IT GETS BETTER

[IT GETS BETTER]

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ GOOD queer news for the TL: a bunch of students across the U.S. are using grants to make their schools more welcoming for LGBTQ+ youth

Queer students deserve to feel safe at school! We’re in our third year of giving grants to put the power in their hands to make their schools more welcoming - students know what they need most in their own communities and their own schools.

Through 50 States, 50 Grants, 5,000 Voices, we’ve awarded over $1.5 million in grants across the U.S. to support student-led projects. Our third season has some of the most badass projects yet, like these:

❤️ “With this grant, we’ll establish an LGBTQIA+ community space in the library, open to all students, with guest speakers, arts and crafts, LGBTQIA+ books and literature, and LGBTQIA+-specific resources.” - Pocatello, Idaho

🧡 “Our project aims to support LGBTQ+ students through teacher training, development of gender-neutral bathroom protocols, and the organization of a district-wide Queer Prom.” - Gypsum, Colorado

💛 “We’ll take students from the 3 middle schools and our local high school to Honolulu Pride to make local LGBTQ+ friends, feel accepted in a large group, and see the community beyond just school.” - Ewa Beach, Hawai'i

💚 “We’re going to increase access to queer literature by working with a local nonprofit to expand our school’s collection, host storytelling events, and foster community connection.“ - Mobile, Alabama

💙 “Our plan is to create new Inclusivity Zones across the state in critical areas for local GSA clubs to meet, plan shared events, and be their own safe space.” - Charleston, West Virginia

💜 “We’ll host the Rainbow Youth Summit for LGBTQIA+ youth from across southern California to network, learn, and have fun in a safe, judgement free and supportive environment.” - Cathedral City, California

These students are truly the definition of making things better - you can see the rest of the amazing projects lined up across the country on our blog here!

[IT GETS BETTER]

🪅 NEW sticker sheet to celebrate (queer) Hispanic/Latine Heritage Month!

We commissioned these from Barrio Drive (a queer/immigrant-owned brand from LA) and uh, they delivered:

“For Hispanic and Latine heritage month, we wanted to create a piece that celebrates and explores queerness, while remaining connected to our cultural roots.

El Sagrado Corazon, as seen in the first design on the top left corner, is a symbol that represents love, hope, and rebirth. For a lot of us in the queer community, we use such symbols to reclaim our culture without having to adhere to religion or follow any particular faith.

The Luchadores masks often reflect the Luchador’s background, tradition, and pride. I see luchadores and their masks to be similar to drag queens. They both create and maintain a persona, one through a mask, and the other through wigs and make up, to become their own form of superhero.

Piñatas are a common and essential piece at a Mexican party, symbolizing joy, unity, and celebration. I used the specific tradition to show queer joy being celebrated within our cultural traditions and norms. We deserve to celebrate ourselves without disconnecting from our cultures.”

We’re giving these away as a thank-you to anyone who donates $15 or more to support LGBTQ+ youth from Sep 15 - Oct 15. You can donate right here to grab one!

[IT GETS BETTER]

[larkinthegrey]

I want to install a Little Queer Library. It's just like the Little Free Libraries, and the concept is the same, but the focus is on LGBTQIA+ community and other banned books in particular. Or maybe a banned books library with an LGBTQIA+ shelf? I saw a 10-year old was trying to create one in my old state! And someone was successful with it in another city in the US. I would do this in a heartbeat if my parent's HOA wouldn't throw an epic fit that would probably involve a lot of fines. They can try to take books out of public libraries and schools, but they can't (except for HOA's) dictate yet what I do with my property.

I've got power tools, and initiative (or a whole lot of ADHD "new project" thoughts), just probably nowhere to put it. I even have a few books I could already add, and there are so many building plans available on the internet for LFL's.

[IT GETS BETTER]

[spaceshipsandpurpledrank]

[ff-medic617]

[robinade]

FYI Ben is gender fluid and uses they/them pronouns. Their tiktok is a delight!

[IT GETS BETTER]

[mothcub]

ALT

ALT

ALT

The truth is out there.

[IT GETS BETTER]

[justashadeoffcrazy]

What did we do to deserve Bill Nye

[angry-asexual-for-positivity]

BILL NYE SAID ACE RIGHTS!!!

[morbidmagnolia]

He 👏served 👏once 👏again 👏

[IT GETS BETTER]

[thingsbydiana]

Nonbinary flag dragon!

[parakaryote]

[Image description: A digital art piece of a Western dragon in the nonbinary flag colours (albeit with grey replacing white). It is smiling as it rears up on its hind legs, or more accurately one hind leg as the other is raised. It is surrounded by little shapes (mainly stars and diamonds) coloured in peach, purple, and gradients between the two colours. The background is dark grey. End ID.]

[IT GETS BETTER]

[itgetsbetterproject]

The gay agenda is real, you can own one, AND it benefits LGBTQ+ youth :)

From anti-LGBTQ+ bathroom and sports team bills, to positive connections like GSA club and building community, back-to-school season can be kind of...mixed emotions for LGBTQ+ youth, y'know?

So we designed the Gay Agenda notebook and the It Gets Brat-er sticker as a donor thank-you gift: you donate to help us uplift, empower, and connect them this school year, we send you a lil present!

• $25+ donation gets you an It Gets Brat-er sticker pack

• $50+ donation gets you the sticker pack AND the Gay Agenda notebook!

You can make your donation right here - make sure to do it starting now through Sep 15th to get the sticker pack and/or notebook!

[IT GETS BETTER]

🍎✏️ Back to school advice for queer students, from queer people! 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

We asked, y'all answered. Some back to school advice for LGBTQ+ students:

❤️ “Learn Queer history. Learn Black history. Learn Native American history. Learn what has gone into making it possible for you to be who you are, with the amount of safety and support you have — even if it doesn’t feel like much.” -Brandyn

🧡 “Autistic queer here. Always being buried in a book saved me from a lot. And find your tribe.” -queerintech_

💛 “Find your people for support - whether at school or outside of school. You are loved and appreciated for who you are. Anyone that says otherwise doesn’t deserve to know you or your story. Our community is sending all the love and support to you everyday!” -Amy

💚 “To my young black feminine boy: be your authentic self, people will judge you, call you slurs, but don’t suppress your beauty. To my beautiful black bisexual boy: you don’t have to try so hard to suppress what you like, it’s okay to like boys.” -Tyreece

💙 “Find at least one safe teacher you can go to. You can do this by finding the rainbow sticker on their door or by finding a sign in their room!” -Sonia

💜 “Don’t think for one minute that being bullied should be tolerated. Find help, talk to friends about it. You have the right to be yourself. I also noticed that when I stood up for myself, I was respected more.” -Jason

❤️ “Befriend the other little weirdos, they’re going to be the coolest adults (and so are you). Keep your eyes on the horizon, but also know for better or worse you’re never going to experience this time again, so try to make the most of it.” -Patrick

🧡 “You don’t owe anyone anything. If you don’t feel safe to come out, that doesn’t make you any less queer.” -Kayenta

💛 “Something that three people told me that I now truly believe: ‘There is nothing wrong with you. You don’t have to change who you are to be loved and respected.’ They were right. You will figure things out!” -Bert

💚 “So many people love you. Your teachers want to help - find the good ones. We are out there.” -Deirdre

[IT GETS BETTER]

[ftmtftm]

I'd like to ask for some help from any intersex followers I have (or any intersex folks who come across this post!)

I've been struggling a lot to find proper terminology for intersex issues in my research because Google is all gunked up and Tumblr is just as hard to parse through.

So, if anyone could point me in the direction of any good literature by intersex authors or any good online resources (especially that define terminology) that would be incredibly helpful!! I'm still doing work myself but any sort of direction would be wonderful!

(tl;dr I want to be a better ally to intersex folks in trans feminist conversations about sex/gender and approach my own theory with intersex experiences in mind better! So, any and all resources would be appreciated!)

[ipso-faculty]

Glossaries and terminology 📋️

• Intersex terminology masterpost by @intersexfairy
• Media and style guide by IHRA
• Intersex variations glossary by InterACT

Other Basic Things To Know 📣 (tumblr posts)

• Some common misconceptions addressed by @skelejon
• "Please stop acting like being intersex is just 'cool quirky genitals'" by @identitty-dickruption
• "People need to understand that some intersex people find out late" by @none-gender-left-man
• The Social Model of Intersex by me
• "Unfortunately, most intersex people are not told outright that they are intersex" by @genderpunks
• Tumblr intersex polls without votes from non-intersex people by @queercripintersex

Intersex PSAs for trans allies 🏳️‍⚧️ (tumblr posts)

• PSAs for perisex trans people by @moonshinedyke
• Please remember AFAB/AMAB doesn't mean "typical anatomy" by @asocial-and-antisocial
• "God I wish perisex trans people would stop tokenizing and fetishizing intersex people and our bodies" by @chaos-in-one
• How to talk about transition goals without being intersexist by @identitty-dickruption
• Examples of casual intersexism from trans people by @hiiragi7
• Exercise: Exposing intersexism in yourself by @hiiragi7
• "having issues with the term transintersex is not terf rhetoric" by @hiiragi7
• "In the United States, the people that are actually getting targeted with genital mutilation and nonconsensual hormones are intersex kids, not trans kids" by @trans-axolotl
• "I’m begging people at this point to realize that hate towards intersex people isn’t just. Fucking misdirected transphobia" by @theforesteldritch
• Make "space for ipsogender, intergender, and/or ultergender folks" by @queercripintersex
• "When there's an actual discussion happening about biological sex and how it's actually super complicated, it hurts to get excluded [by trans people]" by @queercripintersex
• In polls about gender, give options for intersex-specific genders rather than "intersex" by me, replying to @asocial-and-antisocial
• "Those are intersex animals, not trans or nonbinary" by @heckacentipede with a reply by me
• On supporting intersex people who want to go on HRT by @thehmn
• "Perisex trans people have been the front of people being intersexist to me" by @oy-gayvalt
• [edited to add links in purple]
• "intersex trans people who can’t go on HRT for any reason are no less trans" by @identitty-dickruption
• An experience of being objectified by trans people by @genderpunks

Academic Literature 🎓️

• Holmes, M. (Ed.). (2016). Critical intersex. Routledge.
• Horlacher, S. (2016). Transgender and intersex: Theoretical, practical, and artistic perspectives (pp. 1-27). Palgrave Macmillan US.
• Orr, C. E. (2022). Cripping Intersex. UBC Press.
• Davis, G. (2015). Contesting intersex: The dubious diagnosis (Vol. 10). NYU Press.
• Reis, E. (2021). Bodies in doubt: An American history of intersex. JHU Press.
• Lock Swarr, A. (2023). Envisioning African Intersex: Challenging Colonial and Racist Legacies in South African Medicine (p. 245). Duke University Press.
• If you don't have access to a university library, copies of those and other intersex books can be accessed via the @intersexbookclub discord!

Non-academic literature 🧙‍♀️

• Intersex #OwnVoices books by Bogi Takács

[IT GETS BETTER]

[catchymemes]

[IT GETS BETTER]

[thinkspam]

[IT GETS BETTER]

Reminder that there are some badass queer athletes at the Paralympics in Paris this year!

“It’s really frustrating that I have such a strong relationship with being a lesbian and being proud, but it’s so hard when everybody just sees the chair.”

Courtney Ryan is competing for Team USA in wheelchair basketball annnd it’s not her first rodeo - we got to have her tell her story on her way to the Tokyo Paralympics back in 2021, too:

[IT GETS BETTER]

[dreamycastaway]

The original pride flag and the sewing machine it was sewn on

[iwriterobots]

[IT GETS BETTER]

[muzwoom]

God me and some friends are talking abt being dense af rn and i just remembered this one time i was shopping w my dad and i wanted to get rainbow shoelaces at the dr martins shop. And there was this punk girl, dyed hair face piercings rlly cute, behind the counter and like prince charming putting the shoe on cinderellas foot she offered to lace my gay shoelaces into my dr martins and i let her. “Wow what good customer service!”. And then in the car my DAD had to tell me that she was flirting with me a major L to gay people over the world

[muzwoom]

She was on her knees for me and everything and i noticed NOTHING im still so embarrassed good god