Announcements

Since 1988 LYRIC has provided a safe haven, support and job training for thousands of LGBTQQ youth in San Francisco:  

“LYRIC is like a second home.” 

                         “LYRIC’s about getting you where you need to go!”

                                                “Youth is a time of change. The only constant was LYRIC.”

This past year we asked youth, “What will you do to make your world a better place?”

They jumped at the chance to create three new community-building projects with other LYRIC youth.  It was a powerful experience. 

Sharing Our History:  An Intergenerational Storytelling Project

Ten youth from LYRIC, age 16 to 21.  Eight elders from New Leaf, age 60 to 86. 
They had never met.  They were nervous, not sure if they would understand each other.  But they knew they wanted to share their life stories about being lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning. 

As a first step, youth and elders attended workshops on San Francisco queer history, storytelling and interviewing.  Then youth began to interview elders.

Eighty-year-olds and 18-year-olds found common ground by speaking their truths and by listening with open hearts.

“I came in with the attitude that this might be boring.  But by the end I felt older people were frickin’ awesome!  They paved the way for us, made it easier for us to come out.  Now I realize that being transgender is nothing new.  And someday I’ll be an elder talking to youth about what came before.”
-  Vaughnjareya “Jahne”, age 19

Producers from outLoud Radio taught LYRIC youth how to record and edit their interviews.  Through DVDs, a radio show and a website, they are sharing their intergenerational stories and urging other youth and elders to connect and learn from each other. 

LYRIC’s next intergenerational storytelling group is forming now, and returning youth and elders will be co-facilitators.

Young Queer Women’s Video Project on Violence Prevention

“When we started talking about the abuse we experienced, it was such a relief.  Violence can happen to anyone, of any race, any identity.  We asked ourselves, what would we want to send out into the world to other people who experience violence?  You are not alone.  Your abuser can’t destroy you.  You can be happy again.” -  Stefani, age 21

LYRIC provided a safe place for a group of young women who had never met to share their own stories of violence.  It was hard, but they did it with loving support from each other and from the women at San Francisco Women Against Rape.

When Bay Area Video Coalition staff taught them how to made videos, they realized they wanted to reach out to other young women.  

Showing their videos and holding workshops for dozens of youth at the LYRIC conference was very emotional.  It opened up a dialogue about violence that had never happened before. 

LYRIC Youth Become AIDS Fundraisers, Activists and Educators

A group of six youth organized a LYRIC team for the 2006 San Francisco AIDS Walk.  With some fundraising training, they recruited 40 youth who raised a record-breaking $5,250 on street corners in the Castro and the Haight. 

Their success inspired them to do even more. 

They wrote a survey and found out what young people already knew about HIV/AIDS and what they needed to know.  Three weeks later, they had created a set of interactive games to teach youth the most important things they could do to stay healthy.  In 2007 these games will be played by youth in LYRIC’s after-school program and in HIV prevention programs for youth around the City.

Many LGBTQQ youth feel insignificant and invisible.  It’s thrilling for me to witness their transformation at LYRIC as they learn to raise their voices, feel their power and become agents for change in their community. 

Jodi L. Schwartz, Executive Director