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To Be Young and Queer in a Time of Pandemic

Apr 7, 2021

What does it mean to be young and queer in the time of COVID-19? What challenges are young queer folks facing? What experiences are they having? And what resources are available to them? These are the questions that guide this episode of Queering Community Health.

This episode is hosted by Siena Iwasaki Milbauer (she/her) and features the voices and stories of seven guests: 

  • Maggie Druschel (they/them) is a therapist with Reclaim! who speaks to the mental health struggles queer youth are dealing with during the pandemic.
  • Kathleen (she/her) shares a personal perspective on that same topic, and speaks to the difficulties of being a young college grad and artist during COVID-19. 
  • Rosie Benser (she/her) is with the homeless advocacy organization Avenues for Youth. She gives her insights into the effects the pandemic is having on unsheltered queer youth.
  • Santo Jacobsson (he/him) tells his story of returning to a home that doesn’t always respect his trans identity, and how he has found ways to assert that identity and deepen his self-understanding and self-love.
  • Jason Bucklin (he/him) and Ian McGriff (he/him) are part of Minneapolis Public Schools’ queer advocacy program Out4Good. They talk about the difficulties of serving queer students during a pandemic.
  • Haruka Yukioka (they/them) shares their experiences with pandemic-connected financial stress, the surprising opportunities remote learning has created for them, and their pride in the resilience and generosity demonstrated by the queer community during this time of crisis.

You can find a transcript of this episode on our website: www.shiftmn.org/podcast

RESOURCES

 Reclaim! (mental health support) and specifically the Project Clear program (relationship health support, projectclear@reclaim.care)
 Avenues for Youth’s ConneQt program (unsheltered support)
Out4Good (student support in Minneapolis). 

Annex Teen Clinic
 Bisexual Organizing Project
Bridge for Youth
Face to Face
Family Tree Clinic
 Minnesota School Outreach Coalition
 Minnesota Transgender Alliance
Trans Lifeline (hotline, 877-565-8860)
 Youthlink
Youth Services Network

EPISODE CREDITS:

Music Credits: Queering Community Health Theme (Becs, on Instagram @beckyfuckingarts, The Shining (Mezhdunami from Pixabay)
Art Credits: Santo Jacobsson, on Instagram @santojacobsson and at https://santojacobsson.myportfolio.com/