Creating Schools Where LGBTQQ Youth Can Thrive!

Imagine a school where LGBTQQ and Ally youth are leaders in creating an environment that encourages the learning and personal growth necessary for all to thrive—a school where students who bully LGBTQQ youth are not punished, but taught how to become their Allies. Imagine LGBTQQ youth every day throughout the entire school year leading their classmates, being supported by school staff trained in LGBTQQ youth inclusion, and embraced by family members who have learned how to nurture from their newfound knowledge. And imagine a school-wide Pride day of workshops for every student and staff member and a school-wide celebration showcasing LGBTQQ student spoken word, video montages and live performances that are received with roaring applause.

Now stop imagining. Because LYRIC is making it happen.

We know school communities cannot be transformed unless every potential Ally is engaged, trained, and empowered. It takes commitment, culturally-relevant material, and dedication to learn about and embrace the complexities of gender and sexual identity. It takes much more than a one-time training or engagement of solely one part of a community. The commitment must reach deep into the classroom, into the schoolyard and into students’ homes. Without these elements coming together, true transformation is impossible.

At LYRIC, we mold what speaks to our hearts into systematic approaches that holistically break down the barriers LGBTQQ youth face every day. At LYRIC, we create school communities many of us longed for when we were young and give today’s LGBTQQ students what most of us didn’t have.
 

How does LYRIC make it happen?

* A year-long gender/sexuality-emphasized Social Justice Course with a culminating project where students proactively bring the rest of their classmates into a safer, more loving community;

* One-on-one case management to connect students with any support and resources they may need and links them to other LYRIC services such as counseling and career exploration.

* A Professional Development Training Series for teachers, administrators, and all other school staff on LGBTQQ/gender inclusion strategies and alternatives to punitive, zero-tolerance anti-bullying approaches plus one-on-one technical assistance for any school staff member looking for more in-depth support; and

* Support groups for families to talk with their school-age children about the gender and sexuality issues arising at home. 

Above all else we prioritize tailoring every piece of our work to the individuals, communities, and neighborhoods creating the change we need today. 

We’re doing this work because LGBTQQ youth deserve to thrive!

We’re doing this work because student surveys tell us efforts to-date have failed.

We’re doing this work because we take our mission, set forth below, to heart.

Since 1988, LYRIC has been building community and inspiring positive social change with LGBTQQ youth in San Francisco and the broader Bay Area.  What this means is growing and evolving our work to reflect the shifting needs of LGBTQQ youth. While we have built a strong community from within our purple house in the Castro, we are now bringing our knowledge, experience, and passion to where LGBTQQ youth study, work, live and recreate.

Our work in schools is so crucial at a time when 63% of students report hearing anti-gay remarks at school and 59% report never hearing school staff intervene. LGBTQQ middle school students report attempting suicide 5.6 times more often than their straight counterparts, a statistic two times worse than figures from the 1989 national study that first measured youth suicide. With staggering data like this - right here in San Francisco – transforming our school communities must be made a priority.  And LYRIC has the expertise to make it happen.

We have an opportunity to support healthy and connected LGBTQQ students and to create thriving school communities, right here, right now. But we can only do this important work with the support of a strong, engaged community who believe it can happen and are ready to take this issue head on.