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| Organizations http://www.past.8k.com/index.html This is a website of a local (Lower Mainland) youth run organization – The Peer Action Support Team (PAST). It aims to provide, on a one-on-one basis, peer support to Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning youth and facilitate their access to local resources. GLBT youth with any concerns, including reporting of hate crimes, domestic assault and sexual assault to the police, can contact the team at the provided phone numbers or through regular mail or e-mail. Even though the website does not have much information, it delivers a clear message that the help is here and it is available. The three members posted their pictures, making it much more personable, comforting and encouraging to the person looking for help. http://www.crosswinds.net/~sparkleboy/gab1.html Vancouver's Youth lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender website run by local youths. It offers local updates, news and events for queer youths as well as provides some links and information on local resources and support groups in town. By admission of the website, it is under major reconstruction and has not been updated since June 2000. The website has a great potential to be a very good resource and support for local GBLT youths. http://www.elight.org/ “ELIGHT is an online community for GLBT youth and young adults. It's mission is to provide a literary freelance publishing forum for gay teens, provide a webspace for gay teens to express thoughts, emotions, and feelings, provide support and guidance, and provide a space where youth can see they are not alone.” The website has three main departments. Collections publishes teens’ coming out stories, poetry, discusses hot issues, gives an opportunity to speak their minds, to seek advice from peers, etc. Connections, has links to e-mail lists, ELIGHT personals and PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) links. Destinations deals with computer tips and a couple of other still developing pages such as information for parents and support from non-gay people. The site is an excellent resource for youth to gain a sense of community while maintaining, if necessary, their anonymity. Even though some links are still under construction, it is well designed and easy to navigate and read. http://www.youth.org/ “YOUTH.ORG is a service run by volunteers, created to provide self-identifying gay, lesbian, bisexual and questioning youth with a safe space online to be themselves, to express themselves, to know they are not alone, and to interact with others who have already accepted their sexuality.” The website has three main pages: I might be gay, what do I do? I might be a lesbian, what do I do? and Book Resources. Under the first two categories, simple but well explained information in a question and answer format is offered. The site has a number of links to other gay youth support and information websites as well as tips on how to find support in local communities. Curiously, YOUTH.ORG has the following disclaimer: Do not send us hate mail or mail of a religious nature. If you do it will be posted on our hate mail page. ... and they do! The design of the website is very appealing in its simplicity and friendliness. http://members.tripod.com/goldfish_gsa This website is hosted by a Gay-Straight Alliance at a highschool in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. It shares information on the club’s activities and events and also provides links to other GSAs, activist groups, general info and interests as well as to websites dealing with youth suicide. It is very teen-friendly and inviting for further communication. Although the choice of colours is questionable (green text on green background) and makes it hard to read, the general design of the website is very clean and easy to follow. http://oocities.com/westhollywood/park/3568/frame2.htm This website is an online home to a highschool gay-straight alliance club Spectrum from North Olmsted, Ohio. “It promotes respect and equality for ALL students, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, ethnicity, or disability and provides a safe forum [online] for discussion of issues related to sexual orientation and homophobia.” It provides updates on latest developments in the area of challenging homophobia and sexual discrimination at schools and at a work place and gives links to the activists’ sites. It provides statistics (can be found in Appendix A), definitions, facts about sexual orientation, advice on coming out process and possible family reactions and how to prepare to deal with them. The site has a spirit of a warrior, which might either deter or attract teens looking for support and information. It is well-designed and easy to use. http://www.glsen.org/templates/index.html The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) site devotes a big part to letting gay students share their experiences at school, and their opinions on what can be done to minimize homophobia at schools. The site is an excellent resource for both students and teachers. It also provides information on gay-straight alliances across the US. Its focus is on inclusiveness of everyone regardless of his or her sexual orientation. (It is also listed under For Educators section.) Personal websites http://www.oocities.org/WestHollywood/Heights/4808/ This website is designed by a gay youth, who shares his experiences of realizing that he is gay, of his coming out process and of his fight against homophobia. A lot of teens going through the same phases could easily relate to the information shared and find comfort in knowing they are not alone feeling the pain and confusion and looking for support and answers. The author briefly but insightfully describes each part of his journey, organized in chapters, including his initial correspondence with support members of PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays). The messages are very comforting and encouraging. Part of his website is devoted to writings of other gay teens sharing their experiences and talking about gay issues. The author of the website takes a very firm stand on the topic of homophobia and discusses how it can be challenged. There are also links to other websites such as e-mail lists where gay teens can make friends, teen web-magazines, PFLAG support website, on being gay, on coming out, support for family of gays, etc. The website’s design is very creative and colourful. It is well written and easy to navigate. http://www.personal.kent.edu/~mbcollin/frames.html Michael, a 21 year old gay male, shares his experiences on realizing his sexual identity, coming out, attempting suicide and finding his way out and becoming well-adjusted in the world. Even though the author does not provide much information or links on gay youth issues, it is worth visiting because of the personal touch and positive outlook. The most compelling part of the site is a page with his personal poetry on being gay. The website has several awards. It is full of colours without being overwhelming and is well-structured and simple to use. http://www.oocities.org/advocate20x/advocatego.html This is a personal website with the coming out story. The most moving part is the correspondence the author had with his family after his initial coming out e-mail to them. The responses vary from positive to not so positive and cannot leave a reader indifferent. The website has links to other coming out stories. The author is a gay rights movement activist and shares some valuable information pertaining to the topic. Even though a few links on the site are under construction and downloading may take some time because of the additional applets running on the site, overall the website has a very straightforward and tasteful design. |
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| The following write-ups are courtesy of Nooshka. Please do not duplicate any or part of the script without getting permission from Nooshka. Contact ms_rieder@yahoo.ca for more info. . The represented web sites are only few among the wealth of information available on line. They were selected on the basis of usefulness and relevance of information. The descriptions of the links may contain excerpts from the statements found on the websites. For brevity, some of these statements have been modified. All excerpts have been placed in quotation marks. |
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