
Help Us Build Our Resources Page!
So, we were hanging around at twilight in Queereka Valley by the waterfall the other day, drinking mimosas served to us on silver trays fastened to the backs of tamed ladybugs the size of golden retrievers (as we are wont to do) and discussing possible static pages to add to the site when Will, King of the Man-Fairies, made what I found to be a pretty damn awesome suggestion:
“What if we were to have a set of secular, science-based resources for LGBTQ people? Links, information, charities, non-profits, that kind of thing?”
I was so excited, I nearly dropped my parasol!
I also had the thought that this was exactly the kind of thing that we could get our readers involved in, to help build up a sense of community, and offer a really valuable resource to LGBTQ folk out there in internetland who are in need of exactly this kind of thing.
So, I’d very much like to invite you, our Queereka readers, to send in any links you feel will be helpful to include on our resources page. Specifically, what we’re looking for is:
– Reliable, scientifically-based health information and resources for LGBTQ people or that would be of considerable value for the same. For example, sexual health information and resources for people who engage in same-sex intimacy, mental health resources for LGBTQ individuals, reliable and accurate information on hormone replacement therapy, sexual reassignment surgery, top surgery, hystorectomy, facial feminization surgery and other health procedures for transitioners, accurate and non-politicized information on HIV / AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, etc.
– Secular, non-religiously-affiliated charities that either specifically serve LGBTQ people in need or have a very good reputation for being welcoming and queer-friendly; shelters, food banks, clothing resources, etc.
– Domestic violence shelters that are welcoming of LGBTQ individuals.
– Support groups, addiction recovery groups, no-charge therapy, and other mental health resources that are both secular and geared towards LGBTQ individuals.
– Places to find accurate, reliable, methodologically sound studies and statistics on LGBTQ topics and social issues that can be of value to those who may need to combat misinformation and provide concrete data.
– Message boards and support forums for LGBTQ people that have a secular tilt, supportive of critical thought and science, do not have a strong tilt towards psuedoscience or woo, and are welcoming of people without a religious affiliation.
– Places that provide strong arguments against religious admonishments of LGBTQ relationships, lives or identities.
– Secular activist organizations that work towards LGBTQ rights.
– Anything else you feel could be of value to LGBTQ skeptics, atheists and non-believers.
If you have any links or organizations, please use either the contact form or e-mail us at [email protected].
Readers who help out will be credited, adored, and perhaps rewarded in some semi-tangible fashion. We’re broke, but we’ll figure something out. 🙂
Thanks in advance!
Well to start off I’d recomend Stonewall http://www.stonewall.org.uk
Charity and help with home, school and work.
*cough*
Unless you’re trans. If so, stay away.
I was shocked by how shocking the suggestion was. I even had to fetch the smelling salts!
I’m super excited about this, and I hope lots of people will contribute to building a great resource page. =)
Remember when Bip dropped their monocle into the mimosa? I nearly swooned! Thank goodness Rachel was there to catch me!
Ingersoll Gender Center in Seattle
http://www.ingersollcenter.org/
Seattle Counseling Services for Sexual Minorities
http://www.seattlecounseling.org/
I started a group on Autostraddle.com for queer skeptics, but so far it’s very quiet and not very active.
I am not very involved in my local queer community but there is the Utah Pride Center
http://www.utahpridecenter.org/
Under the suport category: http://www.Bigender.net (specifically http://forum.bigender.net) is a home for bigender and other non-binary-gender-identified people to find support and resources. I am an atheist and a skeptic myself, so I encourage pro-science, no-woo-based discussions and support. That said, people of religion are welcome – being a minority within a minority, we do not discriminate.
Anyone with a non-bigoted approach to gender is welcome, both within the forums and in the journals, but we focus on topics related to being and identifying bigender(ed).
Affirmations in Ferndale, MI it is a wide reaching organization to help the whole alphabet soup and as such does do some religious things but they are welcoming to the non-religous as well and they have free counseling for those in need as well as an emergency help line
http://www.goaffirmations.org/site/PageServer
For those of us in southwestern Missouri, the GLO Center is our little safe haven. It’s small, and ends up serving a lot of the rural small towns around the area because there’s not much else, but it’s here. http://glocenter.org/
Leading HIV/AIDS awareness activism in the area is the AIDS Project of the Ozarks: http://www.aidsprojectoftheozarks.org/
PROMO is a Missouri-wide group dedicated to activism for the queer community: http://promoonline.org/
Missouri sucks, but there are bright spots of progressiveness, and the religious and secular portions of the queer community (and local progressives in general) are excellent at being open-minded and working together (could be partially because we have a common opponent in the closed-minded religious types fighting against change).
Our government sucks, sure, but Missouri isn’t as bad as you might think. I mean, I live in a flyspeck of a town, but my alderwoman is a trans woman. Go figure.
Promo is pretty awesome. I’m in the Columbia area, so I’ll add The Center Project
I’m not well-acquainted with the Columbia area, but the northern part of the state is a lot better. I’m being pessimistic, as I live in a super-liberal bubble of Springfield, but the general atmosphere of this corner of the state is terribly conservative. Not in the backwards-stepping “radical conservative” sense you find further south, but just because people are afraid of going out on a limb.
Mostly, I dislike Missouri because there’s a significant lack of cultural importation and not a whole lot to do. If I have to stay in one place, it should be a place where I can eat food from dozens of different countries.
Ooooh. I’m looking forward to this. I don’t really know my way around the internet and I would absolutely love resources for skeptic LGBTQ’s. Such a lovely combination. =D Thank you!