The It Gets Better Project is proud to celebrate Transgender Day of Visibility. We interviewed some courageous trans leaders about their advice for trans youth–check out their inspirational quotes!
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#trans #it gets better #quotes #lgbt #transgender day of visibility #tdov #interview
Today (March 31) is International Transgender Day of Visibility, and I’m sending love to all trans folks today, and always.
Ethan Alcaraz Joins the Ambassador Program at It Gets Better España for Trans Visibility Day
On the International Day of Trans Visibility (March 31), Ethan Lewis joined the Ambassadors program of It Gets Better España and wanted to send a message to tell you that it does get better.
Mapro Joins It Gets Better Russia
Little by little, people like Mapro courageously share their testimonies and messages of hope and resilience in Russia.
Andréa Brazil Shares Her Message of Hope with It Gets Better Brasil
The very talented Andréa Brazil sends a message of support to LGBTI youth in Brazil.
Pilar Castro Joins Gets Better Colombia for Trans Day of Visibility
Pilar is a stylist, who loves theater and dancing. For Trans Day of Visibility, she talks about how the support and love of her closest friends and family helped her find her true essence and wear it with pride.
Es Wird Besser Interviews Christina Praßl
You can always trust our affiliate in Austria to share testimonies of LGBTQ+ people for the benefit of LGBTQ+ youth month after month. Meet Christina Praßl.
Actress Josie Totah Speaks About the Importance of Trans Day of Visibility
We sat down with actress Josie Totah to discuss the struggles she faced growing up in the spotlight, coming into her own and the importance of Trans Day Of Visibility!
Aydian Dowling was one of the three LGBT youths whose stories were featured in the It Gets Better special on MTV and Logo earlier this year. Like many young trans men, Aydian needs “top surgery"—chest surgery that will bring his body into line with his gender identity—and this expensive surgery isn’t covered by health insurance plans.
"Health insurance in the USA doesn’t cover transgender surgeries at all,” he says. “They’re covered in the UK, Canada, and Australia. The waiting lists are long, but at least it’s covered.” Aydian has a job—he’s a baker—but he doesn’t have health insurance through his workplace. Which means Aydian not only has to pay for his top surgery out of his own pocket, he also has to pay for all the preliminary blood work and tests, and any postoperative care that he might need.
“A lot of trans people ask for donations on sites like ChipIn.com to help cover the costs of their surgeries,” says Aydian. “But raising the $6,000 that top surgery costs through donations alone is pretty hard. And I wanted to give something back to people who donated.”
To give something back, Aydian designed a line of T-shirts. His T-shirts—which are high quality, trans-themed, and really fuckin’ cool—cost Aydian $10 to produce, and he’s selling them for $20. Between the money Aydian and his wife, Jenilee, were given as wedding gifts and the money he’s raised selling his T-shirts, Aydian is just $300 from his $6,000 goal.
Aydian had originally planned to stop selling his T-shirts once he hit his goal. But the shirts have been such a hit, Aydian has decided to keep selling them to help pay for other trans men’s top surgeries.
You can check out Aydian’s shirts at www.point5cctshirtcompany.com. The T-shirts are trans-themed—T-Rex!—but anyone can buy and wear them. Check ‘em out!
Also, find out who you can share your story as part of MTV’s second It Gets Better special, casting now.
Since 2010, the It Gets Better Project has collected over 60,000 video stories from LGBTQ people and their allies from around the world. Here are some of our favorites from June 2017.
Through July, our affiliate in Chile, Todo Mejora, continues the campaign Por Un Final Feliz with the help of several media partners. A number of new videos have been uploaded to their YouTube page featuring uplifting stories from Chilean young people, as well as messages of hope from actors and other popular figures.
Todo Mejora [It Gets Better Chilé]
It Gets Better México participated in the 2017 Pride Connection Summit and has a large number of It Gets Better videos uploaded to their YouTube page from other participants they came across there. Featured below is Carlos Maza, a manager over at Moovz, a global LGBT social network that’s particularly popular in Latin America. Pride Connection aims to foster inclusive company cultures for LGBTQ employees at professional work places across the world.
In July, we heard from some of the kids featured in the documentary Check It, which chronicles the journey of a group of young black LGBTQ men and women in Washington D.C., breaking out of poverty by launching clothing labels, walking runways, and putting on fashion shows. Emerging from violence and harassment, they made a family where they didn’t have one.
“Life for the Check It can be brutal, but it’s also full of hope and an indomitable resilience.”
In this series of videos, various members of the Check It share their stories & their messages for others in the LGBTQ community.
EL PAÍS is a daily newspaper based in Madrid, Spain with a circulation of over 15 million unique readers. In this video, a number of their staff have words of encouragement for LGBTQ jóvenes – young people.
Petra Bayr knows that there is bullying and even violence against LGBTQ young people in her country. But as part of the government, she she hopes she can encourage young people to come out and stresses that things will be better.
Es Wird Besser Österreich [It Gets Better Austria]
Craving more?! Go to www.itgetsbetter.org, or keep scrolling to learn more about the cool things It Gets Better and its affiliates are doing around the world.
Colombia: It Gets Better Colombia marched for Pride in Bogotá alongside 150,000 other passionate fighters for the LGBTQ community.
España: Our affiliate in Spain also marched at World Pride 2017 alongside our Portuguese and Austrian affiliates! Supported by Lush Spain, we were proud to spread hope for LGBTQ youth around the world.
Paraguay: Meanwhile, It Gets Better Paraguay was busy participating in the first module of a workshop for a leadership school in Oviedo where they educated and empowered young people on topics of human rights.
Greece: Finally, It Gets Better Greece marched at both Pride events in Athens and Thessaloniki. “Ήταν ένα εξαίσιο (It was exquisite!)” they said.
Our rainbow footprints are all over the world.
Trans women are all so beautiful and the lgbt community is so lucky to have them tbh
❤️🧡💛💚💙💜
Our executive director Brian Wenke spoke with Youth Today about It Gets Better, sharing both his personal story and elaborating on the message of our project.
Life really does get better for most LGBT teens as they get older, say researchers at Northwestern University.
They followed 231 LGBT 16- to 20-year-olds, contacting each of them six times during a 3½- year period. Researchers published their results in the Journal of Adolescent Health in March 2015, showing, in general, victimization and psychological distress decreased as the youth grew older.
Wenke says one reason the change happens is because “as we age, we learn to recognize the bullies and also to find people who share our value system and can support us.”
“We learn resilience as we age.”
A very progressive representation of a trans* character in the media!
To learn more about our #LGBT history, download Quistapp in the App Store or Google Play.
Since 2010, the It Gets Better Project has collected over 60,000 video stories from LGBTQ people and their allies from around the world. Here are some of our favorites from June 2017.
At this year’s DragCon, we met up with some of RuPaul Drag Race’s most wise & hilarious drag queens to ask them for the advice they’d give young people in today’s LGBTQ community.
We partnered with SAGE Table to start conversations with LGBTQ community members of varying generations and backgrounds. Among them were social media creator Shannon Beveridge, Matthieu Dahdah, our own intern McKenna Palmer, and more. The crux: how can we change our future without knowing our past?
President Michelle Bachelet advocates for the LGBTQI youths of Chile – for their talents and abilities through which a more democratic, inclusive, and tolerant Chile will be built.
“There is a world of possibilities waiting for you,” she promises. [Though she says: “hay un mundo lleno de posibilidades esperándolos”]
Google employees assure others from the LGBTQ community that the future is for them – that it’s for everyone, and that they don’t need to worry about being “normal.”
“Normality” is a beautifully diverse world, they assert.
In her video, Berivan Aslan fully condemns the bullying & violence toward the LGBTQ community and emphasizes that we will make it better.
Es Wird Besser Österreich (Austria)
Craving more?! Go to www.itgetsbetter.org, or keep scrolling to learn more about the cool things It Gets Better and its affiliates are doing around the world.
COLOMBIA: It Gets Better Colombia participated in Pride Month by Marching through Bucaramanga. They invited participants to share their photos using the hashtag #unamarchalgbt
MÉXICO: Our team in México also marched for Pride! Check out their photos across Mexico City on their Facebook here, along with other organized Pride marches alongside the U.S. Embassy, AT&T, Nielson, and more.
CHILÉ: Our affiliate in Chile has launched a new campaign #PorUnFinalFeliz which hopes to provide welfare and assistance to LGBTQ adolescents targeted by bullying or who otherwise have suicidal thoughts. For information on how to contribute, access more information here.
nonbinaryresource
Anonymous asked:
I just want to share some positivity. I have a really close adult friend who I've known since I was 5 (I'm 18 now) and she's one of the only adults who's consistently been there for me so I see her as a sort of second mom. I came out to her as nonbinary and she took it so well! She's been learning and educating herself about the lgbt community but gender is a new hurdle for her, but she was so accepting of me without any hesitation. I may have cried, just a bit.
That’s fantastic! I’m so glad for you! Coming out is a difficult processes but I’m glad you chose to and I’m glad your friend is educating herself. I hope she only learns more in the future! : )
-Mod Zay
