BAKERSFIELD, CA- The Youth Empowerment Pride Project is hosting a free forum Wednesday for residents to hear the stories of teens who identify as LGBT and to help stop bullying. YEPP understands that not everyone agrees with homosexuality but what the group doesn't understand is why that disagreement can often lead to discrimination.
Phillip Castro, 20, is a YEPP co-chair. He wants more safe spaces for fellow young gay youth in Kern County who often feel isolated.
"You feel alone. There are no resources for you," said Castro.
Castro went to what he calls a very conservative high school his freshman year and was afraid of identifying himself as gay.
"There is like the whole locker room thing where that gets weird because everyone is messing with each other and they're bullying other kids and no one wants to be in the locker room," remembers Castro. "And everyone brings up derogatory words in the locker room and stuff like that so it was pretty scary before i came out because I was like I don't want to be like that or that's not going to happen to me."
Thirty-four percent of ninth graders in Kern County reported being bullied last year, according to the Kern County Network for Children.
For LGBT teens who are bullied, they are more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety than heterosexual teens says the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
The mother of Tehachapi teen Seth Walsh said intense bullying led to his suicide back in 2010. But his death inspired an anti-bullying curriculum for sixth through 12th graders that includes mistreatment based on gender and sexual-orientation.
YEPP would like to see more programs and conversations on acceptance in schools and even churches.
"I don't have to be jewish to accept jewish individuals. I don't have to be baptist to accept baptist individuals. I don't have to be gay to be accepting of our gay community. I have to be a human being," said Audrey Chavez the co-chair of YEPP.
Castro knows acceptance from everyone may never happen, but he does hope more people choose cooperation over discrimination.
"Anywhere you walk into should be a safe space because you're uplifting the person's spirit, you're contributing to their well-being."
YEPP's forum begins at 6:30pm Wednesday at the Nile Theater in downtown Bakersfield.
Phillip Castro, 20, is a YEPP co-chair. He wants more safe spaces for fellow young gay youth in Kern County who often feel isolated.
"You feel alone. There are no resources for you," said Castro.
Castro went to what he calls a very conservative high school his freshman year and was afraid of identifying himself as gay.
"There is like the whole locker room thing where that gets weird because everyone is messing with each other and they're bullying other kids and no one wants to be in the locker room," remembers Castro. "And everyone brings up derogatory words in the locker room and stuff like that so it was pretty scary before i came out because I was like I don't want to be like that or that's not going to happen to me."
Thirty-four percent of ninth graders in Kern County reported being bullied last year, according to the Kern County Network for Children.
For LGBT teens who are bullied, they are more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety than heterosexual teens says the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
The mother of Tehachapi teen Seth Walsh said intense bullying led to his suicide back in 2010. But his death inspired an anti-bullying curriculum for sixth through 12th graders that includes mistreatment based on gender and sexual-orientation.
YEPP would like to see more programs and conversations on acceptance in schools and even churches.
"I don't have to be jewish to accept jewish individuals. I don't have to be baptist to accept baptist individuals. I don't have to be gay to be accepting of our gay community. I have to be a human being," said Audrey Chavez the co-chair of YEPP.
Castro knows acceptance from everyone may never happen, but he does hope more people choose cooperation over discrimination.
"Anywhere you walk into should be a safe space because you're uplifting the person's spirit, you're contributing to their well-being."
YEPP's forum begins at 6:30pm Wednesday at the Nile Theater in downtown Bakersfield.