2SLGBTQ youth are asking leaders to listen to their voices and make changes like improving healthcare and mental health services.
LGBT Youth Line recently released a series of seven recommendations based on feedback from around 1,200 young people across the province.
The seven recommendations are:
- Redesign health system services and programs for 2SLGBTQ+ youth, especially mental health services & care for trans youth;
- In suburbs, smaller cities, towns and on reserves, intentionally dedicate resources (space, time, energy) and funding to directly support 2SLGBTQ+ youth;
- Develop mechanisms for grassroots 2SLGBTQ+ youth organizing to access much-needed resources and supports;
- Meaningful involvement of 2SLGBTQ+ youth (especially racialized and Indigenous 2SLGBTQ+ youth) in decision-making at the local, regional and provincial levels;
- Proactive efforts to increase 2SLGBTQ+ youth representation in positions of power and influence;
- Mandate change in building/facility standards to have safe, accessible, all-gender washrooms in all public spaces in Ontario, including on reserves;
- Comprehensive and ongoing training and capacity-building focused on supporting 2SLGBTQ+ youth, and challenging homo/bi/transphobia and racism.
Spokesperson Hayley Moody explains these are changes that 2SLGBTQ young people have been demanding for a long time.
“Youth experience systemic violence, youth experience lack of safety, youth experience isolation, and all of those things could be changed, it doesn’t have to be this way,” she notes.
The report features examples of how the recommendations could be put into action, like a Two Spirit youth getting support from their family and an Elder to run for a position on their local Band Council. Community leaders are also encouraged to consult youth when making decisions and pay them for their expertise.
Moody says their next steps include virtual open houses where anyone can attend and learn more about the report.
“Those webinars are a great starting point for folks who are in positions of power, for folks who work within those fields or within those sectors, to come to those online events and hear from Youth Line staff [and volunteers],” she says.
