by by Shamia Farin
Eighty percent of gay and lesbian youth report severe social isolation, according to the National Dropout Prevention Center/Network. LGBTQ+ centers provide a safe, open and inclusive space where teens can talk about their sexuality. This is especially important for teens who feel stuck in the closet and can’t come out to their family and friends.
Brooklyn has 263,673 LGBTQ+ residents but only one site that serves this group – the Brooklyn Community Pride Center in Downtown Brooklyn. The Ditmas Examiner talked to area teens who would love an LGBTQ+ center in the neighborhood.
As a bisexual teen, Cliff Cadet, 14, said a center here would teach people to “love with their hearts not their head.” Yet he isn’t fully committed to the idea of spotlighting his fellow queer teens in this way “because a lot of people still have hate for people part of that community.”
This hate against the LGBT community has increased nationwide. Hate crimes in general have risen 35 percent since Donald Trump has been elected as president, according to the Brooklyn Community Pride Center.
That is the exact reason Zion Mabry, 13, feels an LGBTQ center should be built here. “People deserve to feel comfortable in their own community,” she said.
Likewise Angela Ravina, 14, said a center would be helpful for “people who are going through a tough time trying to open up or come out.”
“They deserve a place where they can feel comfortable, especially now that this community is growing and growing,” she said.
There are health issues related to social isolation, according to a report by the Brooklyn Community Pride Center. Without being part of a LGBTQ community, gay teens have an increased chance of heart disease and stroke when they get older. This loneliness can lead to a higher chance of leading an individual to smoking or obesity. In fact, the report found that isolated individuals are twice as likely to die prematurely than those with strong social interaction.
Some believe that being able to talk to an older role model who is queer and has experience dealing with this stigma can be very helpful to LGBT youth.
“Talking to someone who’s a little bit older, somebody who’s done it before and won’t judge them is a really important idea,” said Robert Carroll, assemblymember for the 44th District of the New York State.
“And we can see with the election of someone like President Trump is that all it does is take one person to send people back into the shadows,” he told The Ditmas Examiner.
But there might be other neighborhoods in Brooklyn that are more in need of this type of acceptance because Ditmas Park is already “ very open and accepting,” said Somara Shana, 22.