It’s rough enough growing up, exploring who you are and what you’re becoming, often under conflicting influences of parents, friends and hormones. Throw in gender or sexual identity issues, and you have mental chaos. The Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League (SMYAL) seeks to assuage the turmoil by offering support services to area lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) youth.

SMYAL’s Role
Plain and simple, SMYAL – pronounced smile – seeks to better the lives of local LGBTQ youth. In 1984, two boys were sent to St. Elizabeths Psychiatric Hospital for cross-dressing. SMYAL was born from this, at first only offering referral assistance to families in need of support. Today, they offer support for mental and physical health through counseling and HIV prevention, and they provide a forum for youth to hang out and be themselves after school. SMYAL offers lessons in life skills, drug and tobacco use prevention, and employment readiness programs. They offer youth-led training to schools and organizations to lessen misunderstanding and increase awareness of issues surrounding LGBTQ youth.

SMYAL Operations
SMYAL, a 501(c)3, is in fact the only metro-area organization that devotes itself entirely to the well-being of LGBTQ kids. Andrew Barnett, acting director of SMYAL, looks young enough to be a peer of the youth that SMYAL seeks to assist and is likely that much more effective for it. “We instill comfort with who they are,” he began, “talk about what is on their minds. So often, at home or in school, it’s not okay to be who they are.” SMYAL gives them a venue to “be around others who are like them, be their full selves,” he explained.

One stand-out component of SYMAL is their youth-led training, wherein LGBTQ youth themselves facilitate teaching awareness in schools and other organizations. They are at first shadowed by SMYAL staff but learn to conduct training on their own. This invaluable experience looks great on a résumé, polishes public speaking, and, as Barnett pointed out, the message is far more effective coming from a peer than from an adult. “We are really proud of ourselves for involving youth in advocacy. It shows them that they can really make a difference and not be a victim,” said Barnett.

Some of what Barnett and other staff do is examine and deter unsafe behavior that is higher among LGBT youth – behaviors such as unsafe sex, homelessness and suicide. A recent survey compiled by the National Centers for Disease Control, the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/yrbss/), showed LGBT teens twice as likely to experience dating violence. Further, 37 percent had been bullied, and 37 percent had attempted suicide (as opposed to 8 percent of their heterosexual peers). SMYAL and a volunteer statistician are delving further into the data to extract more information, such as a possible crossover between bullied and attempted suicide youth, to better understand and help LGBT youth in violence prevention.

How You Can Help
SMYAL’s door is always open to those who want to volunteer, no matter your sexual orientation. “We’re seeing more people wanting to get involved because of a sibling, child, or friend who is LGBT,” said Barnett. Specifically, SMYAL is working on improving their physical space and would like help from handy neighbors. They also welcome people with experience in working with youth. And of course, there’s always room for monetary support.

SMYAL is celebrating with a super fabulous 11th Annual Fall Brunch in the Grand Ballroom of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Sept. 28, emceed by Fox 5’s Will Thomas, and with the keynote address by Jorge Valencia, executive director and chief executive of Point Foundation (www.pointfoundation.org), which provides scholarships to outstanding and marginalized LGBT students. Tickets for individuals and table leaders are available until Sept. 23 at www.smyal.org. Check out the special weekend package to prolong the decadence!

For more information, see www.smyal.org or call 202-546-5940. SMYAL is located at 410 Seventh St. SE.

This is part of a monthly series profiling nonprofits that serve our community. To suggest an organization to be profiled, please e-mail Heather Schoell at hschoell@verizon.net with “suggestion” in the subject line.