As part of our 2022 focus on LGBTQ rights, JusticeAid offers monthly highlights of queer art and artists that illuminate and heighten our collective understanding of the LGBTQ experience. Enjoy!
- Featured Film: Blue Is the Warmest Color. Widely embraced as a defining love story for the new century, this 2013 award-winning French film tells the story of a young woman’s experiences of first love and the erotic abandon of youth.
- Fine Artist: David Hockney‘s Arrival of Spring, Normandy 2020 series (created on his iPad) is a perfect way to usher in the Spring season.
- Music that Matters: “Right on Time” by singer-songwriter-activist Brandi Carlile has been nominated for Record of the Year. Don’t miss it!
LEARN FROM THE EXPERTS…
about the challenges facing LGBTQ youth and how you can offer support at LGBTQ Youth Rights: Protecting the Queer Frontier, a virtual forum hosted by ClassACT ’73 on Thursday, April 7, from 7:00–8:30 pm. JusticeAid board member and attorney Tazewell Jones will moderate a panel discussion with experts in the field, including Jorge Membreño, a social worker serving as deputy executive director of SMYAL. Register here.
Romare Bearden, Empress of the Blues.
MUSIC FOR A CAUSE
Paula Cole, Valerie Simpson, and a lineup of contemporary singer-songwriters pay tribute to Bessie! Empress of the Blues at JusticeAid’s spring concert, a tribute to Bessie Smith. This is your chance to support SMYAL and the LGBTQ youth community with corporate sponsorships, individual tickets, or a donation to the cause. Tickets information coming soon.
WHAT
Enjoy an intimate music concert with hors d’oeuvres, cocktails, and a full dinner.
WHEN / WHERE
Mon, May 16
7 PM
City Winery
25 11th Ave.
NYC 10001
WHY
100% of ticket sales and sponsorships will provide unrestricted funds for JusticeAid’s 2022 grantee partner, SMYAL.
HOW
Consider sponsoring a table for 10 for your law firm, business, or group of music-loving friends! Contact Managing Director Jenny Chandler for opportunities.
NUMBERS SPEAK
84% of transgender middle school and high school students said they felt unsafe at school because of their gender, according to the GLSEN 2019 National School Climate Survey on LGBTQ youth. The recent wave of anti-transgender legislation can reinforce that pain and fear, making it hard for students to focus on their education. “For transgender students living in states where their very lives are under attack, it can be near impossible to focus on much else but surviving,” laments Andy Marra, the executive director of the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund.
Data points like this reinforce our passion for organizations like SMYAL that are providing mentorship, housing, and novel programming for trans youth nationwide. What’s more, all services are provided free of charge thanks to the generosity of donors like you.
GOOD TO KNOW!
What does it mean to be transgender? The most common definition of a transgender person is someone whose gender identity turns out to be different from the gender they were thought to be at birth. Trans women are women who were AMAB (assigned male at birth) and transitioned to female; trans men are men who were AFAB (assigned female at birth); and non-binary people are people who do not identify with male or female (and may be AFAB or AMAB).
Transgender Day of Visibility is an international observance founded in 2009 by activist Rachel Crandall to induce moral responsibility and tolerance of transgender people worldwide. On March 31, annually, we recognize the resilience and revere the contributions of the trans community in the face of injustice.
JusticeAid believes in the power of art and music to transform awareness into action in the fight against injustice. All donations this year until the end of October will support SMYAL’s programs for LGBTQ youth.
We’re excited to share that JusticeAid has earned a 2022 Platinum Seal of Transparency with Candid!
JusticeAid leverages the community-building power of art and music to transform awareness into action in the fight against injustice. Each year we identify and raise funds for justice causes by hosting music, arts, and educational events. Since 2013 JusticeAid has granted more than 1.5 million dollars to nonprofits working to ensure access to justice for the disenfranchised and marginalized. Our grantee partners are fighting racist voter suppression and racist policing, working to end mass incarceration and inhumane immigration practices, ensuring access to legal services, and addressing the criminalization and hatred of others.
