SURVEYS OF QUEER YOUTH

• The OutProud/Oasis Internet Survey of Queer and Questioning Youth provides an in-depth look at the lives and issues of growing up queer in 1997.
• The Massachusetts Youth Risk Behavior Survey provides information on the prevalence of risk behavior among GLBT youth in Massachusetts high schools.
• This Vermont Youth Risk Behavior Survey provides information on the prevalence of risk behavior among GLBT youth in Massachusetts high schools.

HIV/AIDS

HIV Infection Rates

• Likelihood of a gay man acquiring HIV infection (seroconversion) by the age of 20 years old: 20%. Likelihood by the age of 50: 50%.
• According to the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study, a large epidemiological study conducted in Baltimore, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Los Angeles: "A seronegative 20-year old (gay) man has a 20.2% chance of seroconversion before reaching the age of 25 (a 4.4% yearly hazard). The annual hazard drops to 2.5% between 25 and 30 years, to about 1.5% between 30 and 45 years, and to 1.0% between 45 and 55 years. The overall probability of seroconversion prior to age 55 is about 50%, with seroconversion still continuing at and after age 55. Given that this cohort consists of volunteers receiving extensive HIV-1 transmission education, the future seroconversion rates of the general homosexual population may be even higher than those observed here." (Source: Estimating the 1978-1990 and Future Spread of HIV-1 in Subgroups of Homosexual Men. Hoover DR, et al. American Journal of Epidemiology Vol 134 No 10, Pages 1190-1205.)

PUBLIC ASSEMBLIES

March on Washington, 1993

• March organizers: 1,000,000
• U.S. Park Service: 400,000
  

1995 Pride Festivals

• San Francisco, California: 400,000 attended the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Celebration on June 18, 1995. (Source: San Francisco Police Department)

VIOLENCE

• In a 1988 survey of 500 adolescents who applied for services at The Hetrick-Martin Institute (A Lesbian & Gay Youth Social Service Agency in New York City), 46% had suffered violence from family, friends and/or strangers. Of those who experienced violence, 44% reported suicidal ideation (seriously contemplating suicide) and 41% of the females and 34% of the males had actually made suicide attempts. (Source: Joyce Hunter, 1989)