News • June 5, 2020

State of Equality: June Newsletter

A Message From Kendra

This year, Pride Month feels a lot like it did when trans people of color and other LGBTQ folks rose up against police brutality across several days of riots at New York's Stonewall Inn back in 1969. While our movement has certainly made progress over the last 50 years, the events of the past several weeks have shown that it is more important than ever to celebrate our resilience, make our voices heard and continue resisting oppression.

Equality North Carolina is plugging into this flashpoint moment for our country and our movement, and we hope you'll join us. We want to be another conduit for you to make your voice heard to our elected officials. Whether it's one of our six regional chapter meetings, an upcoming candidate event or a Town Hall on our Facebook, we're working every day to elevate the voices of vulnerable North Carolinians.

Thank you for joining us as we link arms with other marginalized Americans and rise up to meet this moment.



Resources: Anti-Racism & Navigating COVID-19

Equality North Carolina is working to ensure that you have all of the resources you need to show up in this moment. In addition to our COVID-19 resource list, we have a general organizational resource portal that we've expanded to include anti-racism resources. If you're looking for ways to support black and brown Americans or further educate yourself about how race frames the American experience, please head here.

Our Policy Director Ames Simmons also wrote this blog about the ways that white people can show up for the movement against police brutality.

Give Out Day

On June 30, ENC will take part in Give Out Day, the only national day of giving for the LGBTQ community. In the lead up to Give Out Day, we'll spotlight four of our Rural Youth Empowerment Fellows past and present and discuss the imperative need to support LGBTQ youth during this time.

Donations all throughout the month of June will count towards our fundraising goal to support our youth work! Head here to watch a special video message from Kendra.

On top of all of this, on June 30 we'll broadcast a virtual concert from a very special guest in celebration of the occasion. Stay tuned for more details!

Regional Groups & Candidate Events

Before the pandemic hit, ENC hit the ground running for 2020 building out six different regional chapter groups across our state for folks to come together, build community and find resources. This work has moved online, and each chapter group meets once a month. Please join us for your region's next chapter meeting and find out how you can plug into the work of Equality North Carolina in the months to come!

We're also holding two events in the coming weeks with a handful of our Endorsed candidates -- one for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area and another for the Triad. Tune in for your chance to have facetime with your elected officials as we approach the most important election of our lifetimes.

Rural Youth Empowerment Fellowship Projects

Our Rural Youth Empowerment fellows are deep into their projects and there are a number of ways for you to get involved:

  • Friendly Caller Program: We're partnering with SAGE Central North Carolina and the LGBT Center of Raleigh for an intergenerational LGBTQ-friendly phone call program in the age of physical distancing. Learn more here.
  • Queer Resiliency: This project is about collecting the voices of queer youth (age 28 and under) in NC that have been supporting each other through the unprecedented challenges of COVID-19 by sharing critical resiliency skills and digitally organizing social networks. Deadline to apply is June 30 -- learn more here.
  • Queer Gone South Zine Submissions: Queer Gone South Zine (QGSZ) is a digital and print zine centering the queer experience in the South and other rural areas. This zine strives to tell our stories through visual arts, poetry, short stories, comics, collages, and any other art form that makes you feel seen and heard. Learn more here.

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