Name: Samantha Ramirez
Social Justice Group: 2020-2021, Mental Health and Teens
Date of Fieldwork: March 2, 2021
Person (people) with whom you met and their title(s) & Name of Organization: Danushi Fernando
Type of Fieldwork: Interview
What I learned about Social Justice “work” and/or Civil and Human rights “work” from this fieldwork:
I learned a lot when talking to Ms. Danushi, regarding to how social media has a direct correlation with the mental health of LGBTQ+ teens. She also talks about how there are many things that teens can do from home. There are petitions they can sign, protests/marches they can attend, etc. She has many hopes for the Biden Administration, and hopes that they will continue to support the LGBTQ+ community. She will keep her ‘fingers crossed’ and hope that the Biden Administration can help towards working to end the discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community. There are also many organizations that are working to advocate the LGBTQ community and making their voices heard. Some of these organizations that she mentioned are the Trevor Project, HRC, GLAD and more. Covid-19 has also affected the mental health of not only LGBTQ+ teens because of the increase of social media usage when staying at home. Overall, Ms. Danushi informed my group and I about why LGBTQ+ teens disproportionately struggle with thier mental health, but how there is still hope and many things that people can do to advocate and end the discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community.
