The Biden administration has reportedly allocated millions of dollars to a program that encourages students to become LGBTQ activists, a move that has sparked controversy among conservative circles.
The initiative, funded by the National Institute for Health (NIH) to the tune of $2.5 million, involves a dozen schools and aims to help LGBTQ-identifying youth manage the stress associated with being a minority group.
According to the Daily Caller, the program, known as Proud & Empowered (P&E), offers a 10-week long intervention that includes sessions on topics such as "Coming Out, Disclosure And Decision Making" and "Families Of Origin And The Families We Create."
The initiative also encourages students to engage with articles showcasing LGBTQ+ youth leadership in their local communities, including instances of high schoolers leading classroom walk-outs and marches.
The P&E program, which does not seem to require parental permission for student participation, has raised eyebrows. The researchers behind the initiative requested a waiver for the parental permission requirement, citing concerns that it could potentially expose some sexual minority youth to risks associated with revealing their sexual orientation to their parents.
The researchers argue that this could potentially lead to parental harassment, abuse, or even expulsion from the parental home.
The program also offers financial incentives to participants. Students can receive a $75 gift card, school staff can receive $1,000, and schools can receive a $4,000 honorarium, which P&E hopes will be used to enhance LGBTQ+ programming and support.
The initiative will involve 24 high schools in the Los Angeles area, with half of them receiving the intervention and the other half serving as a control group. The program is open to students as young as 12 and as old as 20, according to the eligibility criteria.
The P&E website explains that the primary role of the school involves recruiting 8-12 LGBTQ+ students to participate in the intervention once a week for 10 weeks. The intervention sessions may take place during periods throughout the day, in a homeroom period, or a lunch break.
The researchers had previously received a federal grant in 2019 for a smaller scale test of the intervention at four schools. The latest grant was awarded in 2022, with a project end date set for 2026.
The grant description explains that when schools lack sexual and gender minority (SGM) bullying policies, SGM students are more likely to report suicidality than peers in schools with protective policies.
The researchers expect the intervention to reduce minority stress, improve behavioral health and coping among SGM, and create sustainable change in school climate to improve the health of this high need population of youth.
Jeremy Goldbach, a Washington University professor who is leading the study and launched P&E in 2010, said that the intervention "is quite literally the culmination of thousands of kids input."
He expressed gratitude to all the youth who participated in the program's development, saying, "Looking back at all the youth who gave us their time, let us interview them, took our surveys and helped us learn, it is humbling."
Goldbach's work, which focuses on "minority stress and discrimination among LGBTQ+ children and adolescents," has been "continuously funded" by several federal agencies since 2012, according to his profile.
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