{"id":33027,"date":"2021-11-17T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-17T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/?p=33027"},"modified":"2022-04-27T10:37:55","modified_gmt":"2022-04-27T14:37:55","slug":"sinclair-shares-coming-out-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/tartan-news\/2021\/11\/17\/sinclair-shares-coming-out-stories\/","title":{"rendered":"Sinclair Shares Coming Out Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In honor of National Coming Out Day, Sinclair\u2019s Brite Signal Alliance presented the event \u201cComing Out Stories.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cComing out is not a moment, it is a process,\u201d said Sky Burke.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Telling family and friends can be a scary experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Burke has been a member of the organization for over three years and says his coming out could have been worse; all experiences are different and unique.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">LGBTQ+ youth continue to experience more violence and suicide risk than heterosexual youths. So, what can be done? A person may be unaware of the microaggressions they convey. It can be unintentional but still hurtful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cDon\u2019t be a jerk and say that you already knew,\u201d said Burke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Brite Signal Alliance is committed to promoting equity and raising awareness about the diversity of sexual orientation and gender identity, including challenges faced by the LGBTQ+ community.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This student club offers support, education, and fun while promoting greater diversity awareness and change to the local college and community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cJust four years ago I came out to my southern Christian family. I was afraid,\u201d said another participant. She brought her longtime girlfriend to a family party after coming out. \u201cIt is freedom being able to live an authentic life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Presenters shared their experiences and provided information and guidance to help everyone be supportive and affirming.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s all right to be surprised, ask questions. Not questions like, can I tell my friends or give me details,\u201d said Burke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The message could not have been clearer. \u201cThis is not about you, it\u2019s about them,\u201d Burke said, \u201cAsk how you can be an ally.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to data from the 2015 national <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/healthyyouth\/data\/yrbs\/index.htm\">Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS)<\/a> of surveyed LGBT students:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>10% were threatened or injured with a weapon on school property<\/li><li>34% were bullied on school property<\/li><li>28% were bullied electronically<\/li><li>23% of LGBT students who had dated or went out with someone had experienced sexual dating violence in the prior year<\/li><li>18% of LGBT students had experienced physical dating violence<\/li><li>18% of LGBT students had been forced to have sexual intercourse at some point in their lives.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To promote and support the LGBTQ+ community in high schools and colleges, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/lgbthealth\/youth.htm\">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a> suggest:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Encourage respect&nbsp;<\/li><li>Identify safe places<\/li><li>Encourage student run programs and clubs.<\/li><li>Make sure health includes HIV, STDs, and pregnancy prevention relevant to LGBTQ+ community.<\/li><li>Provide training for school staff<\/li><li>Facilitate access to health providers in the community<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For more information about the Brite Alliance and support for the LGBTQ+ community at <a href=\"https:\/\/sinclair.edu\/services\/support\/lgbtq-support\/\">Sinclair Community Colleg<\/a>, contact Larry Lindstrom, LGBTQ+ Support Liaison.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Diane Sikora<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Re<em>porter<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In honor of National Coming Out Day, Sinclair\u2019s Brite Signal Alliance presented the event \u201cComing Out Stories.\u201d&nbsp; \u201cComing out is not a moment, it is a process,\u201d said Sky Burke.&nbsp; Telling family and friends can be a scary experience. Burke has been a member of the organization for over three years and says his coming [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10416,"featured_media":33028,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2102,5354,3],"tags":[5235,3856,5353,3611,2393],"class_list":["post-33027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-life","category-magazine-articles","category-tartan-news","tag-diane-sikora","tag-lgbtq-2","tag-magazine-article","tag-national-coming-out-day","tag-sinclair-events"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/unnamed.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5s3vR-8AH","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10416"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33027"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33055,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33027\/revisions\/33055"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}