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Ninth Annual Queer Youth Leadership Awards
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Ninth Annual Queer Youth Leadership Awards
By Debbie Friedman
The queer and queer-friendly community of Santa Cruz County gathered on Sunday, May 21, at the Henry J. Mello Center for the Performing Arts in Watsonville to honor its leaders and allies with awards and entertainment.
The ninth annual event was sponsored by the Santa Cruz County Task Force for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Questioning Youth (LGBTIQ,) and co-sponsored by the Pajaro Valley Unified School District.
Stuart Rosenstein has served as co-chair of the event for four years and explained the importance of the awards. Over these decades, he said, there have always been a handful of queer young people that have tried to work through the system to stop the hatred and violence.
“We want to improve the quality of life for all queer youth, as well as children that come from queer families,” Rosenstein said. “In previous decades when gay kids were spit on, bullied, had rocks thrown at them, and other acts of violence, some school principals did absolutely nothing. What we are doing is to create a safe and nurturing environment for all of our kids, not just a few.”
Rosenstein believes that the awards serve to bring visibility to queer youth leaders who are working with school administrators and peers to help make schools at large a safer place for queer youth. Over 20 award winners and nominees were acknowledged at the event in categories that included Youth Leadership, Ally to Queer Youth, and Organizational Ally to Queer Youth.
Queer Youth and Religion
Jillian Wagman is a Santa Cruz High School senior. She was honored as an ally to queer youth for her significant contributions to improving the lives of LGBTIQ youth. As a member of Temple Beth El, Wagman served as the Youth Leader for the group “Youth Out in Our Faith.”
The goal of the program was to help queer youth confront clergy of various faiths about why queer youth have been historically marginalized. Her involvement has helped to foster a greater understanding between queer youth and local clergy.
“It is important for all people to be accepting and open, including [people working in] religion,” Wagman said. “It has been amazing being honored for this work.”
Wagman will be attending University of California at Berkeley in the fall.
First Middle School Leadership Awards
For the first time in the event’s history, middle school students won Youth Leadership Awards. Event Chair Rosenstein talked about the vulnerability of youth in elementary and middle school settings, the time when typically the least amount is done to “stop the hatred.”
Jessica Jones, Helen Thordarson, and Joya Cazel, all eighth graders, received Youth Leaderships awards for their work creating STAR (Students Together Acting Real) at Shoreline Middle School in Live Oak. The STAR program has created a safe place for LGBT youth and their allies to meet on campus and be proactive in creating the school and community they want to live in.
The students also organized a Day of Silence, in which approximately 200 students in their school participated. The students also organized letter-writing campaigns about Assembly Bill 1437, a bill that would mandate that gay history is included in California school textbooks.
STAR and Shoreline Middle School
Jones said she was “amazed” by receiving the award, especially after only one year of activism. She shared her own story of “coming out” to her own family in seventh grade, and then publicly at school during the eight grade.
“Kids are realizing their sexuality at younger ages and should be safe,” Jones said.
She talked about experiencing harassment at school because she dressed in black, gothic style, and because she was perceived as weird.
While Jones thinks there is slightly more acceptance on campus, she feels strongly that she wants to continue her work in the future, broadening her focus to all issues of diversity including racism, stereotyping, self-esteem issues and depression. Jones will be attending Harbor High School next year and will be returning to Shoreline Middle School to train students to continue the STAR program.
Live Oak Superintendent of Schools David Paine supports STAR.
“It is wonderful to have the STAR group at Shoreline and I’m very supportive,” Paine said.
He watched the students work with the staff to coordinate the “Day of Silence” and offer alternative ways to communicate with teachers. He has had no complaints made to his office regarding the STAR program. Paine also made clear that AB537, the California Student Safety and Violence Prevention Act of 2000, added specific protections to the law for actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity to the existing nondiscrimination policy.
“It’s the law,” Paine said.
STRANGE, a countywide program of Youth Services, was the awardee in the category of Organizational Ally to Queer Youth. STRANGE is a youth-led program that creates safe spaces which provide opportunities for support, socializing and community activism.
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