What we are on about
The RJM Trust is committed to creating a world in which everyone is equal,
where their differences are celebrated. It is a big statement;
we know that. However, our bottom line is that we are no longer prepared
to step over the discrimination issue.
Why we are on about it
It might be very difficult to quantify the cost of discrimination, but it is
darned near impossible to overestimate it. We certainly know that it is
linked directly to depression, anxiety, suicide and a myriad of other such
ailments. It has a huge effect on the health of people, both physical and mental.
As far as who you are is concerned, the issue of sexuality is a melting pot
in anyones terms. Kids who grow up gay do it tough; we know that for sure.
And, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, they blame themselves for
the abuse they cop. They begin to know themselves as somehow less than other
kids. The more they are abused, the truer they know their assessment to be.
Our commitment is that these people no longer suffer in silence.
What we want to achieve
We want people to feel safe, safe to discuss how they are feeling and what they
are experiencing as they grow up and beyond. At present, we are focusing on health
- mental and physical - in Victoria. But, make no mistake, we have our
sights set much higher than that.
It is no secret that gay, high profile sportspeople are extremely thin on the
ground. We are sure that they are there, they just do not feel safe enough to be
able to put up their hand and be counted. We want them to feel safe enough to be
visible in the community.
We want a world where you feel valued, regardless of your race, religion or sexual
orientation.
How we are going to do it
In a nutshell, it is all about education. We want people to start talking about discrimination.
It is only in the talking that issues can be aired, addressed and put to bed. We are targeting
all sportspeople, league board members, peak sporting bodies such as the Australian Sports
Commission, ministerial offices, politicians at all levels, to name but a few.
There is no doubt having conversations around suicide is difficult and often confronting, particularly when the topic is youth suicide. As parents, one of the last things we want to contemplate is outliving our kids, regardless of how it happens. But unless we, as a community, are willing to have these conversations and look at not only the ''why'' in suicide, but also the ''how'' - as in ''how can we prevent suicide happening'' - it is difficult to see us achieving a reversal in the current trend.
We need to join the dots - not only between physical and mental health - but between the vilification and abuse that occurs to our young people and their consequent increased rates of depression and suicidal thoughts.
The data tells us that systemic degradation of our young people, whether it be on the basis of characteristics such as gender identity, race or sexual orientation, profoundly alters a person's mental health for the worse. So much so that Suicide Prevention Australia recently released research showing our young people who are not straight can be some 14 times more at risk of attempting suicide. There is nothing new here, a veritable library of research over more than a decade says the same thing.
So much for highlighting the problem, systemic abuse of young people equals an increase in suicidal thought, what about a possible solution?
It turns out that trying to reach each individual young person at high risk of suicide on its own is not enough. Even if we could accurately identify all the young people with the high risk factors, an impossible task given that the people with the risk factors are changing all the time, the more tightly we define the risk factors, the less we are addressing the overall youth suicide rate.
An alternative approach is to not just target individuals, but to target our young people as a whole so that at any time fewer people are over the threshold that leads to completed suicide. If we can ensure as much as possible our young people in the broader population are not subjected to abuse, homophobic or otherwise, this will reduce the rate of depression and suicidal thought.
It is like a vaccination program. By minimising, or better still, eliminating exposure to systemic abuse we generate a kind of herd immunity that decreases the overall suicide rate.
Which of course leads us to Beyondblue, the national depression embarrassment. How is it that an organisation that is 10 years old and churned through more than $100,000,000 been able to avoid dealing with GLBTI mental health?
Well, during mental health week in 2009, we are going to be highlighting the fact they have done SWEET F.A. and how we should not be funding them.
Recent Activity:
BeyondBlue finally pays attention to long-neglected group
Sporting administrators must look beyond male, white and straight
Random Stuff We Love:
Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria
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