Our Mission:Queer Vociez is an organization whose mission is to encourage self-love, inclusivity, and acceptance for the queer community through expression and support.
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Our Vision:Creating a safe environment for the queer community to have their voices heard in a judgement free environment, because all humans have a story.
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Our Why
LGBT+ youth suicide is up to 4x higher then a non-LGBT+ youth. Our youth need support and to know they are not alone. Those numbers drop dramatically when youth have people to talk to, when they have a safe space.
What's your story?
Queer Voicez
Queer Voicez got started from an idea Larissa had about sharing peoples stories. She often had people tell her that she should share her life story, and she never really found it all that profound, it was her life, what was the big deal. And then one day she was reading some personal coming out stories on a LGBT forum for National Coming Out Day and was so impressed at the bravery of the people telling their stories, some were sad, and emotional, some were happy and some were just very uncomfortable. She loved them all and that was the point where she wanted to tell peoples stories, she could see now the beauty in people's stories.
Positive or negative the sharing of stories is how our young people will find their way. Positive stories help remind them that coming out is not always negative and negative stories remind them that even if you have a negative experience that things will get better. Our suicide rate among the LGBT population is more than four times that of heterosexual youth and more than 30% of LGBT youth have attempted suicide, and these rates don’t drop until after they come out and have people who accept them. This means even if they come out later they are still at high risk for self-harm. This is unacceptable.
Positive or negative the sharing of stories is how our young people will find their way. Positive stories help remind them that coming out is not always negative and negative stories remind them that even if you have a negative experience that things will get better. Our suicide rate among the LGBT population is more than four times that of heterosexual youth and more than 30% of LGBT youth have attempted suicide, and these rates don’t drop until after they come out and have people who accept them. This means even if they come out later they are still at high risk for self-harm. This is unacceptable.
Important Statistics of LGBT Youth Suicide
What You Should Know About LGBTQ Youth Suicide in Canada
Every year, on average, 500 Canadian youth (ages 10 – 24) die by suicide (Statistics Canada). It is unknown, however, how many of these youth identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, Two Spirit or queer (LGBTQ), or may be struggling with questions about their sexual orientation or gender identity. Increasingly, however, studies confirm that suicidal ideation and behaviour are disproportionately prevalent among LGBTQ youth in comparison to their non-LGBTQ peers:
Every year, on average, 500 Canadian youth (ages 10 – 24) die by suicide (Statistics Canada). It is unknown, however, how many of these youth identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, Two Spirit or queer (LGBTQ), or may be struggling with questions about their sexual orientation or gender identity. Increasingly, however, studies confirm that suicidal ideation and behaviour are disproportionately prevalent among LGBTQ youth in comparison to their non-LGBTQ peers:
- 33% of LGB youth have attempted suicide in comparison to 7% of youth in general (Saewyc 2007).
- Over half of GLB students (47% of GB males and 73% of LB females) have thought about suicide (Eisenberg & Resnick, 2006).
- In 2010, 47% of trans youth in Ontario had thought about suicide and 19% had attempted suicide in the preceding year (Scanlon, Travers, Coleman, Bauer, & Boyce, 2010).
- LGBTQ youth are 4 times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers (Massachusetts Department of Education, 2009).
- Adolescent youth who have been rejected by their families for being LGB are over 8 times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers (Ryan, Huebner, Diaz, & Sanchez, 2009).
- A study in Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario revealed that 28% of transgender and Two Spirit people had attempted suicide at least once (Taylor, 2006).
- Both victims and perpetrators of bullying are at a higher risk for suicide than their peers. Children who are both victims and perpetrators of bullying are at the highest risk (Kim & Leventhal, 2008; “Suicide and bullying: Issue brief,” 2011).
- While suicide is never the result of one cause, bullying can have a long-lasting effect on suicide risk and mental health. The relationship between bullying and suicide is stronger for lesbian, gay and bisexual youth than for their heterosexual peers (Kim & Leventhal, 2008):
- 68% of trans students, 55% of LB students and 42% of GB students reported being verbally harassed about their perceived gender identity or sexual orientation.
- 20% of LGBTQ students reported being physically harassed or assaulted about their perceived gender identity or sexual orientation.
- 49% of trans students, 33% of lesbian students and 40% of gay male students have experienced sexual harassment in school in the last year (Taylor et al. 2011).
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Looking for more stories to share on this site, remember you can share them anonymously through this page or by emailing them to stories@queervoicez.org. We are also looking for people willing to share their stories on a podcast or in a book. Let us know if you are interested.
Watch for upcoming information about our new podcast being released this year. Donate to us via Patreon to help get our Podcast up and started and to keep it going. Subscribe to be kept up to date on what's happening and when podcast episodes are released.
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You can help us by donating to Queer Voicez via Patreon (see button above)
Monies collected will help with the cost of forming a non-profit, website costs, starting and running a podcast, and publishing a book we are putting together as well as helping to get the word out.
Monies collected will help with the cost of forming a non-profit, website costs, starting and running a podcast, and publishing a book we are putting together as well as helping to get the word out.
