“Berkeley Unified first officially acknowledged transgender students and families when it adopted the Welcoming Schools curriculum at all elementary schools in 2010. The curriculum, developed by the Human Rights Campaign, includes lessons on LGBTQ families and gender expression and teaches students not to bully or stereotype classmates who do not conform to gender conventions. Last year, California began requiring all districts to touch on those topics in sex-education lessons. “ Read the full article in Berkeleyside … [Read more...]

“Under a $10,000 Diversity Partnership Grant from the Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County, Indra and 10 other educators from school districts across the county have met monthly since January to learn to bring LGBT history into their classrooms. Each was given a curriculum guide aimed at U.S. history courses and later reported back on student reception to the topic.” Read the full article in The Santa Cruz Sentinel … [Read more...]

Video: Ian McKellen reciting Harvey Milk’s famous speech will make you proud to be gay “Milk’s speech called for gay and lesbians to come out to the friends and families, to keep hope alive for a better world, and to get involved in politics if they wanted to make a change. Since then thousands of queer folk around the world have come out of the closet and for many LGBT people, the world has become a better and more accepting place.” - LGBTQ Nation Governor Brown Issues Proclamation Declaring Harvey Milk Day “Today, on the 87th anniversary … [Read more...]

Support your child by being in the parade. (You won’t embarrass them too much, as we’re walking as a separate group.) Meet other parents and supportive adults of queer youth in a casual and festive atmosphere. When: Sunday, June 4th, 2017 Location:  Meet us at Pacific & Cathcart in downtown Santa Cruz @ 10:30am … [Read more...]

“Congressman Jimmy Panetta (D-CA-20) joined Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI-01) and 192 of their House colleagues yesterday in reintroducing the Equality Act, which would provide explicit, permanent protections against discrimination for LGBT people in matters of employment, housing, access to public places, federal funding, credit, education and jury service. It would also prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex in federal funding and access to public places.” Read the full article at panetta.house.gov … [Read more...]

“At the Oakland School for the Arts, I talk about gender with principal Mike Oz and creative writing teacher Jordan Karnes, who also runs the school's Gender and Sexuality Club. Karnes says she has one or two transgender or nonbinary students in each of her classes. But many more have begun to reject the dichotomy of male and female, Oz says, simply to support their fellow students. That's not something he saw coming. "That's the most beautiful piece of this," he says.” Read the full article on NPR … [Read more...]

“The reality is that LGBTQ+ students are playing an important role in shifting local and state policies by lifting up their experiences and making their presence felt. Last week, trans and queer youth demonstrated the power of their voice at the Free Our Dreams Statewide Advocacy Days in Sacramento where they called attention to several statewide bills, including the Pupil Discipline bill (SB 607), which would prevent educators from suspending or expelling students based on "willful defiance". The bill, which was seen as a measure to help stop … [Read more...]

“...at Pajaro Valley High School, the Queer Youth Leadership Awards will be presented for the 20th consecutive year. The annual event, which was established in 1998 by Cavanaugh and a grassroots team of volunteers, honors queer youth across the county for outstanding leadership. In addition, the awards recognize outstanding allies to queer youth and organizations that have made significant contributions to benefiting queer youth.” Read the full article in Santa Cruz Sentinel … [Read more...]

Part of our efforts include providing resources to our community in the form of scholarships to local LGBTQIA+ and allies that aspire to pursue higher education. We want to foster our leaders and provide them with the support, confidence, and resources needed to help them aim for long-term goals.  We are reaching out to you to inform you that we will be awarding two scholarships to senior students with in the Pajaro Valley Unified School District.  We would appreciate your assistance in getting the word out about this opportunity. In order to … [Read more...]

Santa Cruz Pride “we are indivisible”, June 4 Santacruzpride.org When: Sunday, June 4th, 2017 Parade @ 11am on Pacific & Church Festival @ 12pm Cathcart & Cedar The Equality March for Unity and Pride, June 11, San Jose EqualityMarchSJ.org When: Sunday, June 11th, 2017 Where: Downtown San Jose March @ 11am Rally @ 1pm San Francisco Trans March, June 23 Transmarch.org When: Friday, June 23, 2017 @ 2pm - 6pm Where: Mission Dolores Park ***Youth & Elder Brunch (hosted by LYRIC & Open House) @ 12pm - 2pm*** San … [Read more...]