Support Queer Youth this Pride (and Beyond)!

FYP client rocking gender affirming cosmetics

This Pride, the Free to Be Youth Project is partnering with Prism United and Magic City Acceptance Center, two LGBTQ+ community centers in Alabama, to continue to bridge the gap between urban and rural queer advocacy.

With the rise in anti-LGBTQ+ legislation disproportionately impacting youth in Southern states, we created the Rainbow Line Initiative to partner with community centers in states that are hit the hardest. We identify donors to sponsor care packages and provide our partner organizations with goodies including gender-affirming makeup, sensory supports, LGBTQ+ literature, and know-your-rights information. The goal is to build a relationship between urban and rural queer communities by sending care packages. From there, we work with our partners to find other ways to cross communicate among the youth we are serving. We explore curated Goodreads community forum, Dischord discussions, and other ways to connect queer youth in the face of censorship and isolation.

We successfully piloted this program with the Oasis Center in Nashville, Tennessee, the only queer centered youth intervention center in Tennessee.  You can check out some of the press highlighting our collaboration in Nashville Scene and Vanderbilt Hustler.

Now, we are turning our attention to Alabama where there are an estimated 30,000 LGBTQ+ youth in Alabama, ages 13-17. Notably, 74% of LGBTQ+ youth in Alabama report experiencing discrimination based on sexual orientation and/orgender identity.

From 2023 to 2024, there was a 39.3% increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness in Alabama—suggesting a similarly significant increase in the number of unhoused youth across the state. Research has consistently shown that LGBTQ+ youth have a 120% higher risk of experiencing some form of homelessness.

Sponsor a Care Package

Each package we send to Alabama will include books by, and about, LGBTQ+ youth, gender-affirming cosmetics, fidget toys, and Know Your Rights information. By supporting our partnership, we can collectively make a difference in the lives, and communities, of queer and questioning youth in Alabama Packages are $50.

Sponsor a Care Package Here!

After Pride

Pride is not the end of our efforts to build a bridge rural and urban queer advocacy. We hope to continue this with

• Accessible and interactive Goodreads discussion boards
• Bi-Monthly virtual book club to foster community between LGBTQ+ youth
• Continued efforts to donate needed resources and support