Organization announcements follow developments of interest in the LGBT world from established organizations. If you know of something we’ve missed, please contact the editor so we can add it in!Â
Oak Park Public Library (IL) has a recommendation for the core collection of a “$200 Transgender Bookshelf. Other sources are the annual GLBTRT Over the Rainbow and Rainbow bibliographies.
Library Anchor Models for Bridging Diversity Achievements (LAMBDA) brings together the University of Tennessee’s School of Information Sciences and the Center for Literacy, Education & Employment to provide education training, workshops, and materials to support public library staff members who serve LGBTQ homeless youth. LGBTQ youth occupy an overwhelming percentage of homeless youth on the streets today, often due to family conflict related to their sexual orientation and/or bullying and discrimination at school. A grant project funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, LAMBDA is announcing its new website
 The University of Arizona is adding to its Institute for LGBT Studies with two tenured professor positions in transgender studies in 2014 and another two in 2015. Provost Andrew Comrie said that the issues that transgender people face in politics, medicine and other areas are topics that warrant university-level expertise. Institute director Susan Stryker, transgender historian and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker in the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Arizona, co-founded and co-edits TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly with Paisley Currah. With colleagues at the UA, Stryker is building the world’s first transgender studies program.
Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine has initiated the first student training program to educate clinical psychology interns about the significant and particular mental health issues faced by America’s LGBT population. The program addresses mental health challenges in working with gay and bisexual men who have HIV/AIDS and low-income LGBT people as well as LGBT public health research and services.
- Depression, anxiety and suicide inclination are about 2-3 times higher among LGB people than in the general population, significantly higher than even that among trans people.
- General levels of substance abuse as a result of depression and other factors are significantly higher than that of the general population, and often without appropriate treatment models.
- Bisexual youth are among the most likely to develop body dysmorphia and eating disorders.
- Bisexual women are far more likely to engage in heavy substance abuse and are at a significantly higher risk of experiencing rape than lesbians or heterosexual women.
- Trans women are also much more likely to suffer depression and other mental health issues such as certain personality disorders and other behavioral disorders.
