Justice for Breonna Taylor, incarcerated LGBTQ folks, and 3 other things you can do something about this week.
Even if you follow the news as much as your mental health can handle, it can be hard to know what issues to focus on. A quick tour of causes you can support this week can help you cut through the noise and make the change you want to see.
Sometimes, taking action looks like showing up at a protest. Other times, it looks like telling the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that trans people deserve safe housing, or continuing to demand accountability and justice for Breonna Taylor. You might be looking to help LGBTQ youth cope with the mental health stressors of the pandemic. Or, you may decide to roll up your sleeves and finally have the talk with your mom about the Washington Football Team. Below, you can find a petition to sign, an email to write, a conversation to have, and places to donate or volunteer if you want to make a difference.
You can’t do something about everything — but if you feel like you’re spiraling at the state of the world, you might feel better if you do one thing about something. Here are five actions you can take this week to support five important causes.
Queer people, particularly queer people of color, are often targets of violence in jails and immigration facilities. Especially as the COVID-19 pandemic puts incarcerated people at extreme risk, it’s super important to protect folks from violence in the justice system. (Think of it as a natural extension of defunding the police.)
Donating to the LGBTQ Freedom Fund helps bail low-income folks out of U.S. jails and detention centers. You can donate directly or through PayPal to keep LGBTQ people safer.
If you want to show your support for women on Instagram without posting a selfie, you could consider keeping the pressure on Louisville, Kentucky officials to investigate Breonna Taylor’s death, and hold the police officers who shot and killed her in March accountable. The #JusticeForBreonna campaign lists contact information for the Kentucky Special Prosecutor State Attorney General Daniel Cameron, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, the Commonwealth’s Attorney Thomas Wine, and others.
The HUD proposed allowing homeless shelters to bar trans people from entering shelters that match their gender. The proposal would force trans folks — one in three of whom have been homeless at some point in their lives, according to the National Center for Transgender Equality — into facilities based on their gender assigned at birth.
To combat this discrimination, more than three dozen LGBTQ advocacy and civil rights organizations have formed a coalition called Housing Saves Lives. You can hop onto their site and tell the HUD that #housingsaveslives.
You can also submit your comments to the HUD on trans housing access until Sept 22, 2020.
If your mom loves football, but doesn’t understand why the Washington, D.C., NFL team is changing their name, logo, and mascot, you might want to have some conversation points prepared for your next virtual hangout.
Talking about racism with your family can be unpleasant, to say the least, but you might want to gently suggest that it’s a lot less damaging to rename a team than to constantly hear a racial slur when you’re just trying to kick back and watch the game.
During the pandemic, many LGBTQ young people are stuck quarantining at home with families that are hostile to their identities. When these queer teens reach out for emotional support, they’ll often turn to The Trevor Project. Its crisis texting and phone services are staffed by trained volunteers. As the pandemic drags on with back-to-school realities uncertain, more LGBTQ youth will likely need The Trevor Project’s help.
If you’re over 18, have a solid internet connection in a private space, are located in the U.S., and can donate three or four hours of your time each week for a year, you can apply to volunteer to staff their digital or phone services on their website. You need to be willing to commit to 40 hours of online training, and be there for LGBTQ+ youth in crisis.
Choose an edition:
Source: Read Full Article