BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--While in recent years there have been notable gains for LGBTQ adults, gay and transgender teens still face epidemic levels of suicide and depression. Eighty percent of gay kids report verbal harassment, 35 percent of transgender kids report physical violence at school, and a staggering 30 percent of LGBTQ teens attempt suicide each year.
In an attempt to bring this public health concern to light, Portland, Maine and Harvard-trained psychiatrist and host of “Safe Space Radio” Anne Hallward, MD, spent the last year collecting stories from Maine’s LGBTQ teens to use in a radio broadcast titled “Out-Takes: The Unheard Stories of LGBTQ Teens.” This hour-long production is set to air on WBUR (90.9 FM) on Sunday, June 12 at 8pm.
In addition to the broadcast, Hallward’s “Safe Space Radio” website will offer an online forum for conversation and resources to support LGBTQ teens, their families, schools, and communities.
According to Sam Fleming, WBUR’s managing director of news and programming, “WBUR is excited to share the broadcast focused on teens in the LGBTQ community. It’s timely and fits in so well with the national conversation over the past few weeks. Anne’s interviews and stories inside ‘Out-Takes: The Unheard Stories of LGBTQ Teens’ are both authentic and compelling.”
“Out-Takes…” provides a window into the lives of young people behind the statistics, by sharing stories and reflections from teens, parents, teachers and advocates. During the show, Hallward speaks with transgender and gay youth who share their personal struggles of ‘coming out’ to their family and friends.
“I am so grateful to WBUR for bringing this show to its far reaching audience. Figuring out who you are is an important part of being a teenager and how you are accepted or rejected in that time can have a lasting impact on the rest of your life,” said Dr. Hallward. “The goal of this program is to raise awareness about the unspoken struggles still facing the LGBTQ youth population, and promotes better understanding of what it is like to live with difference.”
Along with the voices of teens, Mary Bonauto, the attorney who made history for marriage equality at the Supreme Court level, offers her reflections on the challenges and opportunities that today’s LGBTQ teens of today face. In addition, Elizabeth Saewyc, PhD, suggests two simple changes schools can make that help prevent suicide attempts among both LGBTQ and straight teens.
According to Hallward, “Daring to be who we are in the face of so many pressures to ‘fit in’ is perhaps the most difficult task in life, and LGBTQ teens have to wrestle with this much earlier than most of us. It is my hope that by listening to this program, we will look at these kids through new eyes and recognize the extra weight they bear on their shoulders.”
About 90.9 WBUR
90.9 WBUR-FM is Boston’s NPR news
station and the home of nationally syndicated programs, including On
Point, Here & Now, Only A Game and Car Talk, which reach millions of
listeners each week on NPR stations across the United States and online.
WBUR provides listeners with thorough coverage of local, national and
international news from NPR, Public Radio International and the BBC, in
addition to its own locally produced content. WBUR has a dedicated
newsroom reporting original, local content throughout the day, as well
as Radio Boston, a daily news magazine examining issues, news, people
and places through a distinctly Boston lens.
About Safe Space Radio
Safe Space is a weekly podcast
and a radio program about “subjects that are hard to talk about” such as
domestic violence, mental illness, addiction, and sexuality. Each Monday
at 1:00 p.m. on WMPG (90.9) in Southern Maine, Anne Hallward, MD, offers
a public forum “for courageous conversations about difficult subjects in
order to reduce shame and stigma, increase awareness, and offer hope.”
An archive of all shows and more information can be found at: www.safespaceradio.com.
