Chilling The Right To An Education: Combatting Policies Hostile To LGBTQ Youth
NYC Bar Assc
Project Director Amy Leipziger and Legal Fellow Ashton Hessee discuss The Free to Be Youth Project, and how it provides crucial direct legal services to unhoused LGBTQ youth, empowering them to navigate systemic challenges.Equitable Dress Codes for TGNCNBI Students in NYC Schools
NYC City Council Committee on Education Hearing
Read FYP's City Council Testimony regarding the DOE's dress code policies. While these policies are intended to 'protect students' education,' biased interpretations of this language have sexualized and criminalized students, particularly trans and cis girls, TGNCNBI students, students of color, and low-income students.Mayor Adams Appoints Ronald Porcelli As Director Of NYC Unity Project
Harlem World
“On behalf of the Free to Be Youth Project, we are pleased to congratulate Ronald on this appointment,” said Amy Leipziger, project director, Free to Be Youth Project. “Ronald has dedicated their career to uplifting the needs, and voices, of the diverse LGBTQ+ community in New York City."The Cost of Being Myself: Cosmetics and Gender-Affirming Care
Ms. Magazine
"From physical safety to job security, how your present yourself to the world is critical. To transgender and other LGBTQ+ youth...beauty products like makeup or haircare are neither optional nor frivolous expenses." -Op-ed by Amy Leipziger, Director, Free to Be Youth Project
NYC Schools Must Meet the Needs of LGBTQ+ Youth
City Limits
“By not requiring schools to have genders and sexualities alliances, or pushing for inclusive curriculum in all schools, the DOE is refusing to take important steps proven to increase the health and safety of students.”New Yorkers Deserve a Strong Human Rights Commission
City Limits
"Mayor Eric Adams’s current budget contains even more cuts to the commission which do nothing but create unnecessary harm to everyday New Yorkers." Co-written by Amy Leipziger, Director of Free to Be YouthHomeless Trans Youth Are More Than Just Statistics — We’re Fully Realized People
Teen Vogue
"I also fall under some of many other statistics: I’m among the up to 40% of homeless youth in the US who identify as LGBTQ+. I’m one of approximately 8,400 queer youth in New York City who are homeless." - Co-written by Davina Hayes & Free to Be Youth Project Director Amy LeipzigerNo Child Left Behind: Except queer youth.
The Margins
Though addressing school-based practices is not a global solution for the other adverse childhood experiences for LGBTQ+ youth, it can be a start towards creating a safe space for those in need.Opinion: City Policies Are Harming New York’s Homeless Youth
City Limits
“If Mayor Adams truly wants to make good on his promises to stem the homelessness crisis in the city and provide substantive mental health to the city’s youth, he must first make it easier, not harder, to access safe and affordable housing.”