To our beloved community:

On Thursday, April 10th, a group of Christo-fascists showed up outside of our center prior to our scheduled drag program for LGBTQIA+ youth.

We want to take a moment to reflect on what 2024 looked like for us, and what we have to look forward to in 2025. We’ve all experienced a lot of transitions, uncertainty, and upheaval, but we’ve also had a lot of opportunities for growth and community.

Our hearts and minds are heavy as Hurricane Helene's devastation continues to unfold. Our community has experienced unthinkable loss, yet community is what is holding us together during this extremely difficult time for Western North Carolina (WNC) and our Appalachian neighbors. 

Being a Youth OUTright fellow has undoubtedly been a transformative experience for me. I am so grateful to have found this opportunity in such a pivotal time in my life.

We want to be abundantly clear: the Israeli occupation of Palestine is a genocide. We are not witnessing a “war” or “conflict”. The occupation of Palestine and Gaza is a continuation of Western settler colonialism. We believe that it is important to delineate between anti-zionism and anti-semitism.

In 2016, I walked up the stairs into a crowded room of teenagers on the top floor of a church, teaching each other about consent, safer sex and chipping away at the gender binary every Sunday. I had no idea how deeply this organization would affect me, professionally and personally.

As we get into the swing of the new year, we want to take a moment and reflect on 2023. Youth OUTright has experienced some incredible growth over the past year and we’ve also seen a frightening rise of transphobic behaviors, ideas, and misinformation. Not just locally, but across the south and the country at large. Let us celebrate our community by sharing the story of our joy, resilience, and resistance.

This summer, in the face of an onslaught of interpersonal, cultural, institutional, and state attacks on our community we chose to prioritize our own organizational infrastructure and systems of care. In a three-day retreat in Maggie Valley, we played, we laughed, we ate, and we WERKED, honey. 

By simply being, you are living out our transcestors and queer ancestors’ dreams of a life lived authentically. No state decision can take that away from you. You should be so incredibly proud to be. Your Queer and Trans existence is more than enough. You should not have to fight these attacks, but if you choose to, know that Youth OUTright emphatically and proudly stands with you.

To youth reading this:

We see and honor you. We believe in your right to be your full, whole self. We continue to hold space for Queer, Trans, and gender expansive youth both virtually and in person.

Thank you for your ongoing support of Youth OUTright and LGBTQIA+ young people. As the year winds to an end, we want to reflect on all we have accomplished together.

There’s been a lot of publicity around LGBTQ+ materials in local libraries this year –and oh yes, we’ve got some! If you’re looking for some new, relatable stories with wonderful queer representation, here are a few books now available at the East Asheville Library. These titles (and more!) are available to readers all across western North Carolina through our shared catalog. 

We will not allow our existence to be questioned or overlooked. We are in the South. We are in Appalachia. We are in Western North Carolina.

We are everywhere. And we will continue to stand together, uplifting each other's voices and celebrating our differences in solidarity.

Recently, Youth OUTright was approached by a city representative and invited to be part of Asheville’s Pride Proclamation. We were offered a chance to read the proclamation that was to be signed by Mayor Esther Manheimer prior to the meeting.

We are Trans. We are Intersex. We are Two-Spirit. We are Asexual. We are Queer. We are Lesbian. We are Bisexual. We are Gay. We have always been, and forever we will be.

Prom. A cultural phenomenon that’s been captivating the minds of high school students for decades. It has been the focus of countless movies and shows. It’s the experience that supposedly wraps your high school years up in a pretty bow.

While many people, youth and adults alike, still consider attending prom to be a “right of passage” for some mysterious reason, there’s a lot to unpack about why the traditional prom is not always a welcoming space for everyone, particularly queer and trans teens.

It was a cold night and I decided to step inside a building I'd seen a long time ago as it was cold. Entered the Lazy Tavern (apparently a decent meeting spot in the center of town).

As seasons change, Youth OUTright is also moving through some transitions, and we want to take some time to celebrate where we’ve been and also welcome the growth and changes coming in our future!

Fetishization is the reduction of a person to aspects of their body, identity, or relationship structure. A person is found to be attractive solely due to these characteristics and could be exchanged with anyone else with the same characteristics. Fetishization permeates the queer community, existing for and within it. This results in a variety of impacts, all of which are ultimately harmful to some degree.