Resources for Gay & Lesbian Teens & Their Parents in San Diego, CA

Groups

If you're too far from Vista, CA (where we're located) we have links to many organizations that can help you. Below is a list of helpful links that Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Transgender & Questioning teenagers or their friends and family in the San Diego area might find useful.

	If you've been looking around for a Y Camp for LGBTQ youth, this is the place to start. The highest rated camp on this list seems to be Camp Ten Trees however, due to its distance, you will hopefully be able to locate a youth camp on this list that’s closer to you. This site also lists camps where your family can come along too (such as camps where the family wants to be more active in the life of their LGBTQ teen, or families which consist of children and teens who have gay parents.)
	Parents & Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) promotes the health and well-being of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons, their families and friends through: support, to cope with an adverse society; education, to enlighten an ill-informed public; and advocacy, to end discrimination and to secure equal civil rights. Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays provides opportunity for dialogue about sexual orientation and gender identity, and acts to create a society that is healthy and respectful of human diversity.
	Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) is a youth-led organization that connects school-based Gay-Straight Alliances to each other and community resources. Through peer support, leadership development, and training, GSA Network supports young people in starting, strengthening, and sustaining GSAs and builds the capacity of GSAs to: 1) Create safe environments in schools for students to support each other and learn about homophobia and other oppressions. 2) Educate the school community about homophobia, gender identity, and sexual orientation issues. 3) Fight discrimination, harassment, and violence in schools.
	The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), is the leading national education organization focused on ensuring safe schools for all students.
	The Point Foundation provides financial support, scholarships, mentoring and hope to meritorious students who are marginalized due to sexual orientation or gender identity.
	The San Diego LGBT Community Center's goal is to enhance and sustain the health and well-being of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and HIV communities by providing activities, programs, and services that create community, empower community members, provide essential resources, advocate for civil and human rights, and embrace, promote and support our cultural diversity.
	The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is dedicated to promoting and ensuring fair, accurate and inclusive representation of people and events in the media as a means of eliminating homophobia and discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
	The American system of government is founded on two counterbalancing principles: that the majority of the people governs, through democratically elected representatives; and that the power even of a democratic majority must be limited, to ensure individual rights. The American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1920 during a time in American history when there were no watch-dog groups to protect The Bill of Rights. In the decades prior, the justice system had come to interpret The Bill of Rights as more of a set of "voluntary suggestions" to be followed (or not) by the various branches of government as opposed to actual "rules". The ACLU was the organization that changed that and was also one of the first mainstream organizations to fight for gay rights and still continues to do so to this day.

We serve North San Diego County as well as the cities surrounding it including Alpine, Bonita, Bonsall, Borrego Springs, Carlsbad, Cardiff by the Sea, Chula Vista, Coronado, Del Mar, El Cajon, Encinitas, Escondido, Fallbrook, Imperial Beach, Jamul, Julian, La Mesa, Lakeside, Lemon Grove, National City, Oceanside, Pine Valley, Poway, Ramona, Rancho Santa Fe, San Diego, San Marcos, Santee, Solana Beach, Spring Valley, Valley Center, and Vista.