We asked queer youth: What do you want to say to the adults out there?

"We're just kids too, y'know? We wanna make an impact on the world, we want to live our lives, we want to be queer and be happy!"

We brought our Youth Voices together from across the U.S. to meet each other in LA for the second year running! These are LGBTQ+ people aged 13-18 from across the US who are already amazing activists, advocates, artists, writers, speakers, musicians, and more (and yes, we open applications for a new class every year, so this could be you next round)! 👀 We learned, discussed queer identities and issues, and of course, got to take some time for queer joy. 💜

There are consistent abuses of LGBTQIA+ people happening in the Kakuma refugee camp due to government neglect and hateful ideas spread about them. If you can, please support them in any way you can. Here are a couple of news articles explaining what's going on in more detail:

Additionally, please reach out to @godwin5mizo if you're interested in helping, they're an activist advocating for the LGBTQIA+ people in Kakuma, and they're willing to help explain what's going on, and how you could help them. Please help spread the word.

Let's continue supporting and advocating for LGBTIQ community in East African refugee camp and donate as much as you can to help https://gofund.me/4b7d0709-for-the-lgbtq-people-who-live-in-camp

To my trans community

I want you to know. I know how it feels, when your outside doesn’t match your inside. It feels like everyone is seeing a shell of who you are, and your banging on the glass hoping to change everything so they can actually see.

I want you to know I can see past your shell. I look past how your voice sounds, how your body looks. I see you.

I never had anyone to tell me that. And I’m proud to say I’m here to do it for you.

You are doing amazing, keep going 🩷

just got out of a Florida LGBTQ activism meeting. an 81 year-old ex cop turned queer artist/poet shared his story, encouraging all of us to “please stay the course- do not compromise who you are like I spent way too much of my life doing. you. are. worth it. we are worth it.”

Hey so friendly reminder that yeah it's dangerous and people will kill over it, but at its core bigotry is actually very fucking silly. Goofy even. Stupid and shameful and deserving of ridicule and clowning.

Like wow you really think that people who have a different skin tone than you aren't actually people, and in fact that it's the "natural order" of things for you to at worst own them or at worst subjugate? Bro wtf is that shit. Like literally they disprove that shit by. Existing. How do you convince anyone when this is, bare bones, the argument. Clownery.

Oh, trans women are actually men pretending to be women so they can... *checks notes* attack "real women," trick men into sleeping with them, and groom children? And trans men are "lost lesbians" being tricked into "giving up their fertility?" WHAT!? Do you people even hear yourselves?

Let's see... oh my favorite! Apparently, according to the rising tide of the alt-right, the best way for humans to be governed and organized is to kill, convert, indoctrinate, and/or otherwise do away with those who think, look, act, or speak differently than the way a handful of people (who have not met and never will meet a grand majority of those under their power) think they should be. For real? Omfg fascism is literally disproven by the simple fact that LITERALLY NOT ONE SINGLE PERSON ON THIS PLANET THINKS THE SAME WAY. It's so inherently foolish that I have to wonder why people want it so bad.

These issues in our world are, obviously, multifaceted and complex, and pointing out that they're silly is not gonna fix the issue overnight. It is also important to remember that vulnerable people have been, are, and will be killed for these ideologies, and fear of them and the people spewing them are entirely warranted.

But it's also important to remember that these vulnerable and marginalized people just wanna live their fuckin lives. And they're being denied that because some clown with too much money and power is being fucking stupid because the idea of being around different people scares them.

That. Is. SILLY.

And when confronting these bigoted beliefs, when fighting those who cannot be persuaded, it is important to remember that 1, shame is a powerful tool, and 2, they're fucking idiots who don't wanna change because they've never had to.

People who say “but what if the roles were reversed?” when any oppressed group says anything bad about their oppressors are so fucking annoying

LGBTQ+ people ages 13-18: Applications are OPEN for our next class of Youth Voices!

If you're an LGBTQ+ teen activist, educator, content creator, artist, writer, or performer, we want to add your voice to this amazing group to speak up for queer youth across the U.S.

This past year, our Youth Voices Class of 2023 did some amazing things, likeee:

🟣 Talked with USA Today on the rise in book bans across the country and walked through the importance of proper pronoun use with Seventeen

🟣 Collabed on zines about self love, mental health, and Pride

🟣 Spoke at HRC's Time to Thrive in Atlanta and at SXSW Edu about attempted anti-trans legislation in Texas

🟣 Featured in Pride campaigns for brands like Freeform, Oribe, Chapstick and Zenni

🟣 Met each other at our Youth Summit in LA...

And more! We'd love for ya'll to join - apply now through April 26 using the link in our bio or at itgetsbetter.org/YV2024. And learn more about the Youth Voices program at itgetsbetter.org/youthvoices.

I have a very important request if anyone is able. Is anyone here able and willing to help make a GoFundMe or some other means of donation to help provide food and medicine to the Kakuma refugee camp? I worry I wouldn't be able to properly manage funds and help donate to them correctly, but they don't have much of any food or medicine, and need the help. I learned this from @godwin5mizo, an advocate for oppressed LGBTQIA+ people in the Kakuma refugee camp, who can also help give you more information.

Vincent Hanley (born in Clonmel, County Tipperary on 2 April 1954, died in Dublin on 18 April 1987)[1] was a pioneering Irish radio DJ and television presenter, nicknamed "Fab Vinny".[2] He worked mainly for Raidió Teilifís Éireann, and was the first Irish celebrity to die from an AIDS-related illness.[3][4] He has been described as "Ireland's first gay celebrity".[5]

Photo via https://www.broadsheet.ie/tag/vincent-hanley/

ITS GAY MONTH!!!!

And we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashin'

We need fictional characters who are both labelled and unlabelled. It’s important to have characters who proudly say they’re gay/bi/lesbian/nonbinary/etc, but it’s also important to have characters who don’t need a label to be proud. Personally I feel very empowered hearing a character explicitly call themselves bisexual, and I wish that was more common. However, some people who like multiple genders but don’t have a label really love when an mpsec character is just mspec. Both of these are valid and important because we are not a monolith. Queer people want different things out of media, which is why it’s so important to have different types of queer characters.

Imagine being seen by an NHS gender clinic IMAGINE