Youth Pride 2015!!! Photos

Hello Everyone!

I had my homies send me pictures of them at Youth Pride!

Here they are!

All my True Colors homies! In front (Left to Right): Stephanie R., Dede,and  Jessy

Behind (Left to Right): Kaamila, Asher, Elyas, Stephanie S., Kiana, Ny, Kim, Erick, Me, Alex, and Stevie

Marching in the Parade!

Left to Right: Dede and Kim

Left to Right: Ollie and Me

In the front: (left to right) Dede and Me

In the back: (Also left to right) Stephanie and Asher

Left to Right: Taqari, Milo, Kemy, and Stevie

Left to Right: Stevie, Kriss, and Erick

Left to Right: Stevie, Dede, Me, and Kim

Left to Right: Cam (The Bey) and Arnold

Left to Right: Amanda, Helen, Elliot, Ayden, Hannah, Cassie

Left to Right: Hannah, Ayden, Cassie

Left to right: Kiana and Ny

Here are everyone's Pronouns (words to use to refer to someone when you aren't using their name)

Remember to ask, and not assume people's pronouns:

Dede- She/Her/Hers

Kim- She/Her/Hers, They/Them/Theirs

Ollie- They/Them/Theirs

Stephanie S. - She/Her/Hers, They/Them/Theirs

Asher- He/Him/His, They/Them/Theirs

Taqari- He/Him/His

Milo- He/Him/His

Kemy- He/Him/His

Stevie-She/Her/Hers

Kriss-They/Them/Theirs

Erick- He/Him/His

Cameron- They/Them/Theirs

Arnold- He/Him/His

Stephanie R.- She/Her/Hers

Kaamila- She/Her/Hers, They/Them/Theirs

Elyas-  He/Him/His

Kiana- She/Her/Hers

Ny- She/Her/Hers

Alex- He/Him/His

Jessy- She/Her/Hers

Amanda- They/Them/Theirs

 Helen- They/Them/Theirs

Elliot- He/Him/His

Ayden- He/Him/His

Hannah- They/Them/Theirs

Cassie- They/Them/Theirs

Happy Youth Pride Everyone!!! :D

Youth Pride 2015!!! An Interview

Hey Y'all, 

Yesterday was youth pride!

First we marched through Downtown, a bunch of people were watching and recording us on their phones. 

Then we got back to the festival with the community resources and performances.

 It was a little boring because the music wasn't that great but it got better at the end by the prom, we were all dancing and having a good time. 

Overall, it was a good day. 

I could really feel the pride and happiness in everyone, 

In themselves, in each other, in their identities. 

It was a beautiful experience. 

So I asked my partner Cam, 

1.What is youth pride?

2.What makes you proud to be a part of this community?

3. What can we do to improve the community?

4. What are you looking forward to for the future of the community?

And they said:

1. "Its like Pride, its a chance to stand with the LGBTQ community, specifically the youth. 

Youth Pride comes in three segments: Its the march around the Boston Common, its the um, festival and concert, and then it's the bomb ass party at the end of the night".

2. "They are accepting to a part of me that isn't accepted in most places. Being in a space with so many queer youth is very different form say a typical situation in which I am one of the only queer youth in the room. I have more room to be myself, to express the part of my identity that can't come out in other situations like school or work".

3. "Recognize that even though people are part of the LGBTQ community, they can still be ignorant. We need to educate people about the intersectionalities of the people around them. We need to support the LGBTQ youth of color, I'm tired of all these events being over run by white kids from the suburbs. We need to find out what the LGBTQ youth of color need and help them get it".

4. "More education. Less annoying ignorant people. A focus more on Trans rights. To be less of a spectacle and more of a celebration. Oh yeah, I'm also looking forward to actually having a good DJ next year. No wait, don't put that in".

Thanks Bey for letting me interview you :)

Love you!

Youth Pride is May 16th, 2015!!!

Hey Everyone!

Good news: Its the start of the Pride Festival and Parade Season!

Some of you may be asking, "Kyle, what's Pride?"

Good question Amigxs!

Pride is a celebration of every individual in the LGBTQ+ community!

It started long ago...

Picture it, June 28, 1969, a hot summer day in New York.

Being LGBTQ+ is a criminal act at this time. 

No holding hands with your partner in the street, not being able to express your gender in the way you feel, being arrested for even being suspected of being gay. 

A crowd of people in the community are gathered at their favorite underground bar, the Stonewall Inn.

As usual, the police are making their daily rounds to see who they can arrest for "homosexual activity". 

They get rough with the patrons. 

The community are fed up with the way they are treated. 

Marsha P.Johnson (Activist extraordinaire + Black Trans Woman)

and other Trans women of color lead the group, finally fighting back against injustice. 

This led to protesting and more. 

These events were known as the Stonewall Riots, and what was the catalyst for the LGBTQ+ rights movement. 

Since then, the goal of Pride is for people in the community to party! For people to express themselves, 

and embrace everyone in it. 

We have a lot of work to do within our community, but Pride is a time for us to come together and just have fun.

Everyone of every age comes to Boston Pride (on June 13th this year)

But Youth Pride , as the name implies, is just for youth. (When I say youth I mean people ages 14-22)

I bring this up because Massachusetts Youth Pride is in a week!!!

Its next Saturday, May 16th, 2015!

Here's how its gonna go:

9:30am to 10:30am - Peeps from ALL OVER Massachusetts (and I mean seriously, people from all over)

come and gather next to City Hall, you can check in and register to march at this time

12:00am- Next, we start marching around the Boston Commons chanting and cheering

11:00am to 4:00pm- Later, we get back to City Hall & enjoy the festival:

Its gonna be emceed by my homies, Stephanie and Taqari!!!

Performances by a variety of people including my friend Ny :D

A community and resource fair, with different booths for neat organizations like the Hispanic Black Gay Coalition, BAGLY**, GLASS**, Fenway Health and more!

And a DJ playing some righteous tunes you can dance to!

7pm to 11:00pm- And last but not least, BAGLY prom!

You do not need to dress up, its super casual 

Its free IF you get tested for HIV any time in May before and the day of Pride at BAGLY headquarters, otherwise its $15

Dope music plays all night 

Chilling with your homies

Photo booth

Gender Neutral bathrooms

And free condoms... everywhere

And that's the rundown of Youth Pride, 

I hope I see you there! :D

**BAGLY stands for Boston Alliance of LGBTQ+ Youth

GLASS stands for LGBTQ+ Adolescent Social Services 

Ps. BAGLY is located at 14 Beacon Street on the 3rd floor, its across from the State House (building with the golden dome on top)

Break the Chains: Come see BlackOUT!!!

You probably know by now, because I've said it a billion times, if you don't, I'll let you know, 

I'm in a theater troupe called True Colors, 

A theater program for LGBTQ+ youth, ages 14-22. 

Our program has extended, adding another group called BlackOUT!

"BlackOUT, a project of The Theater Offensive’s True Colors: OUT Youth Theater program, is a performance group of young, queer Black artists who use artistic expression to amplify the Black experience. This group was formed in response to violence against Black bodies and in solidarity with the movement to end that violence. BlackOUT performs original pieces to lift up their stories and break down barriers of homophobia and racism."

-Info from The Theater Offensive website

Anywho, a lot of my friends are in BlackOUT and they are performing 

This Saturday, May 9th 2015, 

at Break The Chains, which is a 

"A semi monthly all ages, all gender, all genres dance liberation party headlined by nationally touring Queer and Trans performers", from 5pm to 10pm. 

Its happening at the Makeshift community space at 549 Columbus Ave, 

Boston, MA 02118. 

I hope to see you there!

Featured This Week: Josh!!! :D

Hello Everyone, 

Hope you all are having a good day :)

I know its hard, because there's a lot going in this fucked up world, 

So I hope that my blog can be a safer space for you to get away, relax, and have a moment of happiness before you go back into the harsh struggles of real life. 

I haven't done this in a while, so I think its long overdue for a Featured Friend. 

This is a person I didn't know I'd become friends with, but I'm glad I did. 

This person is a true individual, open and honest, and one of the friendliest people you'll ever meet. 

He's the type of person to wave to you in the halls, and chat with you on the way to class. 

Herrrrrrrrre's Josh!!!

(All this info he gave me word for word)

Name: Joshua Morad

Pronouns: He/him/his

School: Boston Latin Academy

Likes: hugs, video games, drawing, writing, and fries!

Dislikes: sea food, mean people

About me: I am romantic asexual* and I spend a lot of time drawing and lately I've gotten really into writing. I attend a YMCA leader's club some fridays, though a big reason I go is to hang out after the meetings and play scrabble.I love playing games like that too, not just video games. I like to talk to people a lot and make new friends ^__^ ! I'm also in my school Rainbow Alliance, which is really awesome! It'll be my first and last year in it, which is too bad, but I'll enjoy it while it lasts :D

**Reminder! 

Asexual means: Does not experience sexual attraction, 

If you are a romantic asexual, that means even though you don't experience sexual attraction, 

You can experience romantic attraction 

(Romantic Attraction: who you like, who you wanna cuddle, hold hands with, etc. or nah)

PRONOUNS :D

"Know your pronouns, they're so easy

Know your pronouns, please respect me, 

Please know your pronouns, 

Please know your pronouns!

He, She, They/Them, Ze/Zim/Zir!

And many more!!!"

That is a song from my upcoming musical Louder Than Words!

Some of you may be saying to yourselves, 

"Kyle! What the heck is a pronoun? Why do I have to know what they are?"

To that I respond, 

Very good question friend! 

A pronoun is a word you use when referring to someone when you aren't using their name.

 For example, She/Her/Hers, or They/Them/Theirs. They come in sets.

 They are a part of someone's self identification, so respect a persons pronouns. 

How do you know what someone's pronouns are?

Ask them politely!

Some of you are probably saying,
"But Kyle, They/Them/Theirs pronouns aren't grammatically correct!"

And to that I say,

Stop. The point of using someone's pronouns is to demonstrate that you respect their identity, and that you want them to feel safe around you. If you think that an arbitrary system of rules is more important than making other people feel accepted and safe, that's a big problem.

I get it, when I first met people who didn't use She/Her/Hers or He/Him/His pronouns I messed up all the time.
But I realized, this is a part of who this person is, and by not even trying to call them by the correct pronouns, I'm being really disrespectful.
And then I realized I was Transgender.
It gets frustrating people calling me she all the time, when my pronouns are He/Him/His.
People don't ask, they just assume because of the way I dress, and thats something I have to deal with.
People can get called the wrong pronouns all day, it gets really discouraging.
As an ally, you have the chance to show someone you care, so do it!

I'd also like to add that just because someone identifies with a certain gender (or not), doesn't necessarily mean they use certain pronouns. 

Like, just because someone identifies as a woman, maybe they don't feel like She/Her/Hers pronouns feel right to them, so they use They/Them/Theirs for their pronouns. 

When you're introducing yourself to someone, or letting someone know your pronouns, refrain from saying things like, "Male pronouns" when you mean He/Him/His or "Female pronouns" when you mean She/Her/Hers, or gendering any other pronouns. 

Just because someone isn't a girl or boy, doesn't mean they can't use those pronouns, and when you say "Male", "Female", "Feminine", or Masculine" pronouns, 

it implies that you have to be a certain gender to use certain pronouns. 

Anyone can use any set of pronouns that feels right for them. 

Here's a chart I made, with different pronouns people use:

(There are many more, Look them up!)

Project FLUID: What does it mean to be LGBTQ+?

Hello my Friends!

I got inspired and decided I wanted to do this project I think is really righteous!

I call it:
Project FLUID: Youth documentation on sexuality, gender identity, expression, romantic orientation, and more!

Basically, I want y'all's art, pictures, videos, dance, a poem, or whatever, on your experience being LGBTQ+!

What does your identity in this community mean to you?

You could talk about coming out, or paint a picture of someone you like, a poem about how different parts of your identity intersect (for example, being Black and Transgender), or maybe send a video of you singing a song thats all about pride.

These are only a couple examples of the many different things you can do!

You can also team up with your friends or whoever!

Hopefully a lot of you submit so I can put up beautiful work everyday, or at least a couple a week.

With anything you submit, please include your:
  Name, Pronouns**, a little about you, and how you identify in the LGBTQ+ community!

Ask me any questions in the comment section, you can send in any of your pieces to my email: kylediaz35@gmail.com!

**Pronouns are the words you use you use when referring to someone when you aren't using their name. For example she, her, hers, or they, them, theirs.
They are a part of someone's self identification, so respect a persons pronouns!
How do you know what someone's pronouns are?
Ask them politely!