ACTION
for Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Youth in Calderdale
Research Project Report
Contents
Page No.
Preface
List of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 9
SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION...... 15
Background to Project...... 15
Make-up of ACTION Steering Group...... 15
Funding...... 16
Methodology...... 16
Dissemination...... 17
SECTION 2: LITERATURE REVIEW...... 18
Data Search...... 18
Research Bias...... 18
Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Youth...... 19
Issues Facing LGB Youth...... 20
Differences...... 22
Provision of Support...... 23
U.S.A...... 23
British Research...... 23
Mental Health Care...... 23
General Health...... 25
Aohol Treatment Agencies...... 25
Secondary Schools...... 26
Housing Authorities...... 28
Social Services...... 29
Colleges/Universities/Training...... 30
Youth Service...... 30
Reachout, Reading...... 31
Voluntary Organisations...... 32
SECTION 3: METHODOLOGY...... 34
Research Instruments...... 34
Questionnaire - in-depth Interviews...... 34
Confidentiality/Ethical Questions...... 36
Contacting Participants...... 36
Interviews...... 37
Comments on Questionnaire...... 37
SECTION 4: FINDINGS...... 38
Demographics...... 38
Sexual Orientation...... 38
Gender Division...... 38
Class Background...... 38
Ethnicity...... 38
Disability...... 38
Size...... 38
Ages of Participants...... 38
Education...... 38
Employment...... 38
Multi-Oppression...... 39
Sexual Orientation...... 39
Gender...... 39
Class...... 39
Ethnicity...... 39
Disability...... 39
Size...... 40
Age...... 40
Isolation...... 41
Where Grew Up...... 41
Where Live...... 41
Community...... 42
Religion...... 43
School...... 44
College...... 46
Training...... 47
Social Services...... 47
Youth Service...... 48
Health Service...... 48
Violence and Law...... 49
Housing...... 51
Support Agencies...... 52
Lesbian/Gay Helpline...... 52
Samaritans...... 52
CAB...... 53
MIND...... 53
WWC...... 53
MSM...... 53
Relate...... 53
Dashline...... 53
LYSIS...... 54
Coming Out...... 54
Information...... 59
Sexuality...... 60
Sexual Activity...... 61
Relationships...... 62
Friendships...... 64
Mental Health...... 64
Depression/Anxiety/Fear...... 64
Suicide Ideation...... 65
Other Mental Health Problems...... 66
Self Harm...... 66
Counselling...... 66
Eating Disorders...... 67
Drugs/Alcohol...... 67
Physical/Sexual Abuse/Rape...... 69
Safer Sex...... 69
Female Health...... 70
Male Health...... 70
SECTION 5: DISCUSSION...... 71
Isolation...... 71
Multi-Oppression...... 72
School...... 73
College...... 73
Training...... 73
Social Services...... 75
Youth Service...... 74
Coming Out...... 75
Sexual Relations...... 75
Sexual Health...... 76
Relationships...... 78
Violence & Harassment...... 79
Physical/Sexual Abuse and Rape...... 79
Homelessness...... 80
Depression, Suicide...... 80
Other Mental Health Issues...... 81
Self Harm...... 81
Eating Disorders...... 82
Phobias...... 82
Alcohol, Drug Abuse, Smoking...... 82
Health Care...... 83
Support Services...... 84
Conclusion...... 84
SECTION 6: AGENCY SURVEY...... 87
Methodology...... 87
Limitations...... 87
Findings...... 88
Equal Opportunities Policies...... 88
Grievance/Complaints Policy...... 88
Awareness Training...... 88
Recourses...... 88
Publicity...... 89
Links with Minority Groups...... 89
Specific Provision...... 90
Monitoring...... 90
Comments on Survey/Topic?...... 90
Discussion...... 91
SECTION 7: RECOMMENDATIONS...... 94
Research...... 94
Local...... 94
National...... 95
Provision...... 95
Inter-Agency Group...... 96
Accessible Services...... 96
Youth Support Group...... 96
Information...... 97
Schools...... 97
G.P.s...... 97
Mental Health/Alcohol Services...... 97
Suggestions from Participants...... 98
School...... 98
College...... 98
Doctors...... 98
Support Services...... 99
Social Support...... 99
Support when Suicidal...... 100
Safer Sex Information...... 100
Lesbian Health Care/Gay Health Care...... 100
Other Areas of Importance to young LGBs...... 101
Suggestions from Seminar Workshops...... 102
Workshop 1: Violence & Harassment, Housing...... 102
Housing...... 102
Violence & Harassment...... 102
Workshop 2: Alcohol, Drugs, Sexual Health, Relationships...... 102
Alcohol & Drugs...... 102
Sexual Health...... 103
Relationships...... 13
Workshop 3: Education, Youth Service, Information...... 104
Education...... 104
Youth Service...... 104
Information...... 104
Workshop 4: Mental Health, Coming Out, Families, Isolation... 105
Mental Health...... 105
Coming Out...... 106
Families...... 106
Isolation...... 106
APPENDICES
APPENDIX A: ACTION SEMINAR
APPENDIX B: MULLEN'S LIT. REVIEW SUMMARY
APPENDIX C: AGENCY SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE
APPENDIX D: L.I.S. ACCESS MODEL
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
INTRODUCTION
ACTION for Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Youth in Calderdale is an Inter-Agency Group including representatives from Lesbian Information Service, Calderdale Health Promotion Centre and Community Education Service. ACTION was set up in 1997 with the purpose of facilitating research into the needs and experiences of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) young people in Calderdale. Funding was acquired from the Calderdale Community Foundation, the Rural Development Commission and the Health Authority. The findings of the project were disseminated through this report and a one-day seminar held in Halifax in March 1999.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The literature review found that apart from Mullen (1999) whose research is currently taking place, and the London Gay Teenage Group (Trenchard & Warren, 1984), there has been limited research about LGB young people in Britain with no in-depth studies of young LGBs in rural areas. There has been a significant amount of research concerning young gay men outside of Britain, especially in north America but limited surveys concerning young lesbians (Barbeller, 1988). Britain is about 20 years behind the U.S.A. The review identified issues which face young LGBs including, mental health problems (depression, attempted suicide, eating disorders, self-harm); alcohol/drug misuse; isolation from society, family, other homosexuals; pressure to conform and family rejection; difficulties in coming to terms with sexual orientation; violence and harassment; isolation and problems at school; homelessness and the risk of prostitution; promiscuity and unwanted pregancies, HIV infection; relationship problems; lack of support/inappropriate support from professionals.
British research concerning provision of services is again limited but covers schools, health service, mental health services, social services, alcohol treatment agencies, housing authorities, youth services. On the whole these projects found ignorance, lack of provision, lack of training, lack of information, blatant homophobia and with little appropriate support available to LGB people, let alone LGB young people.
METHODOLOGY
An extensive questionnaire was used to conduct in-depth interviews. The purpose of the first part of the questionnaire was to find out what the participants' experiences were while growing up, including school, college, use of services - voluntary and statutory, whether there was any support for their sexual orientation; homophobic verbal and physical abuse. The second part was more personal and aimed at identifying coming out experiences, what participants had heard about homosexuality, sexual activity, relationships, sexual and physical abuse, friends, community involvement, mental health, eating problems, safer sex, male and female health.
Making contact with LGB young people in an area like Calderdale was extremely difficult. Most of the contacts were made via a local social group for gay men and previous contact with young lesbians (via the Lesbian Youth Support Information Service), plus outreach, snowball technique and distribution of a flyer. On average the interviews lasted two-and-a-half hours. All of the participants were positive about the interview.
FINDINGS
Interviews were conducted with 15 young people: seven lesbians and eight gay men. Apart from four who were aged between 26 and 30 years, the remainder were aged 25 years or below. All identified as white and English and either grew up or now live in Calderdale. Ten are working class, four middle class, one refused to be categorised. Five identified as being or having been fat. Four had hidden disabilities. Three were brought up with a religion (Church of England and Catholic). Six were working, five unemployed, four students.
As a piece of qualitative research, the findings are best described by the words of the participants. The following statistical data is based on 15 interviews and cannot, therefore, be generalised to all LGB young people in Calderdale. They do, however, give a snap-shot of the experiences of some young LGBs who are out at some level and in contact with support, be it mainly through friends. Those not out are likely to be more isolated and vulnerable. The findings included:
* 100% of the participants believed they were born lesbian/gay;
* 86% were aware of their sexual orientation whilst at school;
* 67% experienced verbal abuse at school because of their sexual orientation;
* 60% had experienced harassment due to their sexual orientation; three experiencing physical violence;
* 87% had experienced long periods of depression;
* 80% had had suicidal thoughts;
* 67% had experienced periods of anxiety;
* 13% had attempted suicide;
* school-days were the most oppressive, most isolating and most lonely with no information available at a time when the majority of the participants felt suicidal;
* 33% felt they drank too much;
* 33% had used drugs;
* 27% had had an eating disorder;
* 33% had experienced violence within same-sex relationships;
* 60% had experienced opposite-sex sexual relations;
* 33% had experienced promiscuous sexual behaviour;
* 13% had exchanged sex for money;
* 73% said they practised safer sex but only 40% said they practised it all of the time;
* 13% had had sexually transmitted infections but no known cases of HIV;
* all but one had experienced same-sex sexual relations;
* all but one had had relationships with members of the same-sex;
* majority had experienced problems within their same-sex relationships but with no-one to turn to for support;
* most, especially the young lesbians, had experienced great difficulties in meeting other young lesbians for friendships or relationships;
* 27% had experienced homelessness;
* 53% were out to their GPs;
* 93% were out to their parents; 13% were forced to leave home;
* 27% had experienced physical violence whilst growing up;
* 20% had experienced sexual abuse whilst growing up;
* 27% had been raped;
* all felt it was difficult being young, lesbian and gay;
* all had problems accepting their sexual orientation;
* most felt particularly isolated living in an area like Calderdale where there is virtually no support and few social outlets;
* apart from those who received support from LYSIS, few had experienced positive support for their sexual orientation from agencies and those who did came across it outside of Calderdale;
* some had experienced wrong and dangerous advice from professionals.
DISCUSSION
The discussion section analyses the results and makes comparisons with other findings, in particular Mullen (1999) who is conducting research in Reading. This gives the opportunity to highlight potential differences between the experiences of young LGBs in rural areas where there is virtually no provision and a large town where there is some provision; however these would need to be confirmed by further research. Young LGB people growing up in areas like Calderdale face greater isolation; it is possible that they experience worse alcohol problems; identify as different earlier; have relationships with same-sex partners of wider age gaps; experience more violence within their relationships; have more eating disorders; and are more likely to have contemplated suicide. On the other hand, because they have poor access to the gay scene, they may experience less pressure to use drugs and less pressure to be sexually active.
The ACTION findings support previous research findings but also flag up a new area: possibly a disproportionate number of phobias.
Tentative differences between the female/male participants include: young lesbians are far more isolated; have fewer same-sex, same sexual orientation friends; are more likely to identify as bisexual before coming out as a lesbian (none of the young gay men identified as bisexual); experience greater pressure to conform to heterosexuality from parents; are more likely to have relationships with heterosexual/bisexual women (none of the young gay men appeared to have relationships with men who identified as heterosexual or bisexual); are more likely to have opposite-sex sexual relations; are more likely to have alcohol problems and eating disorders, are more likely to smoke. Young gay men, on the other hand, are more vulnerable to HIV; are more likely to get an extreme response from parents; are likely to have more same-sex sexual relations; are more likely to experience violence within same-sex relationships; are more likely to attempt suicide (the author questions this finding); are more likely to experience homophobic violence; have more support available in connection with HIV/AIDS.
AGENCY SURVEY
Questionnaires were distributed to 43 agencies including schools, Education, Health, Library, Youth, Leisure and Social Services, voluntary organisations and the police. Twenty-five responses were received. The Agency Survey found that all of those agencies who responded had equal opportunities policies, grievance/complaints policies; most provided awareness training, resources for work with minority groups, aimed publicity at, and made links with, minority groups; many made specific provision for minority groups and the majority monitored their services. However, not all included sexual orientation within their policies and practices. Even though sexual orientation was included in some policies, there is little provision by either voluntary or statutory services aimed at LGB young people in Calderdale. Provision that exists includes the MSM Project (HIV prevention for gay men); Rainbow Clinic at the Sexual Health Centre; and Gay Men's worker at Calderdale and Kirklees HIV/AIDS Link. There appears to be nothing specifically for lesbians. The most homophobic responses came from schools.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Recommendations include the following
* Research: suggested topics for further research locally include: reviewing schools for levels of support available to young LGBs; identifying number of LGB young people within youth populations who experience mental health problems, alcohol/drugs problems, homelessness; identifying lesbians within female populations with mental health and alcohol problems; ascertaining attitudes of front-line workers with regard to young LGBs including religiosity and levels of homophobia; on-going assessment of the needs of LGB young people in Calderdale. National research to include the following issues: suicide attempts and ideation (including gender identification issues, i.e. 'butch' and 'sissy); violence within same-sex relationships (among males as well as females); differences in identity formation between genders; levels of phobias in LGB young people; eating disorders among both sexes; parental responses to different genders; accessing LGB young people in rural areas.
* Inter-Agency Support: establishment of an Inter-Agency Group to encourage provision of services for LGB young people.
* Accessible Services: develop a booklet aimed at all front-line workers re: issues facing LGB young people. All relevant services to become accessible to LGB people by utilising the model developed by Lesbian Information Service and currently being used by Calderdale Community Education; this includes: assessment of knowledge, attitudes of staff; review of policies and procedures; providing awareness training for all staff and management; developing resources; developing a generic approach to supporting LGB young people; identifying/employing specific members of staff to develop specialist skills and knowledge; providing training for specialists; making specific provision aimed at the needs of LGB young people; publicising services.