Seminars aim to help adults support gay and transgender youth

http://www.mlive.com/living/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2009/10/seminars_aim_to_help_adults_su.html

By Kelle Barr | Special to the Kalamazoo Ga...

October 28, 2009, 11:16AM

File photo.Caitlin Ryan, PhD, is Director of the Family Acceptance Project at the Marian Wright Edelman Institute at San Francisco State University. The clinical social worker, researcher and highly regarded expert on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender youth and family issues is a founder and past President of the National Lesbian and Gay Health Foundation as well as founder of the National Association of People With AIDS.“We are not trying to change anyone’s values or beliefs... We are trying to help people learn ways to support their gay or lesbian youth family members so that they don’t feel like something is wrong with them.” -- Caitlin Ryan Clinical social worker

KALAMAZOO — When lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adolescents are rejected by family members, they may abuse drugs or lapse into deep depression. Some engage in behavior that spikes their risk for sexually transmitted diseases. Some become suicidal. Clinical social worker Caitlin Ryan knows all of this because she has researched and worked on the issue since the 1970s, most recently as director of the Family Acceptance Project, a nonprofit organization based at San Francisco State University’s Marian Wright Edelman Institute. She routinely works 14-hour days, in part to keep the project funded, and she has devoted her life to fighting rejection of GLBT youth and promoting acceptance....