What Is “Pride” After Pride?

Pride Month has come to a close, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t more LGBTQ+ stories to celebrate or fights to fight. It’s worth noting that as June became July some 51 years ago, the Stonewall Riots were still going strong. Members of the LGBTQ+ community—led largely by Black and Latinx members—were still gathering in support of one another, building community, and protesting homophobic press coverage of their uprising.

In recent years, there have been many victories—the legalization of gay marriage, the recent Supreme Court ruling to maintain employment protection for LGBTQ+ workers—but there is more to do. We need to keep fighting for our Black trans brothers and sisters because #BlackTransLivesMatter; we need to fight to affirm the identities and dignity of nonconforming people; we need to fight for representation that lets LGBTQ+ youth feel seen and loved; we need to have pride even when it’s not Pride.

So BAZAAR.com has partnered with GLSEN and the LGBT National Help Center to ask some friends—including activists like Black Lives Matter cofounder Patrisse Cullors; Pose star Mj Rodriguez, castmates Dyllón Burnside and Ryan Jamaal Swain, and choreographer Twiggy Pucci Garçon; designer Prabal Gurung; model Leyna Bloom; Internet sensation Rickey Thompson; the Queer Eye guys; and performer Bob the Drag Queen—to tell us what Pride means to them, even after the rainbow ticker tape stops falling, and how they commit to everyday activism year-round to help support their communities.

Below, find more information on our partners and other LGBTQ+ organizations that you can contribute to.

How GLSEN Helps LGBTQ+ Students

GLSEN was founded by a group of teachers in 1990 to create affirming learning environments for LGBTQ+ youth by activating supportive educators, as well as by centering and uplifting student-led movements.

Coordinating via a network of 43 chapters in 30 states across the nation, GLSEN conducts extensive and original research to inform evidence-based programs to transform and maintain K-12 education as a safe and affirming environment for all LGBTQ+ youth. Through its research, GLSEN publishes resources for educators and advises on and advocates for policies designed to protect LGBTQ+ students, as well as students of marginalized identities.

GLSEN’s national network is more than 1.5 million strong, with students, families, educators, and education advocates working to create safer schools. More than 500,000 GLSEN resources are downloaded by students and educators each year.

Here, you will find a collection of research reports exploring the experiences of Asian American and Pacific Islander, Black, Latinx, and Native and Indigenous LGBTQ+ youth.

Below are some key facts that LGBTQ+ youth report about their experience in school.

Want to Volunteer or Donate to GLSEN? Here’s How

Need Help or Someone to Talk To? Here’s How to Contact the LGBT National Help Center

The LGBT National Help Center was founded in 1996 as an outgrowth of the Gay and Lesbian Switchboard of New York, which was itself founded in 1972, making it the longest-running LGBTQ+ hotline in the world. The Help Center focuses on crisis prevention pertaining to coming-out issues, gender and/or sexuality concerns, HIV/AIDS questions, discrimination, bullying, relationships, self-harm, suicide prevention, and more. Counselors offer acceptance and respect to those in need, providing a safe space and a kind voice. All calls are confidential and anonymous.

Below is how you can reach peer support counselors.

Want to Volunteer or Donate to the LGBT National Help Center? Here’s How

Hundreds of calls can go unanswered a month because of lack of funding to staff more peer support counselors.

Want More Recommendations for Additional Organizations to Support? Our Friends Have You Covered

Dyllón Burnside: BYP100 (Black Youth Project 100) is a member-based organization of Black youth activists creating justice and freedom for all Black people; the Marsha P. Johnson Institute, named after the Stonewall icon, is an organization created to elevate, support, and nourish the voices of Black trans people.

Jacob Tobia: The Third Wave Fund, an activist fund led by and for women of color, intersex, queer, and trans people under 35 years old, supports youth-led Gender Justice activism to advance the political power, well-being, and self-determination of communities of color and low-income communities.

Lady Shug: Indigenous Mutual Aid, an information and support network with an anti-colonial and anti-capitalist framework, works to inspire and empower autonomous Indigenous relief organizing in response to COVID-19.

Sidra Greene: G.L.I.T.S is an organization that provides trans people and trans sex workers aid for housing, medical assistance, and crisis support; For the Gworls is a fund fighting to reduce homelessness rates in the Black transgender community and lower the risk for affirmative surgeries.

Tan France: The Ali Forney Center is an organization that provides LGBTQ+ young people housing and a continuum of supportive services to help them thrive and prepare for independent living. The Trevor Project is the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ+ people under 25. And The Center is a New York–based community that offers LGBTQ+ people with advocacy health and wellness programs; art, cultural, and entertainment events; recovery; and parenthood and family support services.

Twiggy Pucci Garçon: True Colors United is an organization battling LGBTQ+ youth homelessness, as LGBTQ+ youth are 120 percent more likely to experience homelessness than their non-LGBTQ+ peers.

Video featuring: Aaron Almanza, Akeem Rasool, Bob the Drag Queen, Bobby Berk, Chella Man, Dyllón Burnside, Emil Wilbekin, Honey Dijon, Imara Jones, Isaias Hernandez, Jacob Tobia, Jacoby Pruitt, Karamo Brown, Lady Shug, Leyna Bloom, Melanie Willingham-Jaggers, Miguel Enamorado Pena, Mj Rodriguez, Orlando Estrada, Patrisse Cullors, Prabal Gurung, Rickey Thompson, Ryan Jamaal Swain, Sidra Greene, Tan France, Tommy Atkins, Twiggy Pucci Garçon, Victor Glemaud

Source: Read Full Article