MEMBERS of the local LGBTQ+ community on Friday aired their sentiments and shared their hopes with members of the House Committee on Health and Welfare chaired by Rep. Tina Sablan.
Ryan Camacho, a member of Pride Marianas Youth, recalled “the difficult times” he had “growing up as young gay person here on Saipan.”
Members of Pride Marianas, other LGBTQ+ community members, their families and supporters pose for a photo with members of the House Committee on Health and Welfare and Speaker Edmund Villagomez after a meeting in the House chamber on Friday.
Photo by Emmanuel T. Erediano
At the time, he said he did not realize the acceptance and love that he was receiving from his friends and relatives who were protecting him from bullying.
He said they were the ones who “tore down the barriers and allowed me to accept myself.” They gave him strength to brave challenges and have authentic joy and laughter, he added.
“Today,” he told lawmakers, “you have an opportunity to break down barriers of hatred and discrimination. Today you have the power to build pathways of support and encouragement from our brothers and sisters, our sons and daughters. I challenge you leaders of CNMI to be brave, to deliver that glance of salvation and hope. To create a CNMI community where LBGBTQ+ persons can be free…and present their authentic self for we all are worth something.”
Dr. Jennifer Maratita, a licensed mental health counselor who founded the Pride Marianas Youth, thanked the committee for the opportunity to speak and for putting “advancing LGBTQ+ equality and well-being in the CNMI” on the legislative agenda.
She told lawmakers that Pride Marianas, along with a large group of volunteers, aims to create “more inclusive, braver and safe spaces for our community.”
She said a survey conducted among public high school students showed that “21% of LGBs and 13% of heterosexuals were electronically bullied; 26% of LGBs and 17% of heterosexuals were bullied on school property; 15% of LGBs and 8% of heterosexuals did not go to school because they felt unsafe (at least once in the past 30 days); 27% of LGBs and 10% of heterosexuals experienced sexual violence by anyone (including kissing, touching, or being physically forced to have sexual intercourse when they did not want to, one or more times during the 12 months before the survey); 22% of LGBs and 8% heterosexuals were physically forced to have sexual intercourse: (when they did not want to); 65% of LGBs and 45% of heterosexuals felt sad or hopeless in the last 12 months; 46% of LGBs and 26% heterosexuals seriously considered attempting suicide in the last 12 months; 44% of LGBs and 25% of heterosexuals made a plan about how they would attempt suicide at least once in the last 12 months; 34% of LGBs and 15% of heterosexuals attempted suicide at least once in the last 12 months; and 10.9% of LGBs and 3.6% of heterosexuals needed medical attention after suicide attempt.”
For her part, Tyra Lyn Sablan, founder of T-Project, said she is a proud transgender daughter of the Marianas. She said she has been “through a generation when her kind was bullied, tortured, ridiculed, rejected and killed.”
Sablan told the lawmakers, “Over the course of history, laws and policies or lack of them, enacted intentionally or unintentionally by the government, had led to much more than just inequality. They legitimized hatred and violence and brought shame to all those targeted.”
She said, “Even though we, the people of the CNMI have progressed significantly, our laws have not — a lack of inclusivity and protection has created a culture of stigma and hatred towards LGBTQ+ people, which have consequently devastated so many.”
She wants the CNMI to “offer protection to marginalized individuals” by adding “protection against employment discrimination based on sexual orientation.”
She also proposes banning “conversion therapy” relating to minors and “expanding healthcare access for minor-initiated counseling on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and related behaviors.”
