Give OUT

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New Mexico GLBTQ Centers' Las Cruces GLBTQ Center had 2,687 client visit in 2012, an 85% increase over 2011.

Let me tell you about one of those visitors.

This visitor is a youth, a 15 years old high school student and has Middle Eastern parents who are very traditional in values and ideas. He recently came out to his parents as a homosexual and they both told him that he is not a homosexual and what he is going through is a phase, a phase that his father himself went through.

He found out about Rainbow Youth after attending a Gay Straight Alliance meeting at his high school. The Youth Program Assistant from the New Mexico GLBTQ Centers went to visit the GSA meeting to do an activity and explain the resources available at the center.

The youth is very uncomfortable in new situations and is very quiet naturally. He has admitted to the group that he has no “real” friends and has no one to confide in. He also disclosed he had seriously thought of suicide before finding the group. He as been consistent in his attending the weekly meetings and each time has opened up more and more.

The youth feels comfortable enough to discuss any issues that may arise in his life and is also comfortable taking advice. He trusts that the youth in the group will listen and not judge him the way that many people do outside of the center. He revealed to the group that he does not think about suicide as much and would never attempt to harm himself.

He has become involved in the group activities.

We need your support to continue saving lives and creating a better future.

“In 2010, New Mexico-based foundations granted 41 times less support to organizations serving LGBTQ individuals than to those serving the heterosexual population. And yet we know that social needs — higher levels of bullying and suicide, unequal access to marriage benefits, etc.— are tremendous in the LGBTQ community.“- Santa Fe Community Foundation

“Less than 5% of the LGBTQ community gives to an LGBTQ cause, according to research from the Horizons Foundation and Movement Advancement Project,” says Bolder Giving’s Executive Director Jason Franklin. “Give OUT Day aims to raise awareness of the need to support LGBTQ nonprofits and elevate the level of LGBTQ philanthropy.”

This Thursday, May 9^th is the first annual National Give OUT Day. 24 hours beginning at midnight eastern time (10:00 PM May 8^th mountain time) LGBTQ organizations in all 50 states will be raising money and awareness for LGBTQ charity. New Mexico GLBTQ Centers is one of those organizations and our official Give OUT Day page is at http://giveout.razoo.com/story/New-Mexico-Glbtq-Centers?referral_code=share. Please support us and change the face of LGBTQ philanthropy and the face of LGBTQ New Mexico.