It’s Pride Month—an important time of the year when we all get to celebrate each other; to give praise and recognition for the people who sacrificed and fought for a clear path to inclusion, the freedom to express our identities, and safety in loving each other out loud. And/but…it’s hard to celebrate when much of our country is in mourning and is still fuming from the ongoing injustices brought upon the Black community.
This month, I Need Space planned on presenting six incredible artists to usher us into a weekend of celebration of Pride. After witnessing weeks of demonstrations and protests all over the United States and in many countries around the world, we were inspired to shift gears and focus on bringing light and making space for the Black Lives Matter movement.
On June 1, I Need Space, along with many folks in the music industry, participated in #blackouttuesday and #theshowmustbepaused. We took a pause in reverence for the leaders in the Black community and let their voices be heard, and to join the community in remembering the people who were brutally murdered by law enforcement officers. We pledged to continue to use our platform to uplift and amplify this cause.
In solidarity and support for the movement, the leadership at I Need Space have decided to take a knee this month.
Today, June 20, we will highlight twelve organizations that focus on bettering the lives of queer and Black people.
Click the names of the organizations to visit their websites.
Black Trans Travel Fund
The Black Trans Travel Fund is a grassroots, mutual aid based organization developed for the purpose of providing Black transgender women with the financial resources necessary for them to be able to self-determine and access their safest travel options.
The Marsha P. Johnson Institute
The Marsha P. Johnson Institute (MPJI) protects and defends the human rights of BLACK transgender people. We do this by organizing, advocating, creating an intentional community to heal, developing transformative leadership, and promoting our collective power.
The Transgender District
The mission of the Transgender District is to create an urban environment that fosters the rich history, culture, legacy, and empowerment of transgender people and its deep roots in the southeastern Tenderloin neighborhood. The transgender district aims to stabilize and economically empower the transgender community through ownership of homes, businesses, historic and cultural sites, and safe community spaces.
The Okra Project
The Okra Project is a collective that provides resources and meals to Black trans people. The Okra Project has also set up The Nina Pop Mental Health Recovery Fund and The Tony McDade Mental Health Recovery Fund, emergency mutual aid funds that raise money for mental health therapy.
LGBTQ Freedom Fund
We work to build a critical mass against the mass detention of LGBTQ individuals — a tangle of discrimination and poverty disproportionately puts them behind bars.
Transgender Law Center (BLMP)
BLMP envisions a world where no one is forced to give up their homeland, where all Black LGBTQIA+ people are free and liberated. We build and center the power of Black LGBTQIA+ migrants to ensure the liberation of all Black people through community-building, political education, creating access to direct services, and organizing across borders. Led by a directly impacted steering committee and staff and housed at the Transgender Law Center and, we build power, community, and knowledge in the U.S., while challenging the role the U.S. plays globally in creating the conditions that force us to leave our homes.
BLMP is providing cash assistance to Black LGBTQ+ migrants and first generation people dealing with the impact of COVID-19. Click “Donate to BLMP” to the right to support this work.
Lavender Rights Project
Lavender Rights Project (LRP) advances a more just and equitable society by providing low-cost civil legal services and community programming centered in values of social justice for trans and queer low-income people and other marginalized communities.
Black Trans Femmes in the Art
Black Trans Femmes in the Arts is a collective of Black trans femmes dedicated to creating space for ourselves in the arts and beyond.
Trans Women Of Color Collective
Our work is led by the narratives, leadership and voices of our community members who exist at the nexus of state sanctioned violence; sex workers, poor people, homelessness and folk experiencing housing insecurity, folks deeply entrenched in complex, seemingly inescapable traumatic environments. Through healing and restorative justice, are building a network of trans, non-binary Black and people of color who are artists, healers, entrepreneurs and creators sharing and cultivating sustainable projects for us and by us.
Youth Break Out
BreakOUT! seeks to end the criminalization of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth to build a safer and more just New Orleans.BreakOUT! seeks to end the criminalization of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth to build a safer and more just New Orleans.
We build on the rich cultural tradition of resistance in the South to build the power of LGBTQ youth ages 13-25 and directly impacted by the criminal justice system through youth organizing, healing justice, and leadership development programs.
Princess Janae Place
The mission of Princess Janae Place is to help people of trans experience maximize their full potential as they transition from homelessness to independent living. Princess Janae Place fulfills our mission by offering a safe space for people of trans experience to connect with community, access gender affirming support, as well as engage in educational and recreational activities. Princess Janae Place serves as a critical referral source for our members to secure housing navigation, substance use and mental health resources, legal assistance, job training/placement and health care.
SNaP Coalition
The solutions not punishment colabborative is a black trans and queer led collaborative that builds the power of our people to wage and win campaigns that force systemic divisement from the prison industrial complex and investment in the services and supports us. This mission is grounded in our commitment toward ending the mass crisis of passive genocide, incarceration, and criminalization of black trans women, trans/queer people and the larger black community.