HAPPY PRIDE! A letter from Froy, LYRIC Queer Educator 2012-2013…

Posted by admin on June 17, 2013  |   Comments Off

DONATE HERE!

Happy Pride! My name is Froilan Luna, but I prefer to be called Froy – it sounds a little bit cuter and gayer. I want to thank you for the support you provide to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQQ) youth by being a donor to LYRIC.

I was born in Oroville, California, but I grew up in a small conservative town in the East Bay. I graduated high school in 2011, and that summer I found LYRIC. Or maybe LYRIC found me.

The first time I heard about LYRIC was at a community organization event. Two LYRIC staff members were facilitating a workshop about Make Up 101. They told me about LYRIC’s PAID summer internship for LGBTQQ youth, and that got my attention right away!

I still remember the first time I was in the Castro all by myself walking down Collingwood Street and seeing this wonderful, bright lavender old-style Victorian house with the LYRIC sign right next to the entrance. I was so nervous because I didn’t know what to expect, but at the same time I was really excited about walking into a queer-friendly place.

I went up the stairs to the entrance and hit the black buzzer. A voice said “Welcome to LYRIC!” and I said “Hi, my name is Froy.” I’ve never felt a door so heavy like the one at LYRIC. Staff told me it was for protection, which made me feel safer. I knew there wouldn’t be any gay-bashing here.

As you might imagine I was anxious throughout my whole first day experience at LYRIC, but the warm and friendly atmosphere there really helped me fight my nervousness. I met with some LYRIC staff members who told me about one of their community building groups that was going on called M.E.E.T. (Men, Educating and Empowering Together). I went through to the back patio where a group of guys were playing board games and listening to music. It was the first time I was around other queer young men and it felt really nice. They were all really friendly and involved me in the activities they were doing so I didn’t feel like the new kid at school.

That same day LYRIC staff members also gave me more information about the summer internship. I felt really nervous when I applied, but I ended up getting an interview, and eventually I was hired as a LYRIC Summer Intern! I learned about social justice, party planning, ate delicious food, hung out with other queer youth like myself and above all got paid – how sweet is that!

Today, as a Queer Educator, I now lead M.E.E.T. Every time participants come through the door, I want them to experience the welcoming and comfortable space I did when it was my first day. I want them to express themselves however they like, which is what community building is all about.

I’m expanding my skills by partnering with a LYRIC Program Assistant to facilitate the social justice trainings for the new Summer Interns. I want them to feel like LYRIC is a space for open dialogue where the issues in our LGBTQQ community can be addressed. I want them to leave with a sense of fulfillment and hope that change can happen. And it will be us who make it happen.

Because of LYRIC I found out who I really am and developed greater self esteem and self-confidence.

Because of LYRIC I can now educate my peers about important issues in the LGBTQ community.

Because of LYRIC I can now conquer the world with no fear.

I can’t even find the words to explain how much love and gratitude I have for LYRIC and its wonderful staff members – especially my Youth Advocate, Erik Martinez, who helped me throughout my journey of young adulthood. He’s helped me so much by making me feel comfortable in my own skin and accepting myself. I can truly call LYRIC my second home.

Please send a donation to LYRIC today. Your donation will make a real difference in the lives of LGBTQQ youth. Support LGBTQQ youth to help them find out who they really are and develop greater self esteem and self-confidence. Support LGBTQQ youth to educate their peers about important issues in the LGBTQ community. Support LGBTQQ young people to conquer the world with no fear.

Thank you for your support!

Froilan “Froy” Luna

LYRIC Queer Educator

P.S. Please renew your support to LYRIC with a generous gift today. Your donation will help ensure LYRIC remains an important part of our community for all queer youth. 


 

Queer Educators 2011-2012: Final Reflection Podcast

Posted by admin on October 19, 2012  |   Comments Off

QE 2012 Podcast by LYRIC.LavenderYouth

Some final words from our amazing Queer Educators 2011-2012, reflecting back on their time at LYRIC. Listen up for first LYRIC impressions, first impressions of each other, funniest moments, and lessons learned.

There’s a lot of time where I notice how gay LYRIC was and I was like, “Wow. It’s really gay.”
-Mia

The first impression I got from LYRIC, right off the bat, was that it just seems warm and welcoming and everybody seemed to really care about each other.
-Stephanie

Much much love to Ose, Lolo, Mia, and Steph!!

Sitting In My Room by Ose Hosea, LYRIC Queer Educator (2009-2012)

Posted by admin on September 12, 2012  |   Comments Off

In 2008, I was a part of a faith-based youth organization in Berkeley, California called Represent 2 Witness (R2W). This song “Sitting In My Room” was the second song I wrote. It’s based on internalized oppression.  I came up with the melody that inspired me to write and collaborated with friends who I met through R2W on the lyrics. It brought up a lot of truth for me because, at the time, I hit my downfall and was struggling with my identity, my faith, my culture, but most of all, my sexual orientation. Every time I perform this song, it’s always a new explanation on what the song means. I enjoyed every moment working on this song. It reminds me of being in my own world thinking about my life and the expectations that I have of people and myself.

LYRIC gave me the opportunity to sing this song for the very first Open Mic/Spoken Word Session and I felt the love from participants. I got a standing ovation, reached out to my own LGBTQ community, and brought out a part of me I didn’t know was there. Music in general has always been a passion of mine and still is today. I am currently a music major at City College of San Francisco, hoping to transfer to Musician’s Institute in Los Angeles. Songwriting and singing gives me a perspective on things. Expressing my feelings, culture, and who I am as a person brings realness to me. I hope that I can one day create a track in the studio and see where that’ll take me!

Sitting In My Room by Ose Hosea

Well I’ve been sittin’ my room feeling so blue
reminiscing of the thoughts of how it use to be cool
lonely days and lonely nights just made my melody low
Don’t you know I loved it so
Never let those fantasies go, you know
Cause I’m tired about me thinkin’ bout you
matter fact I’ll wrap my world around you
Til you see the truth, yeah
Such a pain I have to lose a memory
Every minute, every second, is my everything I need

Just know I loved you so
Never let me go
Let my music flow
So just know

Cause I’m sitting in my room
wondering where my faith has gone?
not feeling blue
Cause I’m sitting in my room
wondering when that comes back to
my life one day

Spreading the (Queer) Gospel by Stephanie Rauda, LYRIC Queer Educator (2011-2012)

Posted by admin on September 4, 2012  |   Comments Off

A couple of days into school my college professor had us pair up and get to know one of our classmates, whom we would later introduce to the entire class. The class was called LGBT Studies/ English 1A which was essentially an English class with queer-focused themes and reading material. I spoke with my partner, a straight, cisgendered boy. As I listened to everyone introduce each other I found out that a majority of them where straight. In fact, a good chunk of them shared that they had no idea this was a queer English course. They just registered into the class because all the other classes were full or they preferred to come into school at this particular hour. What the hell? I was expecting this class to be full of queers. I sunk into my chair, feeling oddly embarrassed and out of place.

As my partner prepared to introduce me I could already predict what was going to come out of his mouth. “So, this is Stephanie and she….” Of course. The dreaded “she.” I considered my situation. If I was going to make a fresh start from high school I was not going to do that in the closet. I politely cut him off. “Actually, I use ‘they’ as a pronoun when I refer to myself.” Everyone stared at me confused and whispering amongst each other. “Yeah, so my name is Steph or Stephanie and I use gender-neutral pronouns when I refer to myself. If you have any questions feel free to ask.” Surprisingly no one had any questions. My classmates seemed to take this information about me in stride. They clapped and we moved on to the next person.

A few days later, a classmate approached me after class. I was expecting her to ask me what a preferred gender pronoun was but instead she asked me if I had any thoughts about her essay topic. Our first essay prompt was to discuss any form of body modification. A couple of times I had participated in class discussions, mentioning chest binders and sexual reassignment surgeries, or as I prefer to call them, gender affirming surgeries. This particular classmate wanted to write about top surgery but seemed to be confused as to where she should start.

I wasn’t sure how to respond to this person. This was the same classmate who wrote in her notebook, “Uses ‘they’ as pronoun” when she wrote my name down as one of her classmate contacts. I silently smiled to myself when I saw that.

It was clear that she saw me as someone who held a level of knowledge regarding trans issues. In that instant, I put my LYRIC hat on. I thought about the Trans 101 I co-facilitated in Transmagic and the list of books we had compiled at the end of it. I mentioned a few of those books to her and also told her that if she had any other questions she could always drop by LYRIC or send me an email. We had a brief discussion about gender identities and said our goodbyes.

I have been a Queer Educator with the Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center (LYRIC) for about a year but have been an employee of LYRIC for about a year and a half. In that time I have organized a dance, thrown glitter, prepared agendas, snapped my fingers, attended trainings, asked for Preferred Gender Pronouns (PGPs), facilitated community building groups and baked gender variant cookie people. Working at LYRIC has provided me with so many newfound skills and talents that I never thought could be implemented outside of this organization. The knowledge I have gained at LYRIC will forever stay with me as I begin educating in places I never would have predicted.