HATCH

Dear Followers,

This week I volunteered at HATCH. HATCH is a weekly meeting for adolescents to come together an talk about their problems. Specifically, HATCH stands for HATCH is dedicated to empowering Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning (GLBTQ) adolescents, ages 13-20, to become responsible citizens and positive contributors to society by providing a safe, affirming social environment for GLBTQ youth, offering role models and peer support, providing education on health issues such as HIV, Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI's) drug and alcohol abuse and suicide prevention, and hosting a variety of helpful and affirming programs for GLBTQ youth. I thought it was really interesting to see the types of things people my age and younger deal with on a daily basis. This provided a lot of insight to what we need to improve on within our society. It is really crazy how wrapped up you can be with all you are doing in your life for a moment in time, but when you see people dealing with harder issues, especially younger than you, it really puts your life into perspective. I may be dealing with my own daily life stresses such as classes, work, and graduate school applications, but all these seem minuscule when compared to bullying, HIV, and their own self esteem. It breaks my heart that people with another sexual orientation have to put up with so much. Like seriously, are we stuck in the middle ages? And, what country do we live in? It really bothers me that these issues are not in the forefront of political issues. And even if they are, people are so worried about how it affects them, rather than how it affects the people of different sexual orientation. We are in the midst of a very important election and I believe that people should be as informed as they can in order to choose a political candidate. Honestly, at first, before I came to volunteer at this clinic, I had no idea of how pervasive these issues were throughout society. But just volunteering here for barely a month has put a lot in perspective. That's why I strongly urge that people get involved with their community before they engage in politics, you must truly know all sides to the issue.

Thanks for reading!
Nadine Obeid

Gay and Lesbian Switchboard

This week I got an opportunity to work on the Gay and Lesbian switchboard. This switchboard is a hotline for gay and lesbians with many different services such as depression and suicide prevention, HIV/STD information, and community events and support information. It was my first time actually encountering these issues. I would like to point out that you don't have to be of a different sexual orientation to feel depressed or the urge to commit suicide. Not many of my calls had to do with depression and suicide, as much were more for information requests. I thought this topic was very relevant because last week was suicide prevention week. Personally, it made me feel bad because, no matter what your sexual orientation, you should never feel bad for being alive. Also, another pervasive topic in the LGBT community is consequently HIV or any STDs in general. In the 1980s, HIV was regarded particularly with the LGBT community, but later they found that anybody can get HIV. Working the hotline, actually informed me more probably than the people I was speaking to on the other end. It gave me insight on what other people are thinking around me and what is going on in their lives. Many times during their calls, I had to take a step back and hold my breath because what they were going through is way bigger than anything I have had to go through in my life. Sadly, their decisions involved "Should I carry on with my life?," while mine are more "What should I do with my life?" This got me thinking into the big picture of life and I felt grateful for not having to deal with asking those particular questions. That, I was that well-off, thanks to my parents for their hard work and acceptance, that I was secure with myself in my personal life. The people in the LGBT community, thanks to the non acceptance of the people around them, feel so isolated that they do not wish to carry on with their own lives. It is such a shame that the community around us has returned to it's primitive state. Just like we once discriminated on color, religion, political affiliation, and gender, we are now discriminating against people for their sexual affiliation.

Alright, that's enough on my ranting. Thanks for reading!
Nadine Obeid

LGBT Montrose Orientation

Dear peopleoftheweb,

Last Wednesday (September 12th, 2012), I went to orientation at Montrose Counseling Center. Montrose Counseling Center is a center  that helps the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community in Houston, TX. I was excited because, even though I am heterosexual, everyone deserves the right to express themselves in their own sexual preference. At the orientation I learned many valuable things about the community as well as some upcoming events that I am going to help work on. The first event is on October 6th entitled "Love Your Block" in which the Montrose counseling center will improve the landscaping around their block. I hope to be helping weekly with the outreach program in which people help send information about the LGBT community and also help make condom packs for a safer and STD free LGBT community. Personally, I think people need to be more aware of their community. Being a student at the University of St. Thomas, we are in the middle of Montrose and thus in the middle of the LGBT community in Houston. We owe is to ourself to be informed about the community we are around most of the day. I am excited about getting to know more and getting other people informed about this community. At the end of this experience, I hope to help make a difference in LGBT youth, be more informed, and get other people informed about what is going on around them in the Montrose area.

Thanks for Reading!
Nadine Obeid :)