By New Year’s Day 2023, dozens of anti-LGBTQ+, and especially anti-Trans, legislative bills had already been drafted for introduction across the country. In our region, from Southern Oregon to Northern Alaska, classrooms, clinics, court rooms, and school boards continued to erupt into battles bleeding onto the legislative floor, no less than in businesses and individual
2023 has already held so much for LGBTQ+ communities in the Northwest and beyond. While much of what has transpired has been devastating, I am continually bolstered by how beautifully fierce our community continues to be in the face of it all. As we continue to take stock of all that’s happening, I invite you
Celebrating Trans Day of Visibility and Action 2023 Visibility is most necessary when it makes cruelty, indifference, and irresponsibility impossible. Last year for #TDOV, we asked “what is this the year of for you.” In response, we heard that it was a year of combatting misinformation about transgender people, a year of centering healing and
I don’t know if I’ve ever felt so grateful to see the little purple crocuses popping up everywhere after what has felt like a never-ending winter, but friends they are here! (And if they are not there yet where you are – they are coming, I promise!) With these little glimpses of spring coupled with
There are two principles we have been holding especially close this past year at Pride Foundation: connection and action. These principles are core to who we are and what we do – building opportunities to bring our communities and movements together to take intentional and collective action in the fight for justice. Over the unique challenges
At Pride Foundation, we are already looking to 2023 and anticipating a big year ahead where the work that we do will be as important as ever. As we look to next year, we wanted to first pause and reflect on 2022 and all that we accomplished together. We made a historic level of
My first experience as an activist (and a fundraiser) was participating in the inaugural AIDS Care Walk in my hometown of Rockford, Illinois in 1993 when I was 9 years old. I learned from my mother, who worked at the county health department at the time, about what HIV and AIDS were, how you could
As we were all preparing for Trans Day of Remembrance and Resilience, getting ready to speak the names and mourn the loss of too many friends and family who have been violently taken from us this year, more grief and more loss came to all of us. It is hard to find words after tragedy hits our community
On the eve of Trans Day of Remembrance and Trans Day of Resilience, our communities gather in the candlelight cast by our kindred who have become ancestors too soon. 2021 was the deadliest record year on record for trans and gender diverse people, with more than 50 confirmed murders. In 2022, we have “already seen at least 32 transgender
Happy National Coming Out Day and opening day of Pride Foundation Scholarship season! We’ve been watching the leaves change color and recovering from our first colds of the school season, which means it is finally time—our 2023 scholarship application is now open. Our scholarships fund LGBTQ+ students who are leaders—in their own lives, in their families,