| By John M. De Marco
MIAMI —“If God doesn’t love you, who can?”
a teenage boy pondered, while explaining to Martha Fugate why he had
tried to commit suicide. “Life’s not worth living if nobody will
love you.”
“That was so internalized for him—that God
couldn’t love him because he was gay,” said Fugate, cofounder and
director of Project YES, a Miami-based organization that has embraced
the mission of reducing the suicide rate among teenage gays, lesbians,
bisexuals and transsexuals. Adds the Rev. Dr. Marta Burke, senior
pastor at Fulford United Methodist Church here and a key resource for
YES, “We’re projecting, ‘God loves you, period.’ ”
YES strives to achieve that goal by initiating
dialogue, providing information and creating support systems within
traditional support networks, such as families, schools, communities
of faith and service agencies. Since its inception more than five
years ago, YES has trained more than 350 ministers and rabbis in its
communications course, and approximately 140 clergy and 17
congregations have signed commitments to spiritually support and
nurture all children, regardless of sexual preference.
Orlando’s St. Luke’s United Methodist Church
recently sent two of its youth program interns to Project YES’s
communications course.
“Because I’m a social work major, it gave me
kind of a viewpoint on how to counsel someone,” said Christa
Polczynski, one of the interns and a senior at the University of
Central Florida. “They really tried to focus not necessarily on the
gay and lesbian issue, but understanding where kids are and letting
them know that God loves them, no matter what. It was very helpful to
just be reminded that you have to meet the youth where they are and
not judge them one way or the other about anything.”
Miami Urban Ministries, an arm of the Miami
District that partners with churches to develop outreach ministries
and assists small business entrepreneurs, has also sent members of its
staff to a YES workshop.
“It’s got some very practical tools we can
use to engage people on any issue,” Miami Urban Ministries Executive
Director Brent Hursey-McLaughlin said. “In the sense of just
communicating, I felt the course would enhance the ways we interact
with local congregations throughout the district.”
YES began primarily due to a sense no one was
addressing the suicide rate among gay teens. Burke, who formerly
worked full time for YES as a liaison to build contacts within the
religious community, said she asked community groups what could be
done to make a difference. “We found out that nobody was doing
anything about gay kids. They were uncomfortable with this topic and
didn’t know how to talk about it,” she said.
After receiving donated office space, YES
launched monthly community meetings for people working with youth to
brainstorm ideas on how to increase awareness of the suicide problem.
Within a year, the Dade County public school system—taking note that
gay teens were often harassed at school—offered $35,000 of in-kind
support if YES would hire a liaison to work with schools. Later, YES
received a $50,000 seed grant from the Health Foundation of South
Florida
Project YES also leads training for hospitals,
police departments and the Department of Juvenile Justice. Its suicide
prevention efforts have been applauded by the Florida Youth Suicide
Prevention Study as a promising model for the nation.
Fugate and Burke emphasize that YES seeks to
avoid politics and theological debates on homosexuality and strives to
serve all youth who may be contemplating suicide. Fugate said the
current teenage suicide rate is hovering at around 33 percent and many
gay teens feel condemned and ignored by the spiritual community. The
clergy communications course gives pastors and rabbis resources for
discussing the issue of teenage homosexuality and emphasizing that
every child is valued by God.
“You’re not just talking about a young
person’s life, but their spiritual development,” Burke said. “The
immediate thing that pastors or lay pastors can do is look at the Web
site, which gives you a network of resources. This includes other
professionals in the mental health area, medical doctors, educators,
etc. It’s kind of a multi-disciplined approach for the church that
we can take advantage of.”
Clarke Campbell-Evans, superintendent of the
Miami District, said the denomination’s Book of Discipline
emphasizes the church is to care for all persons.
“What they [YES] do is very consistent with
who we are, on a topic that is very hard for us to talk about,”
Campbell-Evans said. “How we minister compassion and love in places
of hurt and pain is incredibly important. I’m delighted to see the
organization really attempting to lead in that. In Miami, they’ve
done a phenomenal job working in so many areas.”
“Always, the mission of Project YES has been
about education,” Burke said. “It’s not about advocacy. It’s
not about whether people think things are right or wrong. It’s about
what we as a community do, working together, to protect young people.” |
