Ways To Advocate and Show Support for LGBTQIA+ Communities

Just minutes before the clock struck midnight on November 20, National Transgender Day of Remembrance, a gunman opened fire at Club Q, an LGBTQIA+ community safe space in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He killed 5 people and injured at least 18 others. 

It was two bystanders, a veteran supporting his family friend at a drag show and a trans woman, who stepped up to save countless lives. We need to show up for them and the community now more than ever. 

These targeted attacks follow months of anti-LGBTQIA+ sentiment — often under the guise of “fairness” in sports, thinly-veiled conspiracy theories about “grooming” children at family-friendly drag shows, and supposedly “protecting” spaces meant for women.

Homophobic and transphobic violence persists at record levels, and politicians have placed our very right to life on the line. 

These times are frightening, tiresome, and troubling. But there are things you can do to help alleviate some of the symptoms of violence, by either donating or sharing to organizations that are working to combat violence, promote empathy, and heal wounds.

Source: Alexander Grey

 

Help the victims of the shootings. 

1. Colorado Healing Fund 

2. Club Q

3. Good Judy Garage 

 

Donate to LGBTQIA+ mutual aid and support groups.

1. The Okra Project 

2. The HELP Center

3. The Ali Forney Center

4. Trans Housing Coalition

5. For the Gworls

6. Other mutual aid groups

7. Set up a mutual aid group yourself

 

Stay educated about anti-LGBTQIA+ rhetoric.

1. NPR 

2. SPLC 

3. Human Rights Campaign

4. UCLA 

5. “Don’t Say Gay” Bill