The Pride familiar to us today is definitely a celebration but it started as a riot, not a party. It was a riot led by Queer POC because marginalized people within the LGBTQ+ community started to fight back, tired of being picked on. Its origins do not stray far from a popular theme of last year, police brutality. It's wild that this happened in 1969 and we are still fighting that brutality today -- a fight carried on by so many nonprofits and other mission-driven organizations. While there are a lot of wonderful larger groups that do great work like the Human Rights Campaign, we wanted to focus here on some of the more grassroots organizations where your donation dollars, no matter how small, can have immediate impact.
Organization Name:
Where They Are Located:
Their Mission:
Where to Support Them: (Follow Their Link for more!)
The Audre Lorde Project
Located in New York City
The Audre Lorde Project is a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Two Spirit, Trans and Gender Non Conforming People of Color center for community organizing, focusing on the New York City area. Through mobilization, education and capacity-building, it works for community wellness and progressive social and economic justice. Committed to struggling across differences, it seeks to responsibly reflect, represent and serve our various communities.
https://alp.org/
DESI LGBTQ+ HELPLINE FOR SOUTH ASIANS
Located in the US
DeQH is an all-volunteer collective dedicated to strengthening wellness and reducing isolation by connecting LGBQ/TGNB+ South Asians to communities and resources that support and promote healing and thriving. It provides free, confidential, culturally sensitive peer support by and for LGBQ/TGNB+ South Asians in the United States.
https://www.deqh.org/
One Colorado
Located in Denver, Colorado
One Colorado is the state’s leading advocacy organization dedicated to advancing equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) Coloradans and their families. It effectively advocates for LGBTQ Coloradans and their families by lobbying the General Assembly, the executive branch, and local governments on issues like safe schools, transgender equality, relationship recognition, and LGBTQ health and human services.
https://one-colorado.org/
Keshet
Located in Boston with Offices in New York, San Francisco & Chicago.
Keshet envisions a world in which all LGBTQ Jews and our families can live with full equality, justice, and dignity. By strengthening Jewish communities and equipping Jewish organizations with the skills and knowledge they need to make all LGBTQ Jews feel welcome, it works to ensure the full equality of all LGBTQ Jews and our families in Jewish life. It also create spaces in which all queer Jewish youth feel seen and valued and advance LGBTQ rights nationwide.
https://www.keshetonline.org/
Trans Women of Color Collective
Located in Bethesda, MD
Their mission is to uplift the narratives, lived experiences and leadership of trans and gender non-conforming people of color, our families and comrades as they build towards collective liberation for all oppressed people.
https://www.twocc.us/
Princess Janae Place
Located in New York City
The mission of Princess Janae Place is to help people of trans experience maximize their full potential as they transition from homelessness to independent living. Princess Janae Place fulfills its mission by offering a safe space for people of trans experience to connect with community, access gender affirming support, as well as engage in educational and recreational activities. Princess Janae Place serves as a critical referral source for its members to secure housing navigation, substance use and mental health resources, legal assistance, job training/placement and healthcare.
http://www.princessjanaeplace.org/
The DC Center for the LGBT Community
Located in Washington, DC
The DC Center for the LGBT Community educates, empowers, celebrates, and connects the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities. To fulfill its mission, it focuses on four core areas: health and wellness, arts & culture, social & peer support, and advocacy and community building.
Sankofa Collective Northwest
Located in Portland, OR
Sankofa Collective Northwest, formerly known as PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) Portland Black Chapter, promotes the health and well-being of specifically Black gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people, their families and friends through support, education, organizing and advocacy. This organization began as the first African American chapter of PFLAG in the nation. It relaunched as the Sankofa Collective Northwest in August 2016.
https://sankofanw.wordpress.com/
FIERCE
Located in New York City
FIERCE is an LGBTQ youth of color-led organization. It builds the leadership, political consciousness, and organizing skills of LGBTQ youth. In New York City, it organizes local grassroots campaigns to fight police harassment and violence and increased access to safe public space for LGBTQ youth.
