Good News, Everyone!
Hello everyone. I hope you are all doing well. I wanted to let you know that I will be taking the next couple of weeks off from this newsletter. This week, I will be at a conference for nonprofit studies (I am at the airport right now waiting to fly out). The week after is Thanksgiving, which is a major holiday for me and my family. Specifically, my husband and I love making an elaborate Thanksgiving feast and hosting our friends and family. So before I close out the newsletter for a couple of weeks, I wanted to end with some good news. Below are a few positive news stories concerning LGBTQIA+ community. So, quoting Futurama:
And of course, if you are new to the Queer Friendly Nonprofit, you can subscribe below.
Trans Awareness Week
This week is Trans Awareness Week. From 13 November-19 November, we spend the week learning and talking about Trans rights. This leads to the Transgender Day of Remembrance on 20 November, where we honor those we have lost to anti-trans violence. To observe this week, Google worked with the organizations Ballroom Throwback and Destination Tomorrow to create “Ballroom In Focus”, which looks at trans joy through ballroom. Human Rights Campaign has several events scheduled, which you can learn about here. GLADD’s history of observing Trans Awareness Week can be found here. This is a great week to call your representatives and remind them that Trans Rights are Human Rights!
Making Space for Inclusion in the NHL.
I am a big hockey fan(I grew up watching the Islanders… lose. A lot.), but hockey, like most other sports, aren’t always the most welcoming spaces for LGBTQIA+ individuals. I even spoke on a youtube channel a few years ago about what hockey needs to do to be more equitable (you can watch the interview here). One organization which has fought for LGBTQIA+ inclusion in sports has been wonderful is the pride tape program. Pride tape provides rainbow tape for hockey sticks, baseball bats, lacrosse sticks, etc to show that support for LGBTQIA+ people and communities. Recently, the NHL banned the players from using pride tape on their sticks during games. After backlash, including players using pride tape on their sticks and basically challenging the NHL to do punish them, the NHL has backed down. While special jersey nights will no longer be allowed by NHL teams, NHL players can show their support of LGBTQIA+ inclusion in the sport. Considering the lack of openly LGBTQIA+ people in the NHL (Luke Prokop was the first NHL prospect to come out but hasn’t played an NHL game), it is important to go out out of our way to show support of LGBTQIA+ individuals. The fact that the NHL reversed their ban and is allowing players to support the LGBTQIA+ community is a good step forward after several steps back.
LGBTQIA+ Politicians
In the midterm elections last Tuesday, many LGBTQIA+ candidates won! For an off-year election, this was a big victory for LGBTQIA+ candidates. The Victory Fund has a list of all of the LGBTQIA+ candidates who they supported in the midterms. Some notable politicians include:
Danica Roem, who was the first openly trans person to be elected into the Virginia House of Delegates, has now become the first openly trans person to be elected to the State Senate. Roem was incredibly productive as a Delegate and shows that many people don’t care about your LGBTQIA+ identity; they just want you to help their district (Two other queer people were also elected into the Virginia House of Delegates).
Moms for Liberty Lose Big
Moms for Liberty, a so called “parents rights group” which is anti-LGBTQIA+, among other things, lost big time. This group supports school board and library board candidates who try to get books banned and stop schools from being allowed to support LGBTQIA+ kids. The fact that they lost in many elections across the country tells us how unpopular their platform is, that their scare tactics won’t work, and how important inclusion is. I hope over the next few years we see more movement towards inclusion and supporting LGBTQIA+ people. Next year’s election will be a tough year for queer rights, and the rights of many minorities. Focusing on these wins from Tuesday can help us build moment towards an equal world.
I hope you all have a wonderful couple of weeks and I will return in December.