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Perhaps like you, I have been spending my days and nights focused on the current moment—responding, reacting, holding, breathing all the horrors we are witness to.
But I am fighting the tendency to direct my attention only on the trees in front of me and instead continually bring the forest into focus too. When I leave my desk each evening, my partner and I have been finding ourselves talking late into the night. I have been lying awake thinking about the questions we’ve been asking ourselves:
What are we learning during this crisis about what we value and prioritize?
Who is being supported by the systems in our country and who is being left out, forced to take risks, and most impacted by this crisis?
What will the future we build from this look like?
I, like many people, am not hoping for a ‘return to normal.’ The ‘normal’ we had before this crisis perpetuated deep inequities for queer and trans people, for Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, and so many more in our communities that have been compounded during this crisis.
Instead, I am envisioning a future that is transformed.
A future that is rebuilt with new systems that center communities who are now being pushed to the margins, and everyone is afforded healthcare, housing, food, economic security, and safety.
A future where we apply the same sense of urgency we are acting with now to building a better, safer world for queer and trans folks, Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color, people living with HIV/AIDS, and our elders.
A future where care for one another and our communities is our non-negotiable, default response.
This future will only be possible if the organizations that have fought to support our communities during this pandemic can survive the devastation of this crisis for the long term. Pride Foundation launched our Crisis Community Care Efforts in early March to ensure that these essential organizations have the resources they need—now, and into the future.
If you have not yet done so, please give generously to Pride Foundation’s Crisis Community Care efforts. Join us in shaping the future that we all deserve today, tomorrow, and in the months and years to come.
Thank you to everyone who has made a gift to our Crisis Community Care Efforts. You are helping to build a world where all LGBTQ+ people are supported and cared for.
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