Introducing the LGBTQ Equality Blog!
On 23 July 2021, we released a blog titled “Why We Are CALM,” explaining why we started this platform and our future goals. Back when we first launched this website, it only contained blogs about LGBTQ+ mental health, a few resources for the community, and a Facts page where you could educate yourself and others on LGBTQ+ mental health. We called ourselves the Community Advocates for LGBTQ+ Mental Health.
Now, we’ve outgrown that name and mission. We witness the continued unjust criminalization of our community in states such as Alabama, Florida, Texas, Utah, and many more. While traumatic and dramatic acts of discrimination significantly influence the mental health of our community, they also impact our economic freedoms and social spaces. That’s why we have broadened our mission to include the fight for economic and social equality while maintaining mental health equality as our core focus.
We recognize that these issues are not new. They’ve been burdening the LGBTQ+ community since our country’s founding. In the beginning, we focused only on mental health for multiple reasons. Some examples were resource availability, our personal experiences, and funding limitations. But now that we have joined forces with organizations and individuals across the USA to expand our mission and impact, we can responsibly dedicate the time, funding, and effort required to broaden our focus.
Our first step in this process was changing our name. We are now the Advocates for LGBTQ Equality, and this is now the LGBTQ Equality Blog. Our podcast will soon undergo a similar name and design change, so stay tuned! Our next steps were expanding our team, researching our new focus areas, and setting up action plans for you all to participate in to create change. Our new Take Action page is Live! From now on, we will post blogs and podcasts, host events, and offer training sessions on mental health, economic, and social equality for LGBTQ+ individuals.
A few things have remained the same. We are still collaborating with Humanity Rising to offer high school and college students service-learning hours and scholarship opportunities for reading blogs, participating in events, and listening to podcasts. We released a new student opportunity page!
Additionally, we are still dedicated to expanding our free database of resources. We receive no payment to post third-party links and do not receive compensation if you click on or purchase anything from those links. This policy gives you peace of mind that we offer only valuable resources and do so for only one reason: you deserve them.
With a new name and look, we venture into the new era of this blog with excitement and hopefulness. We hope our readers will too!
