New street mag for queer youth released

April 3, 2012
Issue 

OMG I'm Queer
http://minus18.org.au

OMG I鈥檓 Queer is a street magazine and resource produced by . It is designed for same sex attracted and gender diverse young people living in the City of Melbourne.

Created by and for young people, OMG I鈥檓 Queer takes on sexuality and gender identity, using real life experiences. It includes contributions from comedian Tom Ballard, youth mental health foundation Headspace and trans youth group Ygender.

At first glance, Minus 18鈥檚 resource looks like any other of the coming out help texts available mostly over the net. However, the parts of it that are devoted to coming out stand head and shoulders above the standard 鈥淚鈥檓 a gay guy and I came out and life was peachy鈥 that seems to be all over the net these days.

It features stories from many different walks of life, including gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, gender queer and transsexual. But looking at it as only a coming out resource means discounting a huge part of the book.

The book also has segments on almost everything an LGBTI teen could want. Covering topics such as sexuality and gender, safe partying, and online safety, it gives a much more focused view of what young LGBTIs need to know about, as well the queer community in general.

The parts that make it stand out are the 鈥渃ountry kids鈥, 鈥渢elling dad鈥 and 鈥渂elieving what you want鈥 segments. The 鈥渃ountry kids鈥 segment is an interview with three kids from rural areas, 鈥渢elling dad鈥 is an interview with a youth and his father, and 鈥渂elieve what you want鈥 deals with the issue of religion and sexuality.

These parts make it superior to most available resources.

However, while it is an amazing resource, its not perfect. At times, it seems too brief, and while the coming out section is varied, the rest of the book does seem to be a bit too centred on gay males.

All in all though, it is an amazing resource, which is available both online and in print from Minus 18.

from on .

Comments

I read the magazine this morning. I think it's fantastic, and so refreshing. Thanks for doing a write up on it! I can see what you mean by brief articles, but I think it works, especially since I can see it's mostly targeting high school students. I can only see 1 article focused entirely on a gay male though (Tom Ballard's piece). The rest seem to have quite a diverse focus. Was absolutely touched to see stories by trans, genderqueer and pansexual young people - what an accomplishment!

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