HRC Blog

HRC's Youth and Outreach Coordinator Aaron Teskey, wanted to make sure people knew about HRC's involvement in Youth Pride Day in Washington, DC last Saturday:

Last Saturday was the 13th annual Youth Pride Day in Washington, DC.  Although HRC has been a proud sponsor and participant for many of those years, this was my first year taking part in YPD. Despite allergies and the hot weather, YPD was a truly special experience.  There are not many cities where LGBT youth can come together for a day to learn about the diverse variety of organizations serving their needs, mingle with other queer young people and watch some great entertainment acts. While most people already knew about HRC (my favorite was a girl who told me she was on our email list, had stickers plastered everywhere, knew about all our coming out resources and even received text message alerts), our youth-specific resources were not as well known. Lots of people were interested to find out about our internship program, Generation Equality Scholarships for queer youth activism and directory of LGBT campus organizations that high school students can use to determine the queer-friendliness of prospective colleges and universities.  Even the people who were already well versed in what we have to offer (like my favorite girl) were eager to sign up for our youth-focused, monthly GenEQ Newsletter.  Each month we let young people know about the latest resources, news and opportunities to get more involved. So even if you think you already know everything about the HRC, be sure to stop by our table next time – I promise we’ll have something new to tell you about. With such a great turnout, I was thankful to have several of our staff and interns from across HRC volunteer to help out.  Here’s what they thought of YPD 2009:

[caption id="attachment_7267" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="HRC's Aaron Teskey, Lauren Burton, Mike McGinnis, Adam Talbot and Josh Crosson. "][/caption] Lynn Htun (Youth & Campus Outreach Intern): Youth Pride Day increases the visibility of queer youth.  Most importantly of all, it allows youth to know that they are not alone. The event was an eye opener for me to see a large crowd of young people proud of their sexuality and committed to learning more about social activism. Josh Crosson (HRC University Program Assistant): The diversity of YPD was what stood out to me. Usually, when I attend gay events, they are usually geared to one type of person - Black, White, Asian, wealthy, etc. YPD obviously had an abundance of young people, but it also had a mix of people differing in age. The entertainment, like the crowd, embodied most if not all of DC's gay culture. There were acoustic guitars, heavy metal bands, divas, drag queens, drag kings, and, the most memorable for me, the Ball - men, women and everyone in-between voguing and walking for their lives! YPD really brought all corners of our community together.

 I second Josh’s comments about the diversity of the crowd and entertainment – top notch.  I really enjoyed Heather Renee, sort of a mix of Regina Spektor and Feist.  She even handed out free CDs! I also want to add that many of the older YPD attendees were parents who had LGBT children.  One woman literally went table to table taking all the resources she could and asking how she could get involved in making her community and country more safe, inclusive and welcoming for her son.  There’s definitely something special about seeing that kind of steadfast support.