Positive Youth Development as a Site of Queer Survival and Thrival

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Sunday 1:30 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Cultivating Community and Empowerment: Supporting Rural Youth and Diverse Identities (Table 4)

Abstract

Rural LGBTQ youth encounter unique challenges, and positive youth development programs have been looked to as one potential support. Yet little extant research explores their experiences in generalized youth development programs. Retrospective interviews were conducted with LGBTQ members of 4-H. Findings suggest that LGBTQ youth navigated these environments by engaging in strategies that allowed them to survive and put them on pathways towards thriving. Youth sublimated their sexuality in 4-H through busyness, not talking about it, and seeking out desexualized environments. They accepted tolerance in 4-H, received subtle messages of non-support, and lacked the expectation that they would be acknowledged as LGBTQ people. These context-adaptive strategies are supported by the culture, policies, and structure of 4-H.

Author

• Kaitlyn Murray, University of California 4-H Youth Development Program