Crisis pregnancy manual for LGBT community- Survey Included

Dear PLAGALites,
We need your help to develop a much-needed manual on crisis pregnancy in the LGBTQ community. To gather up your wisdom, we are offering this survey.

However, of course, it is entirely up to you whether or not you choose to answer any particular question, or to take this survey at all. Your individual answers will be kept confidential unless you give permission for them to be reprinted in the manual. And if you wish for your individual answers to be printed in the manual, you have the choice to do this under your real name or anonymously.

If you have any questions or suggestions about the survey, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Please return all surveys in Word format to Cecilia Brown or Mary Krane Derr by April 1, 2009.
We truly appreciate what only you can contribute to this unique and much needed service to the LGBTQ community.

Thank you very much!
Cecilia Brown, President, Pro Life Alliance of Gays and Lesbians, president@plagal.org
Mary Krane Derr, Editor, Nonviolent Choice Directory, editor@nonviolentchoice.info

Draft Outline of Manual

Crisis Pregnancy in the Queer Community: A Helpful Guide for LGBTQ People & Allies A joint project of PLAGAL and the Nonviolent Choice Directory

Introduction (Why this manual. Its intended audiences: LGBTQ persons at risk for or currently experiencing crisis pregnancies; their families and friends; helping professionals & volunteers such as pregnancy counselors, LGBTQ health center workers, or youth caseworkers; LGBTQ people & allies who wish to make a difference on this matter).

The Lifesaving, Life-Affirming Power of Acceptance (Acceptance by others and one’s self as a preventive for suicide, substance abuse, sexual abuse, unprotected and risky sex, & other problems with a bearing on the incidence of crisis pregnancy & abortion. Some “how to’s” for achieving acceptance.)

Crisis Pregnancy: A neglected Problem Among LGBTQ Persons (Research & personal stories establishing crisis pregnancy risk among LGBTQ people. Those at risk include, but are not limited to, youth conflicted over their sexual identities; street youth involved in sex work for purposes of survival; and bisexual people who do not get encouragement and support in their sexual and reproductive needs from either the straight or gay communities.)

Prevention (LGBTQ-friendly and unborn child- & mother -friendly sex education. LGBTQ-friendly education on preventive methods & safer sex—here can make room for different perspectives such as pro contraception & pro natural methods. But the subject cannot be ignored, especially since education on prevention is so overwhelmingly geared to heterosexuals.)

When Crisis Pregnancy Happens: Abortion Alternatives (Emotional reactions to crisis pregnancy; awareness of one’s own strengths; existence of options other than abortion, such as help to get through the pregnancy, then making decisions about adoption, foster care, guardianship, or other care arrangements.)

Making a Difference (Ways to help relieve the problem of crisis pregnancy & abortion in the LGBTQ community. Will cover, among other things, crisis pregnancy aid, adoption, foster care, and guardianship, advocacy for maternal/child assistance after birth.)

THE SURVEY ITSELF

Audience & Content of Manual
1. What organizations and kinds of organizations would you like to have and use this manual? (Please give contact information if you have it.)
2. What do you feel is most important to include in the manual?

Acceptance
What are some practical ideas and resources (such as websites, organizations, publications, etc.) for promoting:
3. Self-acceptance among LGBTQ people?
4. Acceptance of LGBTQ people in their/our own families?
5. Acceptance of LGBTQ people among straights/heterosexuals?
6. Acceptance of LGBTQ people in the prolife community, especially crisis pregnancy workers?
7. Acceptance of LGBTQ prolifers in the wider LGBTQ community?
8. Acceptance among more prochoicers that there could be better answers than abortion to crisis pregnancy among LGBTQ people?

Crisis Pregnancy Among LGBTQ Persons
9. We would like to include in the manual as complete as possible a bibliography of materials on the subject of LGBTQ crisis pregnancy (from any vantage point on abortion, whether, for example, prolife, prochoice, or neutral). Please tell us about any materials that should go on this list—for example, research studies, articles, websites, films, or books.
10. Do you have a story you would like to share as an LGBTQ person who has personally experienced crisis pregnancy, whether as a pregnant woman or her male partner? (If you so choose, please tell us as much or as little as you would like.)
11. If you do have such a story and want to share it, what would you like other people most to learn from your story?
12. What are some friendly places, if you know of any, where LGBTQ people dealing with crisis pregnancies can turn?
13. If you can think of any such places, what precisely makes them friendly?

Prevention
How do you feel that sex education can be made more friendly:
14. For LGBTQ people?
15. For unborn babies and pregnant women?

16. How do you feel that prevention services can be made more friendly for LGBTQ people?
17. Please recommend some practical ideas or resources for sex education and prevention in these areas.

Making a Difference
18. Do you have a personal story you would like to share of making a difference for LGBTQ people who are facing (or might otherwise face) the dilemma of crisis pregnancy? (Examples might include, but are not limited to: being a sexuality educator; adopting, fostering, or guardianship; directly helping pregnant individuals; working, volunteering, or advocating for maternal/child health and welfare services and programs.)

19. Please recommend some practical ideas or resources for anyone who wants to help alleviate the issues of crisis pregnancy among LGBTQ people.

About You
20. Do you give permission for quotations from any of your survey answers to be used in the manual?
a. Yes b. No
21. If you do give permission, which of the following would you prefer?
a. Identify me only as “Anonymous.”
b. Just use details that do not include my name. (Example: “Bisexual African American, age 32.”) Include the following details: _________________________________________________________
c. Only mention my first name. My first name is: _________________________________
d. Use my whole name. My whole name is: ____________________________
e. I have different preferences for different answers. These are:______________________________
22. What is your gender?
23. Sexual orientation?
24. Age?
25. Nationality?
26. Race/ethnicity?
27. Religion? (If none, you can identify yourself as, for example, “Freethinker,” “Atheist,” or whatever else may apply.)
28. Political Affiliation?
29. Is there anything else you would like us to know about you?

Thank you very much for helping to make the best manual we can!