Summary for meeting April 9, 2009

At our most recent GSA meeting, we had UHS representatives come and talk to us about sexual harassment and the resources that are available to LGBT teens and their allies. They passed out flyers with some important information on them, and I'm going to transfer them here just in case anybody lost theirs or wants this as reference.

Resources:

GLBT National Hotline: 1-888-843-4564

GLBT National Youth Talk Line: 1-800-246-7743

PGLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays):

Orange County Chapter: 

Orange County PFLAG

P.O. Box 28662

Santa Ana, CA 92799

Call our Help Line: 714-997-8047

Or send an e-mail to Orange County PFLAG

Orange County PFLAG meets the first Wednesday of each month at the First United Methodist Church in Orange, located at 161 S. Orange Street, Orange CA. Meetings begin at 7:30 p.m. Orientation for newcomers begins at 7:15 p.m. 

Directions to Meetings for OC PFLAG: 

The First United Methodist Church is located at 161 S. Orange Street, just south of Chapman Avenue, one block east of Glassell. 

Take the Garden Grove Freeway (#22) and exit at Glassell. Go north on Glassell to Almond and turn right. Go one block to Orange and turn left. The Church will be on your right and there is a parking lot on your left.

The Trevor Project:

The Trevor Project operates the only nationwide, around-the-clock crisis and suicide prevention helpline for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth. If you or a friend are feeling lost or alone call the Trevor Helpline. There is hope, there is help. 

Number: 1-866-488-7386

The speakers also talked about persecution at school, and what we can do about it. If you or someone you know is being harassed, you can go immediately to the counseling office and report the person harassing you (harassment includes name calling, inappropriate suggestions or actions, gestures that make you uncomfortable, threats, etc.) and the counseling office as well as the administration will take immediate steps to warn the person that their behavior is inappropriate and (depending on the severity of the harassment and whether or not they are a repeat offender) take disciplinary action. 

They asked us to try and be selective in what we choose to take offense at; the fact is that there is a lot of inappropriate and derogatory language that is used in everyday conversation, and reporting casual use of inappropriate words frequently could cause a backlog in the disciplinary office. They urged us to try to minimize conflict as much as possible on the casual scale; and not to try to get into direct confrontations with people that might escalate and result in someone being injured. Reporting behavior that is directed towards you and that you think is putting you at risk is very important, as it allows the administration to step in and stop the cycle before things escalate.

If you have a friend who is being harassed, then you are absolutely able to relay the incident to the counselors, and they will call the person in question into their office and get a firsthand account of what happened. This can be done anonymously, and it will guarantee that your friend (and the person who harassed them) at the bare minimum, is put on the radar of the administration and will be looked out for. If the person chooses not to disclose the nature of the harassment, provided it did not involve actual assault or other illegal behavior, that is their prerogative. 

I wanted to give an official thank you to Cris Wilcoxon, GSA Vice-President, for arranging to have the speakers come and talk to us, and I want to thank everyone who came and listened to what they had to say. 

-Erika Grant, GSA President.