- Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ Youth
First-Hand Perspectives Are Important to the Commission's Work
The Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ today has sent out its annual call for LGBTQ youth and their parents, service providers, and allies to weigh in on the issues that matter to them. The effort occurs in conjunction with the Commission’s preparation of its yearly recommendations to other government agencies on how to improve services for LGBTQ youth and reduce inequities that this population faces.
Community voices are a key part in the Commission’s weighing of potential recommendations for government actors, and also help to explain why the chosen recommendations are important to the public. Last year’s recommendations contained guidance on updating sexual health education to be LGBTQ-inclusive, and included quotes that served to inform this recommendation. “The education for LGBTQ issues is lacking at best,” one student from the Boston area said. “The information we receive in health classes is either overgeneralized or inaccurate.” Parents also weighed in, with one saying that, “I would like to see more education for medical personnel so they don’t make assumptions on the teen’s identity and orientation in basic physical exams and counseling.”
Provider perspectives are also critical to show what supports may currently be lacking. “A challenge for us is accessing more curricula. A lot of the things we come across are very heteronormative,” said a provider from Southeastern Massachusetts, whose perspective helped inform the recommendations. “We’re human services and we’re well-intentioned, but I don’t want to leave that population out.”
The Commission’s web submission form is now active and open to anyone who has opinions to share on topics relevant to LGBTQ youth. The Commission will also be working with its community partners and fellow government agencies to see that the form is shared as widely as possible and reaches youths and their advocates in all parts of the Commonwealth. The Commission will be particularly focused on making sure that voices from its three priority populations - youth of color, transgender youth, and out-of-home youth - are well-represented.
