A place for rainbow youth
"It’s not just about the rainbow young people; it’s about their families and their friends and their schools and the communities"
Frances Arns
Taranaki’s young gay and gender diverse community will soon have a safe place to connect and hang out.
Rainbow Youth provides support services for queer and gender diverse communities, and will be launching a Taranaki branch, including a meeting centre and peer support group.
Executive director Frances Arns said they had received funding from the Ministry of Youth Development for a 12-month placement of a Rainbow Youth facilitator, but they are wanting to make it permanent.
‘‘The biggest thing is it needs to be region wide,’’ she said.
‘‘If we keep it New Plymouth centric it’s not going to work. There’s a lot of need in South Taranaki.’’
Arns said there were already some support groups but they were often school-based, and attending the group was ‘‘essentially outing you’’.
‘‘It’s not just about the rainbow young people; it’s about their families and their friends and their schools and the communities that they’re a part of, that are going to benefit from what we’re doing here.’’
They would be looking for local funding after the 12-month fixed term. There was still work to be done around awareness and acceptance, she said.
‘‘I think what we’ve heard while we’ve been down here is very similar to other regional communities.
‘‘Attitudes aren’t quite as liberal as you’d get in places like Auckland, especially with no specific Rainbow Youth service there isn’t a lot of visible support for the community.’’
But even in big cities not everyone was accepting, she added.
Support worker Morgan Butler said the responses by other community organisations had been ‘‘very encouraging’’.
‘‘We’ve found the need is still here; the passion and the excitement is still relevant.
‘‘What we’re hearing from our young people is they really want a space - they feel like it’s a gap in their lives.’’
Butler said nothing would change overnight but they would take ‘‘little steps’’.
‘‘Having a visible space and having a visible person is going to do so much.’’
Anyone interested in volunteering for Rainbow Youth should keep an eye on their Facebook page.