#not to the youth

[victusinveritas]

[asteroidtroglodyte]

[itgetsbetter]

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ 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!

[breakingjustxn]

well i mean, not wrong // credits: @screamingemonight on Instagram

[uncanny-tranny]

Not to sound like a person who actually cares about children, but it's so alarming that there's this tendency and trend of not telling kids about their medical conditions that are in their charts.

I'm finding out as an adult that they (though it's not documented who) diagnosed me with a life-long, chronic condition without telling me when I was a teenager. I found out recently when I got curious about my medical charts, and otherwise, I would not have known what's wrong with me. I've been left with more questions than answers, and I feel like a private investigator investigating my own damn health and life.

Is this medical malpractice? Yes. However, I think it also speaks to a broader point of how children are seen to not be entitled to their own lives in any capacity, to the point where they are (intentionally or not) made ignorant about things that are or will affect them.

[zinniajones]

We won! After more than a year since the passage of SB 254, nurse practitioners can prescribe HRT to trans adults in Florida again 💊💉🧑‍⚕️✌️ https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flnd.460963/gov.uscourts.flnd.460963.223.0.pdf

[tofumarinado]

it's so funny to me when i see pearl-clutching articles about how "teenagers are diagnosing themselves with mental disorders via tiktok" because like. this is not happening in a vacuum. teenagers are severely and i mean severely medically neglected. i cannot stress this enough. teenagers do not have free access to medical care. those same news outlets would be clowning on women with housewife psychosis in the 1950's.

i sometimes go pale when listening to some of what my friends have gone through in their childhoods and teenagehoods. they talk about it so nonchalantly, things that would be considered straight up torture if done to an adult, can't fathom the effect this has on children. they are on multiple anti-psychotics and several antidepressants and anxiety meds now that they are adults. medical neglect has legally and effectively disabled them. a timely diagnosis and intervention could have saved them.

of course teenagers are self-diagnosing using tiktok. if your knee-jerk reaction is to scoff at the idea and dismiss it as dumb teenager shit instead of being radicalized because the best shot young people have at attaining the mental health support they need is a fucking dancing videos app, you're categorically a political enemy of the youth.

[ecoamerica]

Watch the 2024 American Climate Leadership Awards for High School Students now: https://youtu.be/5C-bb9PoRLc

The recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by student climate leaders! Join Aishah-Nyeta Brown & Jerome Foster II and be inspired by student climate leaders as we recognize the High School Student finalists. Watch now to find out which student received the $25,000 grand prize and top recognition!

[pennymaykittensworld]

Would you like to date a naughty girl like me ?

[foolsocracy]

identity reveals are always fun

[victusinveritas]

[itgetsbetter]

Some proof that there ARE elected officials out there, like Vice Mayor Sean Cummings in Oklahoma, who are standing up for LGBTQ+ youth like Nex Benedict and calling out the fact that our words and rhetoric DO matter.

[Context: In this video, Sean Cummings is seen speaking to Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters referring to the death of student Nex Benedict].

[alicenowonderland]

I was on IG and scrolling through my feeds. I noticed a school play that my niece participated in.

I remembered when I was in my senior year in high school when I also auditioned for the annual play in our school. I auditioned since I want to explore my acting skills outside my theater group (Anak ng Teatro 🎭). I auditioned belting Listen by Beyoncè cause why not? It is theater! I need a broadway-style song 😅 I knew I nailed it but I didn’t look up when the results came if I passed or not.

I wanted to stick to the “status quo” that we have in High School. I belong to the goodie goodies and smarty pips and commoners, not to the arts people. Not to the things that will give someone fame on the whole school. I actually kind of regret not looking into it if I passed or not, and if I passed maybe I did a really great job on the play since I am an amateur Theater Actress since I was eight. But maybe that was really like in high school. You have to keep the status quo if you want to stay friends with your friends or if you don’t want change in your life.

Maybe that is my fear at that time, for my friends to notice me for it. Which got me thinking, it is not really a fear but an overwhelming feeling that I cannot contain cause what do I know at that time? I am only 15 and still discovering myself.

So to all the youths out there, do not be afraid to do something you really are into. Take a step forward. Take a leap. Go for it! 🥰👊🏻

[elhopper1sm]

Unpopular opinion but the reason being a teenager sucks is less to do with hormones and social cliques and more to do with the fact adults fucking hate teenagers. The fact that adults expect teenagers to be able to take on adult responsibilities yet don't deserve rights of an adult. They don't see teenagers as human beings and they aren't prepared to see kids with their own formed identities and humanity. Teenagers are so sexualized and seen as needing to take on more and more adult responsibilities. Yet when they want rights and humanity they are denied. The years your brain spends wanting nothing more than to form an identity are being taken away from you. Teenagers are essentially being kicked out of social spaces unless they have an extra 40 dollars lying around anytime they want to go out. Teenagers being kicked out of the mall just for existing or groomed into the school to prison pipeline. And now creating legislation to keep them off the Internet. Our society hates teenagers. And does everything we can to hurt them. The fact that anyone makes it out of their teenage years without trauma is a fucking miracle frankly.