Increasing Participation from Our GLBT Young Adults
As the eighth largest city in the country, it’s obvious that San Antonio is continuing to grow rapidly. Its GLBT community continues to grow as well with a 63% increase of same sex couples between 2000 and 2006 along with the highest percentage of gay and lesbian parents in the United States. Thus, San Antonio’s GLBT community has the potential to become highly visible like those in many other parts of the country! Given the community’s size, I would argue that San Antonio could also hold a bigger Gay Pride Parade than those held in other cities such as Austin and Dallas. Progress has undoubtedly been made in promoting San Antonio’s GLBT community by existing entities along with the creation of ignite Magazine, the San Antonio Pride Center coming to fruition, and so forth. I just have one question, “Where are the GLBT young adults in all the progress that is occurring?”
Sadly, the GLBT community’s progress has often lacked participation and leadership from its young adults. There are notable exceptions, of course. Many of the area colleges, universities, and even some high schools have thriving student groups that are very active in community events. For their participation in the community, they should be commended! But when you sit and think about it, the number of students active in school GSA’s only represents a tiny percentage of actual GLBT youth.
Although I am excited about our future and I am forever grateful for the contributions made by members of the community, I am left with a feeling of wanting more from my fellow peers and myself. Along with my peers, I am guilty of not being proactive in supporting events and organizations that advocate on my behalf. Such expectation of higher standards for San Antonio’s GLBT young adults is a result of the many GLBT leaders who have emerged from our city and who continue to lead by example. San Antonio is blessed to have a GLBT community filled with many talented and diverse groups of people. However, Andrew Carnegie once said, “People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents.”
My comments are not meant to put forth a pessimistic and cynical atmosphere in the community. On the contrary, I believe that GLBT young adults can be organized and serve as an integral part of the vision for the GLBT community that many are diligently working towards. My hope is that GLBT young adults and other members of the community will ultimately come together and conversations can begin on how to be more inclusive, include social media, increase outreach efforts, and access GLBT resources/support. Such a task is difficult and resistance is expected. More importantly, this is not an impossible task and our GLBT community has already demonstrated that anything is possible with perseverance. Orison Swett Marden states it best, “Success is not measured by what you accomplish, but by the opposition you have encountered, and the courage with which you have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds.” To all GLBT young adults, may this serve as a welcoming invitation for you to get involved and be engaged in the vision!
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