Umbrella Series to emphasize healthy relationships for LGBTQ+ youth in Frederick County
Jun. 18—A group of community leaders is dedicating themselves this Pride Month to teaching and nurturing healthy relationships in LGBTQ+ youths in a new, collaborative set of conversations.
The Umbrella Series, a joint initiative between Heartly House, One Love Foundation and FreeState Justice, will kick off in Frederick County June 22 to educate young LGBTQ+ people about strong relationships and offer a safe environment to share ideas and meet new people.
The series is based on a middle-grade workshop One Love and FreeState Justice created in summer 2020. From there, local co-creators Jamie O'Leary of One Love — an organization that aims to educate youth about healthy relationships — and Amy Wilkinson of Heartly House — which offers services to those who suffer from domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse — launched a pilot of The Umbrella Series this spring. That trial run was extremely well-received, the founders said.
"The first iteration of it really was more of a success even than I could have imagined, and so we wanted to do it again because it seems like the need is there, and it seems like this is a great way to fill that need," O'Leary, One Love's engagement coordinator for Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., said.
The series will run virtually for 10 weeks for LGBTQ+ youths aged 10 through 18. There will be two age groups: 10- to 14-year-olds and 14- to 18-year-olds. Curriculum for the series is the same for both groups.
O'Leary and Wilkinson said it's important the series is participant-led. Rather than lecture, the co-creators wanted to give the youths the opportunity to steer discussions in ways that are relevant to them and their peers.
In the pilot, themes covered not only romantic relationships but also relationships with peers, family and friends, O'Leary said. Some included identifying signs of healthy and unhealthy relationships, self care, online safety, microaggressions, stereotypes and bystander intervention. For the upcoming series, the curriculum was tweaked based on feedback on the pilot.
Wilkinson, Heartly House's youth education and prevention coordinator, said it's imperative for LGBTQ+ youths to have a resource to learn and talk about relationships with others like them. Middle school and high school are challenging enough for youth to navigate, she said, but LGBTQ+ kids have the additional challenge of not fitting into the cisgendered, heterosexual norm.
Discrimination, criminalization and homelessness disproportionately affect LGBTQ+ youth, Wilkinson said. Additionally, she said there are family concerns and the fact they're more likely to suffer intimate partner violence, sexual assault and child abuse.
These trends are disconcerting for Wilkinson, who cited 2010 statistics from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention that found bisexual women were nearly twice as more likely to experience sexual assault, rape, physical violence or stalking from an intimate partner.
"It's not at all surprising that the instances of violence within the LGBTQ+ community are significantly higher than the broader community," Wilkinson said.
The stats and observations underscore why it's so important for young people to know the red flags in relationships, Heartly House President and Executive Director Inga James said. Without many role models for what a healthy relationship is, LGBTQ+ youth need something to help them see what it's like.
"I think it's really important to be able to help them understand what a good relationship is within their own context, because they're not getting it anywhere else," James said.
O'Leary said there was a lack of understanding surrounding LGBTQ+ experiences of abuse and domestic violence, and it's important to fill that gap. The new series is not only about educating and community, but showing youths they can have healthy relationships.
"They deserve spaces to talk about that and explore that and realize that they have some really incredible possible relationships in their future," O'Leary said. "I think that's an important thing to remind them of."
Follow Clara Niel on Twitter: @clarasniel
