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In the faith community where I serve as a Youth Minister, Community of Christ, which affirms and lives out LGBTQ inclusion in the USA and some other countries where we are established, we have a sacred text which says, “Do not neglect the smallest among you, for even the least of these are treasures in God’s sight. Receive the giftedness and energy of children and youth, listening to understand their questions and their wisdom. Respond to their need to be loved and nurtured as they grow.”

Today is #SpiritDay. A day in which we rise up against the acts of bullying towards LGBTQ youth and commit to helping transform a society with structures and cultural differences in place that allow this to happen. GLAAD, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, reports that “85.2% of LGBTQ students report being verbally harassed” and “63.5% of LGBTQ students report hearing homophobic remarks from teachers and/or school staff because of their gender expression”. The Trevor Project reports that “LGB youth seriously contemplate suicide at almost three times the rate of heterosexual youth and that they are almost five times as likely to have attempted suicide compared to heterosexual youth.” And science daily has shared that “30 percent of transgender youth report a history of at least one suicide attempt.”

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