The Bear River Region LGBTQ+ Community Coalition had its first meeting this week in Logan. The roots of the coalition, however, go all the way back to late 2022.
That was when the Transforming Communities Institute at Utah State University started assessing the health and social support service needs of queer youth and families in Box Elder County.
“Places that are rural are affected by a lack of services in general,” said Maureen Boyle, who worked on the project and is helping head the coalition. “But especially in thinking about how marginalized and oppressed populations are impacted by those lack of services and other issues in the community.”
A systemic review in the journal Stigma and Health found that LGBTQ+ populations are often underserved in rural areas.
Needs and gaps in services
After forming a panel of community partners such as caregivers, educators, and service providers, the project had three phases.
First was a survey of LGBTQ+ young adults, their families, and service providers in Box Elder County to understand needs and gaps in services. Top issues included bullying, family acceptance, anxiety and depression, and religious exclusion.
“We ended up pulling my child out of school in Box Elder County and drove across the state every week to keep them in school and alive, literally,” said one parent who participated in the survey. “We’re now back in Box Elder County, and it really is a huge problem here, even still. Had it not been for my ability to take my child to another school, I don’t know that my child would still be here with us.”
According to data from the Utah Student Health and Risk Prevention (SHARP) Survey, in 2019, 59.7% of trans students, 48.3% of gay or lesbian students, and 52.5% of bisexual students seriously considered suicide. That’s compared to only 15.4% of their heterosexual and cisgender peers.
That survey also found that adverse mental health and bullying also disproportionately affect LGBTQ+ students in Utah, leading to only about half of trans students reporting they felt safe at school compared to 86% of overall respondents.
Respondents to the Box Elder County survey offered solutions such as access to gender-affirming healthcare, living wage, support groups, and safe school policies.
Barriers to access
The Transforming Communities Initiative survey also asked LGBTQ+ young adults about six barriers they faced to services: lack of adequate and affordable housing, lack of supportive and understanding work environments, community stigma, level of knowledge about LGBTQ+ needs among residents in the community, and lack of adequately trained and competent providers.
The majority of respondents said that all six barriers were “somewhat a problem” or a “major problem,” with only about 6% of respondents saying individual issues weren’t a problem at all.
“There are so few resources here,” said a service provider who took the survey. “I have referred people to services in Logan and Ogden, but there is really a lack of support for LGBTQ+ youth and families in our county.”
The Trevor Project found in a national survey that 56% of LGBTQ+ young people who wanted mental health care in the past year were not able to get it.
Coalition goals
Now, the project is in the solutions stage, which is where the Bear River Region LGBTQ+ Community Coalition comes in. Like other coalitions, this one brings individuals and groups from the community together for a common goal. Their current mission statement is:
“The Bear River Region LGBTQ+ Community Coalition seeks to improve LGBTQ+ community, wellbeing, and inclusion across the Bear River Region of northern Utah in Box Elder, Cache, and Rich Counties.”
The coalition, which is in partnership with the Logan Pride Foundation, has three main areas of priority: health, education, and inclusion. Those were determined based on a LGBTQ+ youth and families forum conducted in April by the Transforming Communities Institute, USU Center for Intersectional Gender Studies and Research, and USU Department of Social Work.
In their first session, members discussed research and started to identify priorities within those areas. Ideas included compiling already-available resources, providing funding for those seeking medical care, working with school boards, and creating more support groups and safe spaces in especially rural areas.
Though the coalition is still in its infancy, Boyle expressed hope for what the coalition could accomplish together.
“Our queer community is really what brings us together, we create belonging wherever we go,” Boyle said. “And I also believe that there’s a power in the way we organize.”
The coalition is open to the public, and those interested in joining can contact Maureen Boyle or Dorothy Wallis with the Logan Pride Foundation.
