Our LGBTQ+ Brethren

 07.21.2022

This, in our community:

Excerpts from an ONLINE ATHENS article, 6.30.22

'Fighting to protect our kids': Laws targeting LGBTQ youth concern Athens teachers

When Thea Canby and Nicole Gustafson opened a school together, they wanted to create the kind of learning environment they needed but never had. In January 2022, the duo founded Our Resilient Community, a combination learning space for homeschooled children and queer community center. 

As a space run by LGBTQ educators for LGBTQ students, many of their class topics center around LGBTQ studies. Queer issues, in particular, came into sharp focus during Georgia’s spring legislative session with the introduction of Senate Bill 435, a bill intended to ban transgender girls from participating in sports teams that match their gender identity.

Then, on May 4, the Georgia High School Association voted unanimously to ban transgender athletes from competing on high school teams consistent with their gender identity.

'They need to know they have a place in the world'

According to data collected by the Trevor Project, an LGBTQ youth crisis hotline and advocacy group, LGBTQ kids already report high rates of depression and anxiety. Katie Leikam, a therapist who specializes in working with LGBTQ children, said that learning they are the center of a national debate doesn't make things easier.

Check out "Our Resilient Community" on FB & IG. Equality, Inclusion, Antiracism, are all important. You want to move towards a Supreme Race like Hitler, or embrace everyone, no matter their differences? I'll pursue the ladder, thank you very much. Hate breeds hate, as we've witnessed for thousands of years. So where does it end? I say let's let it end now. Today. No exclusion, no thinking that we know what people have been through, why they're hungry, homeless, or suicidal. Everyone is someone's kid. And everyone deserves to be heard. So ask them. What they think, what they need. Our society loves their pets, and I'm no different. But human beings, man. We can do better. Check your selflessness in the most honest way possible. Every day.

Sam Cooke wrote an all time favorite, "A Change Is Gonna Come". We're workin' on it Sam.

Thank you for stopping in. Be well, all.