Ær Queen
To say that the climate in Virginia is not friendly for transgender, nonbinary, and gender expansive students in public K-12 schools right now would be an astonishing understatement. With the introduction of the new model policies the Department of Education has effectively announced the rollback of recently won rights for trans Virginians, and we want to directly support the people who are targeted by the policy:
transgender, nonbinary, gender expansive, and other LGBTQ+ students.
Fortunately, there is an amazing youth activist organization in Virginia called Pride Liberation Project, "the only student-led organization advocating for LGBTQIA+ rights in Virginia."
The group is already organizing actions and responses to the new policy, making statements, and providing education.
Anyone who has ever done activism and advocacy work knows that a willingness and drive to do the work only goes so far: having funds to do the work is tantamount.
Prior to the surprise announcement from the VA DOE on September 16, Nicholas and I were planning on doing another run of our "Trans Kids Belong" shirts to help fund our travel to present at conferences. After the announcement, we both agreed that any fundraising we do needs to directly support the efforts of trans and queer students.
I Stand with Trans Virginians
We designed this shirt to show visible solidarity and as a means to financially support PLP too. 100% of the proceeds from these shirts and any additional donations will go directly to Pride Liberation Project, for them to use in the way that best fits their needs.
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