Boston City Council hearing spotlights need for more LGBTQ youth safe spaces

BOSTON -- December 2, 2024, Boston City Council committee hears urgent call to expand LGBTQ plus youth community spaces and funding. Councillor John FitzGerald chaired the December 2 hearing on docket 0998, sponsored by Councillors Henry Santana and Benjamin J. Weber, drawing three panels of student advocates, nonprofit leaders, and city officials. Dinesh Yancy, deputy director of the Mayor's Office of LGBTQIA2S Plus Advancement, disclosed the office received more than $750,000 in Beyond Pride mini-grant requests last fiscal year but could fund only $250,000, and will have $100,000 less available this year. Student panelist Elan Oliver cited Massachusetts data showing 71 percent of LGBTQ plus youth report anxiety symptoms and a more than 72 percent increase in suicide attempts among transgender youth. Julianne Nilsen of Boston Glass testified via Zoom that the organization's outpatient therapy waitlist "continues to grow every week" and is entirely grant-funded. The Trevor Project's crisis line saw a 700 percent increase in emergency calls in early November alone.