A rally photo showing two signs. The first says, "YOU ARE LOVED" below the colors of the trans pride flag. The second says, "GSA'S SAVE LIVES" and is held aloft by a white adult woman.

Photo by Denin Lawley on Unsplash.

"It is very important to see evidence that queer people existed before myself, personal anecdotes can be invaluable."
"i love when they share stories about their identity and experience, it makes me feel more comfortable with mine."
"I want to hear all about their experiences growing up lgbtq and how they came out to people. I am so interested!"

This part of R2T2 was inspired by two things:

  1. A cogent, insightful article in the Washington Post, written by Michele Norris, about a brilliant project in which she invited people to send her postcards with six words about race.
  2. The fact that so many of the young people taking my survey talked about how very much they want to hear from their LGBTQA+/SGL elders.

So i've opened up space for those of us who are LGBTQA+/SGL adults to send messages to the tweens and teens who may be visiting this website.

Some guidelines:

  • Your contribution via the form at the bottom of this page must be no more than 25 words. If it's longer, i'll edit it down if possible or will discard it if i can't.
  • It must be relevant to the lives of queer & trans tweens & teens growing up today.
  • It must be kind, respectful, and encouraging. Any submissions that are rude, disrespectful, hateful, or queer- or trans-antagonistic will be summarily deleted.
  • It does not have to paint life as easy. You can be honest in describing your experiences.
  • But you don't have to talk about those experiences.
  • Before you offer any advice, please take a look at some of the thoughts shared by my survey-takers and approach your advice with humility. (Sometimes we adults need to be reminded of how important that is.)
  • Your contribution should offer them some hope because our young people are living through a very tough time.
  • If you provide any additional information (your age, state, or anything else you think might be relevant), i'll include it at the end of your contribution. I will not, however, include anything other than a first name and won't include contact information or anything else that could be used to identify you.

    These contributions will be laid out like the thoughts shared by my survey-takers. Eventually, i'll likely get enough to start categorizing them. But initially, i'll lump them all into one webpage.

    Again, before you share your thoughts with them, please read their thoughts for you.