Like all young people, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning (LGBTQ) youth need the support of friends, family, and community. Too often, however, LGBTQ youth face rejection, harassment, and isolation. With nowhere else to go and few resources, many end up homeless, in foster care, or trapped in the juvenile justice system.
NCLR’s Youth Project advances the rights of LGBTQ youth through education, public policy, and precedent-setting casework. By bringing the issues faced by LGBTQ youth front and center, we are changing the legal landscape for all youth, and ensuring health and safety for the next generation of all young people.
click here to download NCLR's Youth Project Flyer for your organization (pdf)
news & opinion
Press Release
Groundbreaking Report Examines LGBT Youth
in Juvenile Courts
Hidden Injustice recommends extensive policy changes
to protect youth
11.12.09—Today, the Equity Project, a collaboration of the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), Legal Services for Children (LSC), and the National Juvenile Defender Center (NJDC), announced the release of Hidden Injustice: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth in Juvenile Courts. This groundbreaking new report, based on extensive surveys and interviews of juvenile justice professionals and youth, provides the first comprehensive examination of the treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth in juvenile courts nationwide.
National Center for Lesbian Rights Youth Project Director Jody Marksamer Honored by Stonewall Young Democrats
09.09.09—The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) today announced that Stonewall Young Democrats honored NCLR Youth Project Director Jody Marksamer with their Youth Advocacy Award, which is presented to individuals who have championed the causes of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth and “who have made an extraordinary contribution to this all-too-often overlooked segment of our community.”
News Article
Permanency or Aging Out: Adolescents in the Child Welfare System
CW 360
June 2009—This article discusses challenges child welfare professionals encounter when trying to connect transgender foster youth with permanent families and lays out three recommendations to help these professionals ensure transgender foster youth have permanent adult connections before leaving care. “Permanency for Transgender Youth” was published in the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare’s 2009 publication, “Child Welfare 360 - Permanency or Aging Out: Adolescents in the Child Welfare System.”
from the docket
Victory! (California)
California Education Committee, LLC, et al. v. Jack O’Connell et al.
In November 2007, anti-LGBT organizations filed a lawsuit in federal court, challenging California’s safe schools laws that, among other things, protect students from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. NCLR clients Equality California and the Gay-Straight Alliance Network got involved in the case in order to defend and protect the anti-discrimination laws.
Victory! (Florida)
D.A. v. J.W.
Seventeen-year-old J.W. and 18-year-old D.A. had been dating for almost six months when J.W.’s mother, Ms. W., learned about their relationship. Because she disapproved of her daughter dating another woman, in December 2007, Ms. W. petitioned a Florida court to get a restraining order to prohibit any contact between the two. Ms. W. admitted in court that she was seeking a restraining order only because she did not want her daughter to have a relationship with another woman.
Victory! (Florida)
Davis v. Fleming High School
NCLR represented Kelli Davis, a senior at Fleming High School, who was denied the right to appear in her senior yearbook because she wore a tuxedo rather than stereotypically feminine clothing.
program highlights
NCLR’s Youth Project Director to Serve on California’s First State-Run LGBTQ Advisory Committee
The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has formed a groundbreaking 20 member advisory committee for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Questioning (LGBTQ) Children and Youth in Child Welfare. This initiative is the first of its kind in the state and is created in partnership with with the Annie E. Casey Foundation. NCLR Youth Project Director Jody Marksamer is serving on the advisory committee.
The LGBTQ Advisory Committee will assist CDSS with policy analysis in order to improve the experiences of LGBTQ children and youth in the child welfare system throughout California’s 58 counties. The Committee’s initial goals are to provide a forum to raise these important issues, develop a model that identifies best practices and tools, and educate various entities serving California’s LGBTQ youth and families in the child welfare system. Long term, the Committee will develop a more formalized plan to increase leadership throughout the state in order to integrate the needs of LGBTQ youth into current child welfare initiatives.
The Committee will meet quarterly over the next two years. John Wagner, Director of CDSS is the Committee Chairperson.
NCLR Plays Crucial Role in National Prison Rape Elimination Commission
NCLR submitted comments in August, 2008, on behalf of the Equity Project, on the draft “Standards for the Prevention, Detection, Response, and Monitoring of Sexual Abuse in Juvenile Facilities“ released for public comment by the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission (NPREC) on June 16, 2008. NCLR has submitted our recommendations to these standards in an effort to ensure that they fully account for the needs of LGBT youth.
The NPREC is a bipartisan commission created by the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) of 2003. Under the law, the NPREC is in charge of developing standards for juvenile and adult corrections systems to address sexual violence behind bars. To help develop the standards, the NPREC held public hearings throughout the country and convened several expert committees in Washington, DC. In August 2005, Marksamer testified at the NPREC hearing in San Francisco about the sexual abuse LGBT youth experience in juvenile and correctional facilities and offered his expertise and recommendations to end rape and sexual assault against these youth.
The NPREC will finalize the standards, considering input it received from the public, and submit them to the Attorney General, who will have one year to ratify them. Once ratified, the standards will be binding immediately on federal facilities. States will have one year after ratification to comply with the standards, or they will lose a portion of their federal funds. NCLR is proud to be a part of this groundbreaking and crucial project to protect LGBT youth who are incarcerated across the nation.
click here to read more about NCLR’s role in the NPREC hearings
click here to read NCLR's and Equity Project's comments to the commission(pdf)
publications & downloads
Hidden Injustice: LGBT Youth in Juvenile Courts
Hidden Injustice, published by the Equity Project, a collaboration of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Legal Services for Children, and the National Juvenile Defender Center, represents the first effort to examine the experiences of LGBT youth in juvenile courts across the country. Drawing from first-hand accounts of more than 50 LGBT youth and in-depth interviews of more than 60 juvenile justice professionals, this groundbreaking report sheds light on the numerous barriers to fair and effective treatment of court-involved LGBT youth. Hidden Injustice is an invaluable resource for anyone who is committed to pursuing a fair and just juvenile delinquency system where all youth are treated with dignity, fairness, and respect.
This easy-to-use resource contains the first-ever set of comprehensive professional guidelines for how child welfare and juvenile justice professionals can best serve LGBT youth in state care. The Best Practice Guidelines for Serving LGBT Youth in Out of Home Care developed out of recommendations from the Model Standards Project, a collaboration between Legal Services for Children and the National Center for Lesbian Rights. A hard copy can be ordered online
Breaking the Silence: LGBTQ Foster Youth Tell Their Stories
The ten youth-produced digital stories included on the Breaking the Silence DVD are powerful tales of both the successes and failures of the foster care system for these ten LGBTQ youth. Each DVD also comes with a CD containing more than 25 useful and informative training tools and resources. order the DVD and Resource CD (pdf)order online!
The Legal Rights of LGBT Youth in the Juvenile Justice System Fact Sheet (pdf)
LGBT young people in the juvenile justice system have clearly-established civil rights under the U.S. Constitution as well as state and federal statutes. This user-friendly fact sheet provides an overview of these rights.
National Center for Lesbian Rights Youth Project Flyer
NCLR has been committed to protecting the rights of LGBTQ youth in schools, at home, in foster care, and in the juvenile justice system since 1993. Use this informational flyer as a resource at your organization.