A new, free, research-based poster series for American Indian families and communities is aimed at helping parents, families, and caregivers to support LGBTQ and Two Spirit (LGBTQ2S) children and youth, reducing health risks and increasing well-being.
The term “Two Spirit” is used to describe diverse gender, spiritual and social identities among Native and Indigenous people that transcend binary concepts of male and female. Historically, Two Spirit people held respected roles in many tribal communities. The Family Acceptance Project (FAP) at San Francisco State University, in collaboration with Council Oak Training and Evaluation, Inc., has launched its new Healthy Futures posters for American Indian families and communities to help LGBTQ2S children and youth in these communities.
Family acceptance of LGBTQ2S children and youth is a critical factor in their becoming happy, healthy adults. Family rejection, conversely, contributes to high levels of depression, suicide risk, substance abuse, and similar problems. For nearly two decades, the Family Acceptance Project (FAP) at San Francisco State University, led by Dr. Caitlin Ryan, has put hard data behind these assumptions, offering families non-judgmental evidence of how their behaviors—both positive and negative—impact their children. Prior research had only studied young people themselves, not their families, and had explored risk, not well-being. Families were seen as adversaries, not allies—and health care providers, social workers, and educators were serving LGBTQ youth alone and through peer support, not by engaging their families.
FAP has sought to change that, using their research to promulgate culturally specific resources for families of LGBTQ youth, including Latter-Day Saint (Mormon) families, Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) families (encompassing eight Asian languages), Latinx families, and others. In 2012, their family education booklets were designated the first “Best Practice” resources for suicide prevention among LGBTQ youth and young adults by the national Best Practices Registry for Suicide Prevention. FAP has also shown the damaging role parents play in “conversion therapy” efforts to change their LGBTQ children’s sexual orientation, They have offered education and training for tens of thousands of family members, health and mental health providers, clergy, and others across the globe.
FAP’s new posters for American Indian communities expand these resources. They show how specific family rejecting reactions to a child’s sexual orientation, gender identity, and/or gender expression, such as ridiculing their identity or not letting them wear clothes (including regalia) that express their gender identity, contribute to risk for suicide, depression, drug use, HIV, and other health risks. They also show how specific supportive behaviors, such as standing up for their children when others mistreat them because of their identity, help protect against risk and promote well-being.
To develop the posters, FAP partnered with American Indian cultural consultants Dr. Pamela Jumper Thurman and Dr. Barbara Plested, founders of Council Oak Training and Evaluation, Inc., which for three decades has been a central resource for developing and implementing culturally grounded mental health, substance abuse, HIV, and violence prevention and intervention programs for diverse tribes. Drs. Jumper Thurman and Plested are co-developers of the Community Readiness Model that has been implemented across the U.S. and in many other countries to help tribal and other communities to address challenges to health and well-being. They are now working with FAP to develop other culturally grounded family education resources for American Indian families with LGBTQ2S children and youth. Resources like these are critical for helping to prevent health risks, including suicide, and for increasing connectedness, especially in American Indian families that have been devastated by the legacy of mandated boarding schools and policies that undermined essential family and cultural bonds.
To our knowledge there has not been a national campaign such as this one aimed at increasing family connectedness and support for LGBTQ2S youth. This has high potential to be lifesaving for many youth.
Sharon Day, an Ojibwe M’dewin, water walker and Executive Director of Indigenous Peoples Task Force, observed, “Our coming of age ceremonies should include diverse, gender affirming tools to help our youth navigate adulthood. These posters offer guidance to parents and caregivers on ways to support our LGBTQ and Two Spirit identified children and to prevent health risks. As a lesbian/Two Spirit identified person, my own personal acceptance was deeply connected to my mother’s unconditional love and acceptance. Our children face many challenges and family support is essential.”
The poster series comes as leading national child and adolescent medical groups have designated a national emergency for children’s and adolescent’s mental health that calls for promoting trauma-informed services to reduce risk and support family resilience.
Dr. Ryan said, “FAP’s posters help parents, families and caregivers understand the critical need for family support and the impact that specific family rejecting and accepting behaviors have on risk and well-being for LGBTQ2S children and youth. Family behaviors that try to change, deny, and minimize a child’s LGBTQ2S identity and gender expression start at home and contribute to serious health risks like suicide, substance abuse, self-harm, and sexual health risks. Simply by changing the way they respond to LGBTQ2S children, parents and caregivers can help prevent health risks and build healthy futures for children and youth.”
FAP’s Healthy Futures poster series and guidance are available to download free in four sizes in camera-ready multicultural versions from FAP’s website. The campaign includes other evidence-based educational resources for families, youth, providers and religious leaders to promote family acceptance and increase access to mental health and support services.
(Full disclosure: I did some paid consulting work for FAP in 2013.)
