glaad

Rewriting the script for LGBTQ acceptance.

[plannedparenthood]

7 Ways To Be Gender-inclusive In Your Language 

via @glaad​

[glaad]

Today, on the anniversary of Trump’s inauguration, we are sending a clear message: We will not let you make us afraid. We will keep fighting for LGBTQ people and the communities we lock arms with. And we are going to win. #HowIResist

[glaad]

It's Trans Awareness Week. Here are 5️⃣ ways you can look #BeyondTheBinary and be gender inclusive with your language.

Take the pledge to be more gender inclusive with your language and work to create spaces where all genders feel welcome and included.

[glaad]

Take action for Spirit Day on October 19th!

@dylanmarron met with two students to discuss overcoming anti-LGBTQ bullying: “It can’t be just shoved under the rug into this box of, ‘Well that’s snowflake stuff.’”

Take the pledge and stand against bullying for #SpiritDay: http://glaad.org/spiritday

[staff]

85% of LGBTQ+ students have been verbally harassed. 63% told a school official who either did nothing or told the student to ignore it. That isn’t acceptable.

If you feel safe doing so, stand up with the LGBTQ+ community today (and every day). You can take the pledge, you can donate, you can wear purple to show you believe in GLAAD’s Spirit Day mission to end bullying. 

And remember, if you need someone to talk to, we have a list of free and confidential counseling hotlines and live chats for you to use. 

💜

[glaad]

Take action for Spirit Day on October 19th!

@dylanmarron met with two students to discuss overcoming anti-LGBTQ bullying: "It can't be just shoved under the rug into this box of, 'Well that's snowflake stuff.'"

Take the pledge and stand against bullying for #SpiritDay: http://glaad.org/spiritday

[txqueer]

Bringing a little #pride with me to campus this semester! :) I’m so excited that my college has reopened and that the flooding caused by Harvey is finally beginning to subside. Being visible and out in a small town like Lake Jackson, TX can be intimidating, but I am blessed to go to a school where my friends and professors allow me to feel secure in my identity. I’m looking forward to seeing what the LGBTQSA at Brazosport College has planned for this semester, and depending on how things go, I might even apply for an officer position! #Fall17 

[cankarmawrite]

@glaad

First Day of Elementary School to College!

I wasn’t out to anyone when I started my Freshman year of High School. I knew I was gay, but I was so scared to tell people. I first talked to my parents about being gay when I was 12, but they brushed it off. I tried again when I was 15 and brought home my first girlfriend, they believed me that time.

Even though I was once ashamed and afraid of my sexuality, I now proudly proclaim my gayness to anyone who asks. I identify first as Disabled, then as an Asexual Lesbian. I joined the LGBTQIA+ group here on campus, as well as the Disabled Students Collective. I want to show younger kids that it’s okay to not know who you are yet. You can take as much time as you need! As long as you’re happy some day, it doesn’t matter if you figure it out today or 30 years down the road. 

[glaad]

We're working with Tumblr to share messages, images, and stories of love and acceptance to LGBTQ and questioning students as they head #backtoschool.

Post your own and tag #backtoschool! 

[artsy-q-deactivated20181205]

Back in college with my bullshit and I’m killing the game already. Remember to use people’s correct pronouns and spread love ❤️ @glaad

[itsnotblonde]

First day of pre-k to first semester of my senior year.

College was the first place I had the opportunity to seek out community, and I ended up with a family. There’s something really special about being around a group of people who truly understand you and your identity.

I aspire to become the type of person that my younger self needed. And I plan to do so as a @glaad campus ambassador.

[swaggybunny]

Being non-binary at a women’s college always makes me feel vulnerable. Over the past 24 hours I’ve celebrated being one year post-top surgery with some of the most amazing people in my life, cried in my psych class about the lack of trans visibility in performance, been validated and uplifted by the entire admissions department by them insisting upon using my pronouns correctly to prospective students and amongst each other, even when I’m not present, and achieved one of my dreams since before college of being cast as Rocky in “Rocky Horror Picture Show” at Columbia. Being queer/trans on any campus is a constant negotiation and flurry of emotions. Going into my senior year, I’m grateful for the learning and unlearning I’ve had the opportunity to do at this school and all of the people who have been patient with me along the way.

[poserisland-deactivated20240615]

When I was a kid I never felt like I fit in, I had friends and I have a great and supportive family but I still always felt like an oddball. I had the hardest time in school because I was completely uninterested in all the things that little girls were supposed to do, like paint nails and wear dresses and makeup. I was called a tomboy and was told early on that I’d grow out of it as soon as I realized that boys don’t like that. The idea that if I don’t change who I am, no one will like me was terrifying. I felt completely isolated from my peers because I didn’t have a label for who I was and it seemed like everyone else did. For years I’ve been struggling with defining who I am and it took until getting to college and familiarizing myself with the LGBT+ community for me to realize that it doesn’t matter, I don’t need any particular label or definition to explain myself. I don’t need to fit into those societal norms and now that doesn’t scare me. My goal is to be the role model that my 13 year old self needed, so that anyone else who’s young and going through it won’t let the negative thoughts and self doubt win. It’s perfectly fine to not pick.

[leahjuliett-deactivated20171106]

I was raised in a small, conservative town. Growing up in public school, I was frequently asked to identify who inspires me. Lack of queer visibility and nondiversity in education made it difficult to find someone who I truly felt connected to or inspired by. Queerness was avoided in discussion and entirely left out of curriculum. It was difficult to truly know myself without knowing that who I am could exist.

The LGBTQ+ community is powerful, but it is not always accessible- especially in small towns and on small campuses. It is incredibly easy to mistake a lack of physical community for total isolation.

In these moments, I have learned to curate a community within myself. I have taught myself the queer history that I was denied in school. I have become both teacher and student, building my identity from rebellion and survival.

I am inspired by the bravery of my younger self, who looked in the face of a nameless identity and decided to call it a home. #BackToSchool @glaad

[glaad]

How do you do, fellow kids?

We’ve teamed up with Tumblr and our Campus Ambassadors to find out how you are bringing pride #backtoschool this Fall.

More than 30% of Americans polled say they are uncomfortable with LGBTQ people in their families, schools, and communities, but acceptance is growing! Over 20% of millennials identify as LGBTQ and 63% identify as allies. Most importantly, many LGBTQ students feel a stronger sense of community among friends and chosen family in their schools, and we want to celebrate those student stories!

Let’s share messages, images, and stories of love and acceptance to LGBTQIA and questioning students as they head #backtoschool.

#backtoschool cool

Post a selfie, mirror pic, group shot, or old photo of you looking #backtoschool cool and tell us about your life as an LGBTQ or ally student.

Not a student? Share your cutest or strangest #fbf (flashback Friday) photo from your school days!

Let us know… How are you bringing pride back to school? What are you most excited about this year? What are you and your student activism organizations working on? Who is in your queer family at school? Why are you proud to be you?

Thank you for spreading love to queer youth going #backtoschool! To learn more about GLAAD and how to get involved with our youth initiatives, check out glaad.org/youth.

(Art by Tumblr Creatr, Pop Aesthete)

[trans-parenting]

Don’t Believe the Hype

Yesterday I saw a lot of folks sharing out the USA Today article suggesting that James Mattis is “freezing” the transgender ban in the military, a similar NY Times article picked up that narrative as well. These articles are, unfortunately, misleading.

The policy, per the original executive order, makes that clear.

The ban has three parts, it:

Bans (openly) trans individuals from enlisting.

Prevents the military from paying for gender reassignment surgeries.

Directs the Secretary of Defense to complete a study assessing how to deal with active duty trans soldiers by February.

That final section specifically notes, emphasis mine: 

“As part of the implementation plan, the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall determine how to address transgender individuals currently serving in the United States military.  Until the Secretary has made that determination, no action may be taken against such individuals”

While there has been reporting indicating that the military was caught entirely off-guard by the ban, and that some senior military officials are supportive of trans folks serving (and skeptical of the policy), there is no indication that this process is being “frozen” or that Mattis or any administration officials are trying to undermine the directive. Mattis is quite literally following the order as written.

For reference, the DOD already studied this under Obama, and concluded that the military should move forward with allowing trans folks to serve.

And, as the quote I shared out yesterday underlined, even if (in the most optimistic scenario) the new DOD study suggests that some or all current service members could stay, the damage has already been done in many ways.

That’s not to say that this won’t face some serious challenges. There are already numerous lawsuits in the works, and I expect this will not be easy or clean to implement even without them. But this is the policy that is likely to persist until at least 2020 (barring major upsets in court or congress), and it sets the tone for the treatment of trans folks under this administration.

[glaad]

Resource Post - LGBTQ Housing

Heading back to school and looking for LGBTQ-friendly housing options?

Check out these Facebook groups, or use the Groups Discover feature to find LGBTQ groups near your campus:

United States:

LGBT     Roommate/Housing Exchange Chicago

Queer /     LGBT Friendly Housing San Antonio

Queer Pittsburgh     Housing

Queer Housing     Sacramento

Queer Housing:     Santa Cruz

Hudson Valley     Queer Housing

QUEER     Housing Nashville

Asheville/     WNC Queer Housing Network

Spokane     Queer Housing

Baton Rouge Queer     Housing

Vermont     Trans & Queer Housing Exchange LGBTQ

 International:

Queer Housing     Melbourne!

Queer Housing     Edinburgh

Queer Housing     Dublin

Queer Housing     Victoria (B.C.)

[queertheology]

A Love Letter To Transgender People From A Transgender Priest

I want you to know that I see you.

I see you sitting in the pew, with your parents, as your pastor talks about what an abomination those transgender people are. I see your face burn with the recognition that he’s talking about you. I see you slink down in your seat and hope to disappear. I see you.

I see you facing the dread of back to school shopping. Longing to wear dresses and colors and instead being forced to wear the drab slacks and button downs. Because no one knows who you really are and you can’t tell them yet. But I see you and I know you.

I see you the first time you tighten that tie around your neck and breathe deeply gathering up the courage to walk out the front door. I see you when you have the courage to leave. And I see you when you take the tie off and go watch TV instead.

I see you struggling to find words (and clothes) to match the gender you are because your gender doesn’t fit in a world that separates everything out and quantifies it in categories. I see you defying those categories and I see you worry because of it.

I see you google “dating a transgender person” and reading article after article about how hard it is to love someone like you. I see you close the browser and delete your dating profile.

I see you working three jobs and starting a GoFundMe to help pay for your transition. I see you hustling to have enough money to eat. I see you feeling beaten down by everything.

I see you when you face violence. All types of violence: physical, emotional, spiritual.

I also see you when you claim your identity. I see you for your first shot, as you’re coming out of gender confirming surgery, as you buy clothing that fits you for the first time.

I see you as you march, holding the transgender flag. I see you as you fight, fist up, for your right to exist.

I see you getting up out of that pew and leaving that unaffirming church never to return. I see you finding a new community that welcomes you with open arms.

I see you asserting your identity by insisting that people use your name and pronouns.

I see you finding someone who loves you for who you are and who realizes what a gift you are in their lives.

I see you existing. And surviving. And thriving.

I want you to know that you are seen and loved just as you are. I want you to know that you are not a disruption, a burden, or a too-expensive-cost, no matter what the president says. No matter what your pastor says. No matter what your parent says. No matter what your ex-partner says. These things are not true.

What is true is this:

God loves you not in spite of your transness but because of it. God has gifted you with your unique and beautiful identity. And God loves you because of your identity.

You are fearfully and wonderfully made. Whether you choose to medically transition or don’t. Whether you are binary identified or nonbinary. Whether you “pass” or not.

You are beautiful just as you are. In all of your various identities.

You are needed. You are celebrated. You are a gift.

You are lovable and worthy and strong.

You are amazing. You are seen.

You are loved.

- Fr. Shay

If you’re a cisgender supporter of transgender people, a couple things to note: you can support by sharing this post, by donating to the Queer Theology summer fundraising campaign, and by staying tuned tomorrow for an article about how to actually really truly be an ally to transgender people in the church and in the world.