Sign New Mexico Assignment of Partnership Interest Myself

Document type sign assignment of partnership interest new mexico myself

I am a student I am an activist I am a trans female I am a daughter I'm mixed-race I'm a trans man I'm an actor I am me I am me I am me I am me I am a lover I used to be a fighter I am NOT too young to understand I am the future we are the future I don't have anything to prove to anyone I Know Who I am I Know Who I am I Know Who I am I need you to try to understand ask me what my gender pronouns are no matter what I look like on the outside I need you to be an ally with me Ella is a verb not a noun I need you to watch this video so we don't have to be scared I need you to know that we should be in this together you can make a difference even one voice helps this video was created to help you be a better Ally to lesbian gay bisexual transgender and queer youth first we're gonna help you learn and understand the differences between the three basic concepts of gender identity gender expression and sexual orientation there's stories from young people and adult advocates you'll learn more about the challenges that LGBTQ youth face finally we'll provide you with a checklist that will guide you through important ways that you can participate in acts of ally ship for LGBTQ youth let's begin with a little bit about the challenges that lesbian gay bisexual transgender and queer or LGBTQ youth face many LGBTQ youth are happy and thrive during their adolescent years going to a school that creates a safe and supportive learning environment for all students and having caring and accepting parents are especially important this helps all youth succeed in school and maintain good physical and mental health however some LGBTQ youth are more likely than their heterosexual peers to experience difficulties in their lives and school environments such as violence most LGBTQ students experience some form of discrimination at school did you know that in New Mexico over half of our LGBTQ students are feeling unsafe at school and because of that each month 15% of our lesbian gay and bisexual students are missing school we also know that in New Mexico our lesbian gay and bisexual students are bullied twice as much when we look at the juvenile justice system we see that LGBTQ youth are represented at a rate close to three times higher than their percentage in the general population and a staggering forty percent of girls and juvenile detention identify as LGBTQ across the nation suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people ages 10 to 24 on top of that lesbian gay and bisexual youth are four times more likely to attempt suicide nearly half of young transgender people have seriously thought about taking their lives and a quarter report having made a suicide attempt here in New Mexico eight percent of straight youth have attempted suicide but 32 percent of lesbian gay and bisexual youth have attempted this means one in three of our lesbian gay and bisexual youth in New Mexico have attempted suicide in the u.s. up to 1.6 million youth experience homelessness each year the statistics for LGBTQ youth are even more shocking as this group represents up to 40% of all young people experiencing homelessness considering that LGBTQ youth represent an estimated 7% of the total youth population these numbers are disproportionately high I mean the most recent challenge I really faced was when I was actually in the system locked up in the system and they accused me of writing a note to somebody like a girl because of course I had to be in the girls unit and I always felt like they were singling me out even though like maybe all those girls identified as being gay or bisexual but I was the one pointed out because I was the one that lived in the most like it I still knew I was lying to myself and I was just so depressed and it would got to the point where I was almost suicidal so I just decided that I need to live a life true to myself and not not be living a lie anymore I need to stop living to where I wanted to die because that's not a life worth living so I decided to come out to myself first and that was the most difficult another big challenge was my family and having them to come to terms with what was really going on from such a young age because transgender or transexual those things weren't ever mentioned back then it was always just strictly gay lesbian bisexual orientation so when I presented them the material from my professional health care providers they were still very skeptical and my role and my decision they thought oh well you're too young to know what you want or who you are but it was just all these puzzle pieces that were just scattered throughout my life that we just had to pick up one by one and piece it all together being a young person comes with immense challenges from bullying and school to finding themselves and becoming confident with their place in the world our youth come to us with not just one identity but layers or intersections of identity some of these identities like gender and sexual orientation come with additional challenges caused by societal discrimination harassment and bias this increases the risk for these youth to a critical level therefore we all have a tremendous responsibility to support our young people to be authentic to their true identity we're at an important crossroads where our every action can help or hurt a young person as they create connections and identify the supports in their lives gender identity gender expression and sexual orientation are often confused but in fact are three different concepts let's learn more about what they mean gender identity refers to a person's deeply-felt identification as male female or some other gender this may or may not correspond to the sex assigned to them at birth gender expression refers to all of the external characteristics and behaviors that are defined in society as either masculine or feminine such as dress grooming mannerisms speech patterns and social interactions this is what an individual chooses to show the world sexual orientation refers to a person's physical or emotional attraction to someone this can be towards the same and/or different genders within these three concepts there are some important terminology let's begin with some general terms and work from there there are many terms used to describe the LGBTQ community so don't get overwhelmed we are about to walk through some of those terms in this video and if you forget or hear a new term don't worry you can always google it terms evolve and change over time and young people sometimes like to create new terms to define themselves so remember to respect their identity and allow the young person you are working with the space to define and express themselves let's start with how we refer to the community as a whole LGBTQ is the most common way this community is referred to LGBTQ stands for lesbian gay bisexual transgender queer and questioning the plus is sometimes added to be inclusive of additional terms such as pansexual asexual intersex genderqueer two-spirit and more gay or queer are sometimes used as umbrella terms as well historically queer was used in a derogatory manner and there are some folks to whom the word queer still carries a strong negative connotation and can be triggering however more recently this term has been embraced and reclaimed by parts of the LGBTQ community especially youth we suggest respecting others use of this term but if it makes you uncomfortable simply use another descriptor such as LGBTQ plus sexual orientation refers to who someone is physically or emotionally attracted to common terms that individuals use to describe their sexual orientation include straight lesbian gay and bisexual let's clarify a few you may not have heard of while bisexual refers to someone who's attracted to both men and women pansexual is similar but does not limit one's attraction and is open to all genders and identities someone who is not attracted to anyone may choose the term asexual and while queer is often used as an umbrella term many individuals embrace the term queer as an identity now let's talk about gender identity transgender or trans are broad terms for people whose gender identity expression or behavior is different from those typically associated with their assigned sex at birth for example someone who is assigned female at birth but identifies as male may label themselves as transgender it's important to note that transgender is correctly used as an adjective not a noun thus transgender people is appropriate but transgendered or transgender z' is viewed as disrespectful so you would not say John is transgendered instead say John is transgender of course this is only if it's appropriate to disclose John's identity although the term transsexual is still sometimes used today typically transgender is more accepted by using transgender instead you are recognizing that it is not necessary for any surgical or medical procedures to take place for one to be respected as their true felt gender identity cisgender or non transgender is a relatively new term that is used to describe someone whose gender identity matches the sex that they were assigned at birth for example someone who was assigned female at birth and identifies as female is cisgender if you're wondering where this term comes from the prefix sis is Latin meaning on this side of whereas trans means on the other side of this term is important because before is introduction the problematic word normal was used when referencing non transgender people cisgender is now a complementary term to transgender in our society many people identify as male or female but more and more young people do not want to have to conform or express themselves in just one way the terms genderqueer gender neutral gender non-conforming and gender expansive are all terms used to describe people whose gender characteristics behaviors and/or expression do not conform to traditional cultural or societal expectations this means that they reject gender as just strictly male or strictly female some individuals express themselves in a merged version of socially defined masculine and feminine characteristics or neutral characteristics they may or may not also identify as transgender one of the most powerful things that you can do as an ally is to ask people what their gender pronouns are this gives them the power to self-identify and takes the guesswork and assumptions off of us gender pronouns commonly used are she/her/hers he/him/his or the neutral they them there's now that you are aware of some of the terminology it's important to take note of a few terms that are inappropriate to use as mentioned before terminology and language change as new terms or more appropriate terms are developed avoid describing being LGBTQ as a lifestyle this is offensive while using the term homosexual isn't necessarily wrong it's not ideal it can be distancing there are numerous other terms that feel more welcoming and will help build better relationships and rapport given that LGBTQ youth are targeted at higher rates than other youth it is critical to intervene when you hear derogatory terms such as Dyke homo meta Cohen and hold them it's important to note that some people do use these terms to describe themselves however you should avoid using those terms unless you're referring to your own identity our young people have many different identities that intersect beyond gender and sexual orientation these multiple and layered identities make each individual who they are some layers or intersections of identity such as race ethnicity skin color socio-economic background cultural upbringing family trauma health or behavioral health diagnosis disability or immigration status may contribute to the risks that youth face these unique combinations of intersections characterize each youth and may impact each young person differently so the intersection of identity is really who we are it makes up our whole selves it allows us to be our whole authentic selves and that's really the place of being an ally respecting young people and allowing and creating space for a young person to be their whole authentic self and when we're honoring the intersection of identity we're honoring every single aspect of a young person so they get to show up as whole they don't have to leave something at the door they get to show up and they don't have to hide a part of who they are they get to show up and say this is who I am this is my name these are my pronouns and I want to be respected I think intersectionality has become sort of a buzzword and activism but it really is important because when people have intersecting oppressed identities then their outcomes in the disparities the discrimination and violence that they're at risk for experiencing become very heightened so for me as a white transgender man who speaks English and has a college degree I am really in very little danger of encountering any type of street violence I am NOT someone who another person would pull their car over to the side of the road to kill because I'm not even visibly trans but when someone is a transgender woman in a culture like ours that already oppresses women cisgender women and also is transgender and is also a person of color and then you add on anything else like being HIV positive being a sex worker being a person who inject substances that person is it so much more risk for every type of violence from street level violence to institutional violence than I am so intersections really start to count when you look at the outcomes and the violence the people experience you know so it's like I said like simple things like going to the MVD and you imagine going into trying to get like your license and they're like oh who is this for and it's like it's for me you know what I mean because it says mail on my stuff but obviously how I'm not a mental I don't look like a male at all you know and so it's it's it's really like that's like really challenging being queer is hard you know I go outside everyday trying to be myself and there are always people who don't like that and who makes that very clear to me you know I've been hurt physically by people I've been picked on a lot and I've been just isolated and I think isolation is the worst well when when she first came out we I may be known up to transgenders within our community other than my daughter she is the first one to come out within the high school setting and I think people were very mixed there was some that were accepting and others that were not so accepting and they tried throwing it as this is not our beliefs this is not our cultural this is the white man's world but in reality before colonization came along it was known as T spirits and it was part of our culture and they were not excluded they were welcomed into our culture because they played both traditional roles as the men and women in our culture before I started identifying as female I worked with this program with the Acoma Pueblo because I am Laguna and akima and I the director of the program knew me for a very long time and I don't know how he could he like felt in some way that I was different but he started telling me about transgender people in akima culture and that they were seen as holy people and that he had pictures of men in the Montes which is like the justice that females wear and it just made me feel proud to be Native and also to be transgender being a part of the system as a youth I really felt kind of belittled or judged at the fact that I was interested in the same sex and I think the staff and my foster parents kind of made it into a huge like living joke um definitely safety I would say is huge especially with me being so clearly read as being queer like I I tend not to go out at night without a friend even though I know that like I could probably defend myself that doesn't necessarily mean that I want to have to UM I use forms of escapism like drugs self-mutilation and just things of that such I was very self-destructive growing up from the end of elementary going on it was always a constant struggle with being what society wanted me to be and pleasing people and pleasing myself and just trying to find a neutral ground for that was also a big challenge and then having so many negative coping skills tha I acquired growing up like the cutting and the burning not eating just you know really punishing myself for being different and not knowing that I was different not having a label to be like this is who I am was very traumatizing I'd have to say because not having a sense of identity you loser yourself really fast when my sister came out it was traumatic I mean she told us that I wasn't allowed to know even though I know I knew four years before I mean we she was like packing bags to like leave this state because her friends couldn't find out cuz he looked at her reputation and it was traumatic for a good three years straight just that topic couldn't be brought up in our house without fights and you know growing up knowing that that's also you how could you come out knowing that that's gonna happen to you also being a trans I think school has been very hard in the you know educational kind of system I mean it's it's got to the point where I kind of just decided just to leave school and get my GED that's kind of like where I'm at right now and so I am getting my GED this summer and it's when I say like with school it's like simple things like mieze in the female restroom like they wouldn't allow that like I would have to use a designated restroom and they kind of like placed me you know what I mean I want to be treated like every other girl in the school ever since I'm like a young age you know going to school in elementary always being questioned about my expression the way I move the way I talk and just always constantly being judged for it just being myself so I think masking that was a big part of my life and just trying to blend in with society and being able to be normal in a sense even being in school to like they wouldn't let me identify as the name that I am they went unless it was legally changed and I think that was really hard too because it's like you're sitting in class and like the teachers calling and they're calling like my birth name and it's kind of like embarrassing you know and I think that I think schools need to like and just need to do that more in general and like they need to have a preferred name you know what I mean because it's just how you feel comfortable and it's who you go has yeah so it just it's kind of like they almost pushed me out of school you know just because I don't even want to deal with it school push out can be defined as the policies practices and procedures and make it more likely for certain students to leave school instead of finishing lgbtq+ youth are three times more likely to experience criminal justice and school sanctions so one of the things that we're most concerned about with LGBTQ youth especially in the educational environment is school push out and we define school push out as any number of factors that could cause a student to choose not to be in school or to not be able to be in school and so that's also inclusive of you know any kind of juvenile justice type you know systems that may be present on campus the students most likely to drop out or be kicked out of school are the most marginalized students in our schools whether that because because of race class disability gender identity sexual orientation the most likely to be kicked out of school we know that the students who do not feel supported at school just don't show up and are far more likely to end up in the system or end up in what we could call survival academies meaning sex work drug trade theft when there's no one else there for that pert young person these things are far more likely to happen I was still very messy with my appearance I didn't care it was just transition and survived that was all I knew I was still in that dark part of my life I was still using hard substances and mutilating and dabbling in things that were very unhealthy when my social worker noticed my instabilities she confronted me directly in a very nurturing way she just asked questions is everything all right and then they brought up the suspicion of drug abuse and like you're so skinny you know like you're not coming to school what's going on and at this point I was heavily induced on meth and I was just always using in my house I never wanted to leave I had a severe case of agoraphobia where I just every time I left my house I would just break out into panic and just was so worried about what people would think of me how I presented just the little taun teens and people who nitpick it was a lot so I just would escape and not leave my house we know from the glisten national school Climate Survey that approximately 85% of LGBTQ youth have experienced verbal harassment in the past year in their school environments we know that about 30% of our LGBTQ youth have missed a day of school in the past month because I feel unsafe or uncomfortable in their classrooms and then additionally the majority of the students that are missing school because they feel unsafe or uncomfortable are not reporting incidences of bullying that they're experiencing because either they're afraid of retaliation or that's not safe to report those things or they're afraid that nothing will happen when I got really serious saying like I want to go on testosterone I was kind of kicked out of the house she didn't want to be part of my life she didn't want me to do anything like that it's weird because I'm kind of losing my mom I'm gaining myself but I'm losing my mom and I don't really have another parent in my life my mom actually when I came out as trans she kicked me out and I was living in a youth shelter for about a month and a half and that was probably the hardest thing I ever had to do you know imagine just trying to be yourself and just trying to you know just live your life and be happy and then something like that happens like it was it was a really hard time well I mean the experiences of LGBTQ youth in our state are pretty diverse we definitely have young people who are securely housed and are loved by their families of origin and are doing well in school and are able to access transition-related health care and are being really supported but again I think a lot of this is intersectional and a lot of times we see more difficult outcomes for young people when there are more oppressed identities in play already and and the and the the far side of the bad outcomes is terrifying LGB youth who come from highly rejecting families are 8.4 times more likely to have attempted suicide then LGB peers who reported no or lower levels of family rejection now I want to be really clear that it's not because we are LGBTQ that we attempt suicide it is not a pathology the reason this happens is because of how society treats us and layers and layers of microaggressions are too much for one person to handle and that's why we're doing this education so we can educate ourselves and really be a better society so our LGBTQ youth and community stop feeling like they don't want to be here anymore and that they can be respected and productive people in our society because we are microaggressions can be defined as the everyday slights subs or insults whether intentional or unintentional that communicate hostile derogatory or negative messages to people in marginalized groups so a microaggression is a subtle but still offensive comment or action that can be unintentional subconscious that brings down or promotes stereotypes for any marginalized group gay people people of color women whatever well I think the first thing about microaggressions is that they are typically defined by the person who is experiencing it so I think it's really important that you know the definition isn't some that's hard and fast because it could look like something different to me than it does to another person if someone comes up to me and calls me some name some derogatory words having to do with my sexual orientation it's pretty safe to assume that their intention is to hurt me if someone says oh well if you really want to be a guy you not need to stop painting your toenails is their intention to hurt me no their intention is they think that they're helping me become a better guy so I think of the first one as an overt act of a overt act of prejudice or discrimination and the other one as a microaggression which comes into this intent versus impact the intention here was not to hurt me but the impact was that it did the intention here was very much to hurt me and the impact was also that it did but folks can have really great intentions in saying little tiny comments and the impact because those little cut tiny comments do not exist within a vacuum they exist within a context of hundreds if not thousands of other little tiny comments that build up and build up and actually have a significant impact on someone's ability to deal with trauma someone's ability to expand their own resiliency when coming up with when coming up against a difficult situation many of the young people you serve have difficult and challenging experiences when you add the layer of societal stigma and discrimination that LGBTQ youth face they are even more vulnerable whether it's a microaggression over at harassment or discrimination these situations can greatly impact a young person's well-being and their ability to be successful and thrived as an adult it is your responsibility to proceed with sensitivity and empathy and provide them the support they need these young people need you to be their ally if an adult wants to be more supportive I would say just let let the young person talk if they have questions answer them and if you have questions [Music] maybe think about googling it just open your ears like seriously just sit there don't even and it sounds blunt but don't even talk like listen to what they have to say I guess they finally have enough strength to sit there and open up and share their feelings with you that is already one of the biggest steps ever I feel like listening is a big thing you know I don't need someone to solve my problems but sometimes I just want someone to listen to me for once because I've gone a very long time feeling like I haven't been listened to and when you kind of front someone and ask them be open to anything they have to say and if you don't know what to say it's just being able to be like wow you know that is that is something I don't know what to say to that but thank you for letting me know because I could just I couldn't imagine like what is really going on but for you to be able to give me an idea that is awesome um I think being an ally is just being someone there to listen and to relate to what you have to say and to try and like understand what you're going through and help be there for you and support you with your transitions to whatever it is you're doing and just try and help make the process a little bit easier whether you understand the situation or not you need to be able to have an emotional support just let them know that you're there for them let them know that you're able to listen listening is such a big deal because not everyone has answers not everyone is able to do something but someone that's able to listen to another person and accept what's going on is probably the greatest gift someone can be given but I need you to stand up for me when I need you I need you to be there when it gets tough and not to just walk away one of my best interactions was with a person who I did not get their identity and this is me as a queer trans person I just didn't get it and they looked at me and I said you know I just don't understand what you're trying to do does this mean this does this mean that and I was asking lots of questions and they looked at me and they said maybe it's not your job to understand maybe it's just your job to support me and I went oh my goodness you're so right cheers to you young person that was brilliant yes you're right it's not my job to understand you right now it's my job to support you I don't need to understand the intricacies of your identity to support you and be there for you and I think that's something that seems like not much but it has an incredible impact I feel hurt when you assume my sexual orientation I need you to respect me and ask me I feel humiliated when I misgendered I need you to refer to the woman that I really am I need you to see the whole me not just one part I feel hurt and ashamed when you call me the wrong name I need you to respect my name and pronouns I feel small when I reach out and nobody reaches back I need you to listen to me so adults can do a lot of things to be more inclusive and supportive allies for me the the number one thing that I always recommend and talk about is to be more conscious of your language so are you using language that is creating possibility for identities and opening things up to allow youth to self-identify or are you using language that is more limiting and putting youth into like a binary system of male or female instead of saying you know go and talk with your mom and your dad are there other ways that we can say that like go home and talk with your family because our families ultimately look very different to make things better you can get involved and you can just educate yourself really it's so much more than just being there it's you have to be an active part of it you have to educate yourself educate those around you and if you really teach people about it then not only are you growing but you're helping other people grow and then you grow together and you really make a difference constantly educate yourself on any issue like you don't know everything just because you're an older person take a step back and really acknowledge it acknowledge and validate these young people probably know what's best for themselves and that you're really there just to help guide them in that but always follow their lead don't ever project any of your values or any of your identities onto young people because they're still becoming their own person and you shouldn't be the one that makes them who they are they're they were born being who they are and that's not something that can never be changed so just really follow the lead of a young person and a lot of times I think with young people we just discount their realities as if they aren't self-aware or are able to articulate themselves to us when they really are and they tell us what we need to know and we just don't want to listen to them so I think when someone when we can partner with them and elevate their voices and be part of the advocacy and the effort to make that change that's also important is how do we partner together and not just jump in front of them and speak for them but how do we bring them into the conversation and and lift up their voices I'm gonna go back to the piece of asking questions and you may turn be turned away like that that may happen you may be like I don't want to talk about it this is this is dumb whatever you may get that but if you show an interest over and over a young person is gonna notice because as much as a young person notices that you you don't pay attention they notice that you do and so I think that's key right there that as adults we listen we listen listen listen and then we ask questions and we listen some more alright and then take that in and see how we're maybe part of it part of the poem and part of making a change with them I do think that all of these systems interlock and and that people who are systems affected you see going through lots of the different types of systems you just named facilities of recovery from from addiction school systems foster care even all of those things are very similar I think in the and the idea of how we would improve those systems if it's possible to do so I think would follow a similar model of first just talking to people who are affected by those systems and finding out what's working and not working for them making sure everyone at every level of the organization is educated is a big part of it too we have a lot of stories of places facilities where people go in and the maybe the administration is pretty well educated and is prepared to do a good job with our individual constituents but the person who staffs the front desk or answers the phone doesn't have access to that same information and unwit ingly do a terrible job with a trans person but they didn't even mean to they didn't they didn't have the information to do better so making sure that everyone everyone is involved in that type of discussion and not just the people you know at the top yeah it's the worst when you go into like when you're trying to apply for a job or you're trying to do something and it says male or female and it's like there should be other you know because this is not what people just identify at so imagine if you were a young person coming in and having to fill out paperwork for the first time first time you are coming into a system that is very strange and new to you and you're a little scared and nervous and you come in and you fill out the paperwork and it doesn't have a gender marker that belongs to you so a trans youth may feel a microaggression the moment they began to fill out an intake form because it they're not reflected on that document and I know all of our organizations have protocol we have procedures and policies and intake forms but it is okay to look at those and really improve those forms as we're improving ourselves as we're educating ourselves we have to make sure our policies and procedures are following that so that we can keep the highest state for our young people again so if I see someone being picked on stopping it immediately and really questioning people's stereotypes about things I think that opens possibility is like because when a student sees you stop that immediately they're like oh like that's not going to be tolerated in this classroom so I'm safe to try on that identity I'm safe to talk in the way that feels comfortable to me or that feels natural to me because someone picking on me for that is not going to be tolerated here I think a big part of being an ally is not only trying to sympathize but empathize and sympathy is just saying wow I see you're struggling and that sucks but empathy is more I see you're struggling let me help I see you're struggling how does that feel and being an ally is all about empathy if you can understand where someone's coming from that's what makes you want to be an ally I think the the first thing that people need to know about ally ship is that and being an ally is that it's not a noun it's a verb so we define Ally ship based off of action and and what are you doing to show up and yeah exactly not just doing your job because that's already the expectation Ally ship goes above and beyond that there's a lot of pressure behind being an ally that means you're 100% on and if you mess up that identity is taken from you engaging in acts of ally ship means that that pressure is a little and it leaves room to make mistakes and learn from them and not make those mistakes again and I came to one of our big meetings and said hey when we do introductions today can we do gender pronouns and folks were wait you want us to do what I said our gender pronouns you know he him his she her hers yeah I mean we know what they are but why do you want us to do this I said well I don't want to make any assumptions about anyone's how anyone identifies in the room and it was really fascinating to go around the room and have everyone say for very possibly the first time gender pronouns or be asked to say their gender pronouns and we had a conversation about how it's assumed that we only do these things in LGBTQ communities and those are the only spaces in which that's important and they reflected that doing this in a space that was not LGBTQ specific was really was fascinating and felt like an invitation into a conversation that they hadn't had before and having that moment to say oh how would I ask the answer that question gives also gives you that moment to say oh other people are asked this question all the time or assumptions are made about their identities all the time if you're an adult or even if you're a young person and you'd hear somebody use the wrong pronoun you cannot call yourself an ally if you don't call them out so if I'm going in front of a classroom and I know that the identities of these students in this classroom are vastly different than my own it means that I'm gonna look inside and say okay what biases might I have about these students in my of my own because we'll have them why how could that prevent this student from connecting to me if your job is to lift up and support young people then you should be educating yourself and you should be hyper aware of the things that you're saying ultimately when youth hear the silence they hear that it's not okay that's what they're they're learning and they're taking away so then the organization level we need to have the conversation started and continued we really need to take a step back and allow that young person to be their full authentic self while we figure it out Youth youth have a voice that young people will continue to have a voice and they're here they're not going anywhere we want them to stay that there's important to ask questions but not tokenize to build relationship with our young people and to also seek their own resources outside of young people to know how to do that to ask an organization we've been going online I'm an ally because I believe there should be change in the world I'm an ally because that's what's right so in review here is a list of ways that you can participate in acts of a lie ship for LGBTQ plus youth ask questions but also educate yourself use correct names and pronouns if you don't know ask listen to youth take them seriously stand up and defend lgbtq+ youth interrupt bullying and harassment stop all derogatory comments use non assumptive neutral language display LGBTQ plus material and resources and remember ally is a verb not a noun I feel protected when you call me by the right name and pronouns I feel helpful for the future when you ask questions I feel empowered when you raise me up I feel supported when you stand up for me when I'm not there I feel safe when you defend queer and trans youth to learn more about supporting LGBTQ plus youth please visit the cYFD website or if you'd like to see other videos and learn about upcoming trainings call five oh five eight two seven eight zero zero eight I am me understanding the intersections of gender sexuality and identity is proud to be the silver medalist for SAMHSA's 2016 excellence and community communications and outreach award in the category of professionals you