December 7th, 2010

Adam Banks is deeply motivated to reduce teenage suicide occurrences among GLBT questioning youth. This strong drive and motivation is rooted in a tragic experience from his youth, when a close friend of his committed suicide around the time they were first getting their drivers licenses. Adam is continually driven by this loss and is committed to honor his lost friend by working to prevent additional teen suicides.

Adam is a successful business owner in New York. With a career that is on track, he is now dedicated to taking the time and investing resources to focus more intently on the prevention of teen suicide. To this end, Adam began BornLikeThis.org. He was determined to create a place where GLBT youth could feel comfortable, safe, welcomed and empowered. BornLikeThis is a resource for youth created by youth, and is focused on decentralizing crisis prevention to local levels.

Adam sought out the gay fraternity at NYU to find highly motivated individuals to help with BornLikeThis. He is very excited about the energy that the fraternity brothers bring to the project, and he works hard to empower them to take the mission and vision of the site in their own direction. Adam considers his job at BornLikeThis.org to be that of a positive influence and a good role model, while letting the site’s direction be determined by those it is meant to serve.

In addition to his commitment to BornLikeThis, Adam works closely with the Trevor Project. In 2010, he started the very successful Young Professionals Council within the organization. This council has quickly grown to become a thriving development arm of the Trevor Project. It is through Adam’s work with the Trevor Project that he identified the need that BornLikeThis was created to fill. Adam noticed that most crisis prevention happens in a top-down, adults-to-kids fashion. He wanted to create a resource that spoke directly to the younger generation in terms they could relate to better. Adam hopes that BornLikeThis.org will help to prevent crisis by showing kids that it’s ok to be gay, that there is a lot of hope in being a gay individual, and that life as a gay person will be okay.

Adam generally sees this is as a great time for GLBT people in the final push for equal rights across the board. However, he feels that a lot of this work is happening on a level that kids do not exist within and that does not affect them in a way that can make a difference in their current stage of life. The fight for equal rights is happening in places far removed from, and at a time of life that is much different than, where kids exist. Today’s LGBT youth are in a fight for equal rights every day – at home, at school, and in their local community. They are in situations that they can’t change, and even with great strides being made on a national level for equal rights, their daily struggle may be very difficult.

BornLikeThis was created to be a resource for kids by kids. It is a safe place. A welcoming place. A comfortable place. An inspring place. It is a place of empowerment.

Contact Adam: adam@bornlikethis.org

POSTED IN: BornLikeThis Team