"Youth '07 launched tomorrow, it's not all gloom and doom ya know. Queer young peeps rock," Rainbow Youth chairperson Toni Reid 'Twittered' the night before New Zealand's biggest-ever insight into the lives of gay/bi young people was presented to the public. She's right of course. The Rainbow Youth crew see hundreds of healthy and happy LGBT young people visit their centre, join their groups, and even tell their 'coming out' stories to other students in the classrooms they're invited to. But this week's headlines tell a different story: Half of gay/bi students have self-harmed. Gay students are three times more likely to be bullied at school. And, heartbreakingly, gay teens are five times more likely to attempt suicide than their straight peers. "There were some challenging findings," agrees researcher Mathijs Lucassen. "But they can inspire us to make changes in our schools and communities." TELL ME ABOUT IT Using fun handheld Nokia internet tablets, 8,002 students from a random selection of 96 secondary schools answered a wide variety of questions about their health and wellbeing in 2007. A number-crunching research group from Auckland University, with the help of the NZ AIDS Foundation, Rainbow Youth and their co-project Out There! released the results for same-sex- or both-sex-attracted youth people this week - but there will be other in-depth looks into cultural groups and specific issues (for example smoking, drug use and bullying) published soon. The 2007 study builds on a similar survey in 2001, so for the first time, we can compare results and see how things have progressed in six recent years. Here's some interesting findings: * Only 1% of all the students surveyed said they were attracted to their same gender. Just over 3% reported they were attracted to both genders, around 2% were "not sure" and another 2% replied they were into "neither" gender. The older students (16-17-year-olds) showed fewer "not sures" and more "same-sex" orientation. * The majority of gay/bi teens at school aren't 'out'. Only 40% had "told people close to you openly of your sexuality", but this is up from just 31% in 2001. 71% said they could not talk to their family about their sexuality. * Opposite-sex-attracted students were much more positive about family and school, and same-sex young people were almost 20% more likely to run away from home. * Same-sex-attracted students are more likely to be bullied at school. More than half said they had been hit or physically harmed in the last year. * Gay/bi students were more likely to say they volunteered in a community organisation, but less likely to report attendance in church or sports groups. * Same/both-sex-attracted students were much more likely to say they had drunk alcohol, taken drugs and smoked, but their reports of smoking and marijuana use was down on 2001 levels. Only their alcohol use had increased slightly. * Our gay young people are much more sexually active then their straight peers. The males were twice as likely to report inconsistent condom use and less than half said they'd used a condom the last time they'd "gone all the way". * More of 2007's gay/bi students said they have "friends that support them" than those surveyed in 2001. "I can tell my friends anything", said around 85%. * Most same-sex-attracted young people are happy, but they are still more likely to be in crisis. * The high rates of suicide attempts among gay/bi teens did not change between 2001 and 2007, though rates among opposite-sex-attracted students fell slightly over this time. THE DOOR IS OPEN AT RAINBOW YOUTH "These statistics do walk through our door every week," says Rainbow Youth's Executive Director Tom Hamilton. The youth-led organisation with its drop-in centre on K' Road deals with, on average, one young person "in crisis" each week. "In the school holidays the centre can get up to thirty people visiting a day," he explains. "They just come in to chat and hang out, check their Bebo page, look at our library, and just use us as a safe space to relax. "They talk about sexuality, discuss ideas, and just chat about things in their peer group that they may not feel safe addressing at home and school. We know that some won't come out until they're 21 or 26, but are taking their first steps with us in a safe space." Priscilla, Rainbow Youth's Education Officer, gets into only a handful of the 90 schools in Auckland, and especially since the Youth '07 study has proven the need, the organisation wants to expand its services to schools in the hopes that more gay-friendly safe spaces and support networks can be set up. "I've heard the lot," says Tom. "Teachers who tell us 'We don't have those at our school'. Parents who say 'I know my kid's gay, but I don't know how to tell him!' Students thrown out of school for talking about their same-sex partner. They 'come out' when they wish, but we know there are queer youth at every school. So we want to go out to every school, making sure a youth coordinator can work well with nurses and guidance councillors." Even though she's a part-timer, Priscilla spoke to 180 school students just last week, says chairperson Toni Reid. Funding had been in short supply until Tamati Coffey chose them as his charity for Dancing with the Stars, so now a busy future is planned. "We will make our Education Officer full-time, and add another staff member to assist her and Tom," she reveals. "We also need a greater presence in West, South, and East Auckland, and with Takataapui youth people. With the nationwide attention we've had from Dancing with the Stars, we have had inquiries about becoming a nationwide service, but that's still being discussed as it would be a massive step." "OUR YOUNG PEOPLE KNOW WHAT TO DO" Dr. Kathleen Quinlivan, a Senior Lecturer in the College of Education at the University of Canterbury, says she's sad to say that Youth '07's statistics about gay/bi young people don't surprise her, but is pleased there has been some progress in the last six years. "It's important not to pathologise queer kids," she says. "Queer youth organisations are doing amazing work to promote diversity and difference. These young people are leading the way for what adults need to do - and schools need to learn from what they're doing and take their ideas on board. "We're bad at listening to our young people," she adds. "We have to learn from them, support them, but step back. They know what they need to do. "This report sends a clear message to schools and communities that they need to start involving queer youth to learn from them about addressing prejudice and discrimination." The full Youth '07 study was generously supported by the Vodafone Foundation, and the report into same-sex-attracted young people was funded by Out There!, a joint Rainbow Youth and NZ AIDS Foundation project. The full report can be downloaded from the Youth 2000 website here. Matt Akersten - 22nd October 2009