A for asexual.
Don’t forget the other Q for “questioning,” sometimes known as C for “curious.”
I didn’t realize there was an extra Q. I am gathering sources for an article I want to do on gender and sexual identity; if you have any suggestions or links I’d love to chat ^_^
What sort of article are you doing? Like, what sorts of links are you looking for?
Um…as just a basic and simple sort of intro to terms, there’s this thing I wrote: https://goodmenproject.com/good-feed-blog/queer-dictionary-spelling-queer-with-l-g-b-t-and-a-i-p-part-1/ (It’s got a few different parts).
That’s exactly the article that I was thinking of. I see now there’s a bunch of others that I forgot.
I’m far more of a smartass than I am a well-read expert….
Haha, Yeah–Heather, your article is fantastic! I wanted to look at the different connotations the words can have in different groups, and I wanted to do an article on polyamory–I have a lot of connections to interview, but now with your article I have even more to think about!