Read and Watch–Advice, Inspiration, and Support
Everyone Is Gay is an amazing organization that works to improve the lives of LGBTQ youth using a three-pronged approach: providing honest advice to these youth while keeping them laughing; talking to students across the country in an effort to create caring, compassionate school environments; and working with parents of LGBTQ kids to help foster an ongoing dialogue and deeper understanding. They also have a fantastic resource page with resources around the United States.
Watch my interview with Everyone is Gay’s founders here (and great advice about vulnerability, self-acceptance, and coming out):
The It Gets Better Project‘s mission is to communicate to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth around the world that it gets better, and to create and inspire the changes needed to make it better for them. The It Gets Better Project has become a worldwide movement, inspiring more than 50,000 user-created videos viewed more than 50 million times.
Listen to my radio show about coming out as an adult and/or supporting others coming out.
And remember: EVERYTHING is googleable.
News, Community, and Culture
Autostraddle is an “intelligent, hilarious, and provocative voice and a progressively feminist online community for a new generation of kickass lesbian, bisexual & otherwise inclined ladies (and their friends).” This independently-owned website features news, entertainment, and opinion writing.
The Advocate is a news source with great features on politics, business and travel. It reports on the people, events, and experiences that impact the lives of gay men and lesbians across the US and abroad.
Giovanni’s Room is the oldest gay and lesbian bookstore in the country, with a storefront in Philadelphia and a large online store.
Large Resource Organizations
Centerlink is an organization that allows you to find an LGBT resource center all over the country and in some other countries.
The Bisexual Resource Center is committed to providing support to the bisexual community and raising public awareness about bisexuality and bisexual people.
PFLAG (Parents, Family & Friends of Lesbians and Gays) is an international organization that promotes the health and well-being of gay people and their families.
Crisis
The GLBT National Help Center provides free and confidential telephone and online peer counseling, information, and local resources for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning callers throughout the United States. National Hotline: 1-888-THE-GLNH (1-888-843-4564) Youth Talkline: 1-800-246-PRIDE (1-800-246-7743)
The Trevor Project provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) young people ages 13-24. 1-866-4-U-TREVOR (866-488-7386)
In Philadelphia
The William Way Center is an LGBT community center in Philadelphia that offers anonymous peer counseling by phone, walk-in, or appointment. Phone: 215.732.8255 Email: lgbtpeercounseling@yahoo.com
The Mazzoni Center is an LGBT health care and wellness center in Philadelphia.
The Attic Youth Center is the only organization in Philadelphia exclusively serving lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth. The Attic’s goal is to reduce the isolation felt by LGBTQ youth by providing a sense of community and developing programs and services to counteract the prejudice and oppression that LGBTQ youth often face.