Tag Archives: Youth First Texas

If you think the situation at Youth First is bad, Out Youth doesn't even have toilet paper

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Carolyn Beck (remember her???) reports in the comments to my post below about Youth First Texas that Austin’s agency for LGBT youth is facing a similar budget crisis. Beck, if you’ll remember, is the official spokeswoman for the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. She also became TABC’s liaison to the LGBT community following last June’s raid of the Rainbow Lounge in Fort Worth. Beck is straight, but shortly after the raid she began volunteering at Out Youth. And from what I can tell, she did it for no other reason than the fact that she genuinely supports the LGBT community.  Anyhow, Beck points us to a wishlist that’s posted on the Out Youth website. The list includes not only things like toilet paper and paper towels, but also basic necessities like a Netflix subscription and a Wii console. Seriously, though, aren’t we a little concerned — even in a recession — that the LGBT community in Texas is having trouble funding its youth centers? Maybe, just maybe, it’s time for some of us to rethink our priorities. Here’s Beck’s full message:

Out Youth in Austin – the sister organization to Youth First – is having a similar budget crisis and has been cutting back staff hours. The number of hours of counseling available for youth has been cut. And the organization has no operations budget at all — no new pencils, no snacks for the kids, no TP for the potty. (Volunteers can be seen bringing packages of toilet paper with them to the “Out House” because every kind of donation makes a difference.) If any readers are in Austin, or from Austin, or perhaps you were served by Out Youth in Austin, please consider becoming a monthly donor. And Saturday, June 19th is the annual all-ages Out Youth Queer Prom, which is a fundraising event for the organization. Everyone is invited!

—  John Wright

Struggling Youth First Texas forced to cut summer hours, issues call for donations

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Staff writer David Taffet will have much more on Youth First Texas in Friday’s Voice, but frankly this situation sounds almost too grave to wait three days. YFT’s Board of Directors has issued a statement that hints the 10-year-old organization for LGBTQ youth is in somewhat dire financial straits. Read the full statement after the jump. To contribute to Youth First, go here. 

Continue reading “Struggling Youth First Texas forced to cut summer hours, issues call for donations” »

—  John Wright

Fears for Queers coming to Dallas

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fearsforqueersnewsAs controversy continues over Israel Luna’s new movie, “Ticked-Off Trannies With Knives,” I was fascinated to find out that another gay filmmaker is playing an instrumental role in  launching a new film festival this summer in Dallas.

The fest is called “Fears for Queers,” and it is an LGBT-themed horror film festival.

Straight man Andrew Rose and gay independent filmmaker Shawn Ewert — “the folks who brought you the Texas Bloodbath Film Festival,” according to Fangoria.com — are now looking for LGBT horror films to be part of Fears for Queers, which starts June 19 at Studio Movie Grill in Addison. The deadline for submitting films for the fest is May 1. (Hmmm. I don’t think that gives me enough time to write a script, film a movie and edit it.)

I love B-movie “creature features” and ghosty movies and all those giant mutant man-eating gopher movies you see on the SyFy channel on weekends. But slasher/horror flicks have never really been my cup of tea.

But considering that Rose and Ewert intend to use this fest to raise money and awareness for Youth First Texas, I think I will go and watch some blood and gore come June 19.

Go to Fangoria.com to read their story about Fears for Queers, and then go to DOABloodbath.com or RightLeftTurnProductions.com to find out more about how to submit your movie (full-length or short) and other info.

—  admin

Creating Change: Day 4

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What an amazing day at Creating Change.

As I walked into the hotel, I met an old friend, Marilyn Bennett. She is the former development director of Resource Center Dallas and now lives in Montana and is working on a video project called Truth in Progress. Well, first we had to catch up and then I helped her with rustling up the gays. So much for workshop sessions 5 and 6 this morning.

I got back on track with an award presentation to Aiden Aizumi, 21, from Trevor Project in Los Angeles.

He said, “I wouldn’t have been able to overcome my problems without my friends in the community.” But I think his mom helped as well. She was there and got as big a standing ovation as Aiden.

Writer Kai Wright moderated a panel of youth from across the country. The guys from Youth First Texas, Cynthia and Jesus, did us proud. What was interesting was that some of the lack of services and problems faced by LGBT youth elsewhere have been well addressed in Dallas.

And favorite Kate Clinton line of the day. She reminded us how Cheney attended Obama’s inauguration in a wheelchair. The story was he hurt is back carrying boxes. “Oh, please,” Clinton said. “He shredded everything months ago.”

Then I met Yousif and Nawfal. They’re two gay Iraqis who escaped to Syria and then to the United States. They’re currently living in Houston and seeking asylum. More about them in this week’s paper.

I attended a workshop on intergenerational storytelling. Yes, I was one of the old people, for any of you who were going to add a snotty comment.

Had lunch with Alex, my KNON intern/”Lambda Weekly” helper. We went over to the food court at Plaza of the Americas where it was all queer. What fun. Had dinner with the Bi’s. BiNet’s hospitality suite kept us well-fed and where people of all colors had a spirited discussion about whether or not Matt Goodman was a person of color. I settled the argument by explaining that green was not a color.

Trans slam poet Kit Yan (powerful) entertained and so did New York comedian Vidur Kapur (hysterical). But the hit of the evening? Youth First Texas put on the pre-show. Two of their members were Lady Gaga and Beyonce. They and their backup dancers were incredible. The entire house was on their feet.

Creating Change ends Sunday morning with Vogue Evolution. And our guests from the Philadelphia and Washington areas (and there are lots of them) may be here for an extended stay. Because of snow, their airports are closed, American Airlines has already canceled more than 500 flights today. And Creating Change may just continue.

—  David Taffet

The Bully Suicide Project debuts PSA

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I mentioned last month that Campus Harmony and Youth First Texas started the Bully Suicide Project, an effort to reduce bullying in schools (and even beyond), with a powerful photo campaign. They add to that today with the launch of their video PSA now on YouTube. But you can catch it below.

—  Rich Lopez

A definite bright spot …

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I am almost 50 years old now, but I am not too old to remember what it felt like to grow up “different,” being picked on and taunted and teased. And as a parent now, I know that it has, in many ways, gotten even more difficult for kids who don’t fi “the norm” — the smart kid, the overweight kid, the new kid in school, the kid with glasses, the kid with parents who definitely aren’t traditional.

It’s frightening to be a parent. It’s frightening to be an LGBT adult seeing the discrimination and outright hate our LGBT youth are faced with every day. And it has gotten even more frightening over the last month or so as stories have made headlines about LGBT youth being assaulted, raped, murdered, mutilated — Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado in Puerto Rico, Jason Mattison Jr. in Baltimore, Jayron Martin in Houston, an unnamed teenager in Liverpool and, most recently, an unnamed teen in Texas’ Big Bend area.

All this just since mid-November! Every day I come to work expecting to hear word of another attack on the youth of my community, and every day I worry that my own children might fall victim to some form of hatred or violence. I admit, it’s put quite a damper on my holiday spirit.

But last night, I found a bright spot, a ray of hope that at least some LGBT youth have someone to look out for them, someone who won’t turn away from them or, worse yet, strike out at them. It came in the form of an e-mail from a man named Mike.

Continue reading “A definite bright spot …” »

—  admin

Campus Harmony and YFT launch the Bully Suicide Project with photo shoot

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Today launched the beginning of the Bully Suicide Project with the release of their photo shoot by local photographer, Tracy Nanthavongsa. Youth First Texas played a big part in the shoot as many of their members were the subject of these digital post cards. The man responsible behind it all is Beaux Wellborn. As a volunteer for YFT and a motivational speaker with Campus Harmony, he had enough of seeing kids coming in beat up or with bruises. Thus, he conceived the project.

“Kids jumped at the chance to tell their stories,” he said.

Continue reading “Campus Harmony and YFT launch the Bully Suicide Project with photo shoot” »

—  Rich Lopez

Morning News covers Youth First Texas

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YFT

The Dallas Morning News did a wonderful job in its Youth First Texas story this morning. Of course, in the comments, the crazies are out gay bashing a group that first and foremost prevents teen suicide.

The Morning News does a great job of explaining just what the organization does.

“Members help maintain the group’s Web site. Some take dance lessons, while others sing or watch movies,” the paper explains. Scandalous, huh?

Well, you know the crazies. Mention the word gay and they see red. Or pink. Might be worth a comment or two or – as Shelley Koeffler (then with Channel 8 ) once said to me at a demonstration where the right wing was out in force, “We’ll just let the bigots speak for themselves.”

—  David Taffet

YFT reveals new logo

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To mark its 10th anniversary, Youth First Texas has designed a new logo. Here it is:

YFT-10-Year-LOGO

—  Arnold Wayne Jones

'SuperLatina' episode about LGBT Latino issues airs tomorrow morning on Telemundo

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LGBT Latinos will get some television face time tomorrow morning. SuperLatina host Gabriela Natale e-mailed to remind that her episode, “Latino and Gay: Stories from a Minority within a Minority,” airs tomorrow at 8 a.m. on Telemundo 39. She does a lot more than talk to youth as mentioned in my previous post about this. She broke down how tomorrow’s show will play out:

Continue reading “'SuperLatina' episode about LGBT Latino issues airs tomorrow morning on Telemundo” »

—  Rich Lopez