Cathy's fundraising page

Dear friends and community,

This May is Give Out Day, a month-long grassroots giving campaign for LGBTQ+ causes. I’m asking for your help to get to *75* donors who can support GSA Network (Genders & Sexualities Alliance Network), which unites trans and queer youth for racial and gender justice. 

I’ve come to deeply appreciate this annual opportunity to share my work with extended family, friends, old classmates, and broader community connections. Not everyone may have a personal experience with GSA clubs (LGBTQ+ student groups sometimes called Gender & Sexuality Alliances, or what used to be called Gay-Straight Alliances), so I’d like to share mine. ♥️

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Me in 12th grade (in the middle) with the GSA club

I went to my first GSA (Genders & Sexualities Alliance) club meeting at the age of 15. I spent the year prior getting up the courage to say “I'm gay” in the mirror. I think about that 10th-grade Cathy sometimes. Supportive adults and peers, small gestures, and GSA club meant the world to me: knowing I had a gay teacher, reading The Color Purple, flyering the walls about Trans Day of Remembrance, seeing rainbow stickers, attending a teach-in in the library. GSA club was where I started to feel a part of something bigger than myself. Today, rather than making schools better, right-wing politicians are set on making it impossible to be a trans or queer youth and writing policies to perpetuate fear and surveillance. 

In my day-to-day work supporting GSA clubs and organizing, I feel the emotional and practical impact of these attacks. We are developing resources for youth to organize in and out of schools because GSAs are decreasing as districts increase censorship and barriers to student organizations. I worry about whether students and educators will be able to share our beautiful zines and posters that uplift trans and non-binary youth artists, due to policies that bar visible support for LGBTQ+ students. I have to add another round of safety tips before I give advice to students and teachers on self-advocacy, knowing that harassment and doxxing are a possibility. And if I’m being honest, knowing these realities, I hesitate before encouraging youth to boldly organize and advocate for themselves and their communities. 

I also regularly hear appreciation for our work from students, teachers, and frontline youth workers on the ground, who face so much more pressure every day. It is their resistance that helps me remain clear and focused on why we cannot give in to intimidation and why we stay set on freedom. This year, I heard from youth who are determined to self-teach LGBTQ+ and BIPOC history in their GSAs and communities even if it is banned in the core curriculum. School staff told me they love using GSA Network’s resources because we are not afraid to create materials around topics like Police Free Schools. I talked to some partner LGBTQ+ youth organizations who said our support of a Free Palestine helped to build support in their own organizations. 

Our lane is clear: GSA Network is nurturing another generation of courageous freedom fighters and empowering organizing spaces for a bolder and more liberatory Trans Queer Two-Spirit youth movement. Over a thousand GSA clubs have registered for our network so far, and there are many more that we could use your support to connect to. I like to think 10th-grade Cathy would have been proud - to be a part of such a network, and to see the work I’m doing now. 🥲 

Please join me in supporting our work with a donation this month. Any donation over $10 in May helps us move up the Give Out Day leaderboards, which gives us a chance at winning $10,000! 

Sending you lots of love and care in these times. If it's been a while, I would love to hear from you. If nothing else, thanks for reading and learning about what's going on for trans and queer youth. Thanks for all your support!

Love,

Cathy

I hosted our National Gathering of GSA Networks last year with representatives from 20+ local organizations across the U.S.! (10+ years after attending my first one) 

GSA Network staff at our National Gathering