PRIDE // JUNE 2012

 

WE ARE THE YOUTH IS HOSTING A GIVEAWAY CONTEST!!!

Share your PRIDE photos with us through Facebook and Twitter throughout the month of June.
When you do, you’ll be automatically entered to win a $50 Amazon gift card and other sweet prizes!
GET ON IT.

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June 26, 2012

Alex, (a Chicago-based writer and We Are the Youth guest blogger), attended Chicago Pride on June 24, 2012. Friend Alex on Facebook & Follow Alex on Twitter

Ana, Jackie & Keifer enjoy Chicago Pride!

Breana Gangi, 14 (and a half)

“I’d never been to Pride before, figured I’d change that.” -Mike, 21

 

With a record attendance of 850,000 people, a new and improved parade route, and a later start time, this year’s Chicago Pride Parade was a time for exploration and improvement. For the participants, this translated into having enough room to walk safely alongside the parade route and a more comfortable parade watching experience.

From me, this was my third Pride in Chicago, and I was marching near the beginning of the parade with Pride of Links, a youth group for queer teens in the Northern suburbs of Chicago run by a wonderful woman named Erchell.

I arrived early and spent a few hours talking to people, taking photos, and soaking up the wonderful Pride atmosphere.

Check out more of Alex’s photos here

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June 26, 2012

 

Dyke March, NYC Pride, June 25, 2012 New York, NY
by Sarah Nakano, Photo by Cara Howe

This weekend was a whirlwind! This was my first time in New York during Pride Month so there was a lot of new experiences for me– most notably the 20th Annual NYC Dyke March on Saturday, June 23rd. As a volunteer marshal, my job was to basically just to help block traffic, make sure the march went as planned, cheer people on, high-five people, etc.  I had been going to planning meetings occasionally for the past couple months in preparation for Saturday. We marched from Bryant Park, near the New York Public Library to the fountain in Washington Square Park. Overall the march went really well with no obstacles, issues with the police, or fights. Technically the march is a protest without a permit, so it’s illegal and an arrestable action. However, the march has been happening for 20 years now so it’s really become a historic event. The police that I encountered were all pretty supportive and understanding.

At the core of the Dyke March mentality is the idea of protest – against discrimination, harassment, violence, and inequality in various settings: schools, workplaces, family, social, in the streets, etc. It is a declaration of our right to exist, to own the street, to feel liberated and to be oneself in an environment of inclusivity and community. It’s the day that the minority seizes the center. Gabrielle Korn, who is on the planning committee said to the Huffington Post, “It’s important for dykes to claim space and to take up as much space and be as loud and as visible as possible. I think you have to be as public about what you’re fighting for as you can be.” You can read more of what she said here.

My experience of marching was incredibly powerful and surprisingly emotional.This time last year I was living in the Midwest (where I grew up), and on Saturday I was surrounded by 20,000 women taking over Fifth Avenue– what? If you didn’t come march with // support from the side this year, be sure to come next year!

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June 21, 2012

The Annual Transatlantic Pride Art Exhibition
Clifford Chance, New York, NY
by Sarah Nakano

Last Thursday night, Clifford Chance, a law firm in midtown, had an opening reception for their in-office exhibit “Annual Pride Art Exhibition-New York,” featuring 5 portraits of We are the Youth participants. This opening reception gave me the opportunity to see lots of cool art (Cass Bird, Peter Hujar, Elizabeth Bethea, Tee A. Corinne, etc), drink Coca Cola out of a fancy glass, and also witness the wisdom of Jonathan D. Katz.

Before the reception, Katz spoke about specific “queer artworks” and explored the context and details of each piece. Katz was the first tenured faculty in gay and lesbian studies in the U.S, founder of the Harvey Milk Institute, chair of the Department of Lesbian and Gay studies at the City College of San Francisco, co-founder of Queer Nation SF, and is the co-curator of the exhibit ‘HIDE / SEEK’. Basically he’s a certified genius and he’s the king of the middle of
the venn diagram: QUEER and ART.

In my opinion the most interesting idea he talked about was the future of “Queer Art.” What is contemporary queer art, where is it headed, what will it look like in the future? From what I understood, he thinks that as LGBTQ issues + people become more widely accepted, queer art will start to focus more on universal themes like love, loss, etc. I was incredibly impressed with Katz’s insights and how incredibly informed he was. What a badass. You can check out his essays, writings, and resume here.

Overall it was a rewarding experience and it was so cool to see Magda, Trevor, Braxton, Isaac, and Patrick chillin on the wall alongside other queer art.

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June 20, 2012

Alex, (a Chicago-based writer and We Are the Youth guest blogger), attended the LGBTQ Pride Month Reception at the White House.
Friend Alex on Facebook & Follow Alex on Twitter

 

My name is Alex Sennello, and I’m from the Chicago area. That’s my mother and I on a couch in the White House with the presidential seal.

I was there last week for President Obama’s LGBTQ Pride Month Reception for my work with GLSEN, the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network, at the 2012 Safe Schools Advocacy Summit. While at the summit in Washington, often referred to as SASS by its attendees, I learned skills that I can use to be a political advocate for safe schools legislation like the Safe Schools Improvement Act, a bill that would work to address bullying from the federal level, or the Student Non Discrimination Act, which seeks to give the same protections that prevent discrimination based on sex and race in school to sexual orientation and gender identity.

My work isn’t limited to the national level; at home, I work as a community journalist reporting on queer youth issues, I’m leadership for my school’s QSA, and I work to help create safer schools in my state with the Illinois Safe Schools Alliance.

As queer youth, working for equality and fighting for the right to exist are things I have become quite accustomed to. These issues also hit home for my mother, both as a parent of queer daughter, but also as a physician who serves a community where three young people from the same school — two of whom identified within the queer community — took their own lives within a span of eight weeks.

The briefing I attended on LGBTQ youth health and safety was informative and, as you may imagine, the reception was magical. Each person you met seemed to have a cooler story than the last.

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June 13, 2012

Today the West Village Coalition called on New York City to make Christopher Street a gay rights landmark. We Are the Youth intern Sarah Nakano’s drawing below makes it pretty clear why Christopher Street is deserving of landmark status.

 

 

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Pride Month is Just Getting Started!!!

Here’s a list of some PRIDE events happening across the country (& Canada)!
(Compiled by the one and only, Intern Sarah)
Email hello@wearetheyouth.org to share any local listings! The More the Merrier!

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It’s June 1, which is the start of Pride Month.
To celebrate in style, We Are the Youth needs your help!

In addition to youth write-ups, rad sketches by Intern Sarah, lists of PRIDE events across the US, and other fun PRIDE-related musings; spanning the month of June, We Are the Youth will be hosting a Postcard Campaign and we’d love to have your participation! We’re looking for people around the world to be on our “street team” and help spread the word about the project. We want people to share their PRIDE photos with us through Facebook and Twitter, and when they do they’ll be automatically entered to win a $50 Amazon gift card and other sweet prizes! To participate, email hello@wearetheyouth.org.