I am looking for some assistance.

[polmaven]

I am tonight chairing a meeting of my church's Missions and Outreach Committee. One of the topics we will be discussing is how we may be of some assistance to GLBT children or teens who are being bullied. We don't have a lot of money, but maybe there is an agency/group that may give us some guidance to reach out to these young people who are caught in this situation through no fault of their own.

We are in northeastern Massachusetts. Our New England Conference has not yet developed any resources. I'm very sure they will, but my committee would like to get started sooner than that. The recently publicized suicides have brought this to the forefront for us, and we want to at least be able to begin exploring how we might be able to help.

I hope I am not sounding supercilious here, but I will admit that we were not aware of how widespread the problem is until the recent publicity. I don't feel good about that at all.

Thank you so much for your help.

[myrna minx]

1. I would get in touch with the Trevor Project.

http://www.thetrevorproject.org/

Thank you for your outreach. :hi:

[Ineeda]

2. Perhaps PFLAG can help.

here's a link to your area. http://community.pflag.org/Page.aspx?pid=803

[polichick]

3. Kudos to you and your group - I noticed that some Quaker meetings...

...are getting involved with the bullying issue, but don't know how organized they are.

[HopeHoops]

4. Perhaps this will help. Local 14 year old who committed suicide for gay bullying - not gay.

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2010/11/teen_suicide_victim_was_tired.html

Brandon was emotionally abused because he had the confidence to present an image that others perceived as "gay". He stepped in front of a semi.

There are links to resources near the bottom of the article.

[grasswire]

5. I would suspect that the Unitarians have some resources.

You might want to inquire of their HQ in Boston. And I have a Unitarian minister in the family and could inquire if you would like me to do so.

[polmaven]

6. Thank you, grasswire

I would appreciate any information I can get. We will begin our conversation tonight, but will be meeting again as often as is needed to develop some guidelines.

[polmaven]

7. Wow!....

You just can't beat DU...Within 10 minutes of my post, there were 5 responses. I continue to be constantly amazed at the this place. You are all so caring and helpful.

[Warpy]

8. Check out organizations in and around Boston

like the Homophile Union and PFLAG. They should be able to put you in touch with some people locally who can help you get started.

Good luck, I hope you find some answers and can start protecting kids quickly.

[lovemydog]

9. Kudos and good luck to you

Discussing this will be useful for everyone.