Seventeen years ago on the first Saturday in October, I sat in a park in Naperville, shivering and uncomfortable, dressed too lightly for how the temps dropped after the sun went down. I was at a Take Back the Night rally for domestic violence awareness, one of the first assignments of my brand new job […]
Posts Tagged ‘#LGBT youth’
Reflections on a Revolution
Posted: 4th October 2015 by admin in BlogTags: #LGBT youth, challenges, HIV, LGBT history, life changes, PrEP, revolution
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When Ya Gotta Go, Ya Gotta Go!
Posted: 25th April 2015 by admin in BlogTags: #coming out, #LGBT youth, #transgender, binary, gender neutral restrooms
A couple of months ago, it was major news that a bill was proposed in Florida to prohibit transgender people from using public, single-sex restrooms that do not match the sex they were born as. I saw arguments for and against, and eventually the story disappeared into the cyber dust that gets stirred up as […]
Fierce Kindness, Willful Love
Posted: 11th January 2015 by admin in BlogTags: #LGBT youth, challenges, hero, mentor, volunteerism, warriors
I met my first warrior at Corner Bakery on a cold, grey afternoon in 2007. She’d been recommended to me by two colleagues who thought she’d be able to help with some of the work our agency was doing at the time around funding and fundraising. I was still fueling my caffeine habit and over […]
On the Red Carpet
Posted: 11th October 2014 by admin in BlogTags: #LGBT youth, community, humor, movies
Last night, we convened the 7th annual Dare to Dream event, the major fundraiser for Youth Outlook. It was the first time in several years that there were no accidents or suicides among the youth served in this agency on which for us to reflect. Last night, we wanted to play. As usual, I drafted […]
Shades of Meaning or Shady Meanings?
Posted: 17th November 2013 by admin in BlogTags: #LGBT youth, adolescent development, binary, identity, queer, self-image, self-respect
“Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with shades of deeper meaning.” ~Maya Angelou I am surrounded by an ongoing debate about words. Whether or not to, what does it mean, who can use that word, how do we write policy around using that […]
Come Out, Come Out Wherever You Are!
Posted: 12th October 2013 by admin in BlogTags: #coming out, #LGBT youth, homeless youth, National Coming Out Day
National Coming Out Day is always a great day for reflection, given that I run an agency for LGBT kids for my job. This week found me wandering memory lane, taking a moment for my own coming out, which (if you’ve caught my previous comments) is always a big question for people who start to […]
Creating Community
Posted: 11th September 2013 by admin in BlogTags: #LGBT youth, 9/11, community, healing, safety
The goal of my work at Youth Outlook is to create safe space for LGBT youth. Presently, we do that in a number of ways, primarily through running drop-in centers in various communities, and also through our community education and youth leadership development work. But in 2001, our community education and youth leadership were just […]