FORUM: SEE YOUR NEIGHBOR
zoom link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83642684904
COVID-19 AND LGBTQ+ HEALTH SURVEY
Our research team is running a survey on the impact of COVID-19 on LGBTQ+ Health in the US South and Midwest. Roc is the Project Manager for the US South. This project is fiscally sponsored by Gender Benders a grassroots trans* and gender non-conforming advocacy organization in the US South. Our primary goal of the project is to identify segments of the community that are most impacted by the ongoing crisis and in what ways so that mutual aid, interventions, and programs meet the needs of the community. Click here to complete the survey.
OUR CENTERING MANTRA: STAY ROOTED
On March 19th we began a 14-Days of centering our "Stay Rooted" Mantra. Our goal is to offer these next weeks as a space to get connected to personal practices, rituals, music, words, techniques and processes you participate in that ground you-and keep you rooted. Staying Rooted in Tallahassee means having a physical space where queer and trans folx can congregate to reimage and build our futures. The Halfway Point (THP) is this space for and there's a community of folx who are working to ensure THP remains open. We will be donating all Rooted Resistance merchandise sales from the month of March to THP April Rent cost.
Download our 14-Day Stay Rooted Mantra Series:
Download our 4-Day Stay Rooted Mobility and Stretch Series
Led by Raphie. Link to access videos is here
SEWING IN THE CIRCLE:
QUEER+TRANS SOUTH RISING IN A TIME OF COVID-19
As we all brace ourselves for COVID-19, Queer Tallahassee and our allies are organizing to supplement needed health supplies for our most vital actors. Please join us on March 28th for a virtual and social distancing sew-a-thon to make the washable fabric masks that the Big Bend Area is going to need to minimize community health hazards.
Why Health?
For Queer and Trans folx, health and wellness have always been at the center of our resistance. Historically, our communities have been denied access to the comprehensive physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental health care we need. But together, we are powerful. We are also all we really have. That is why we have built grassroots networks to share information, to support one another in transitioning in and living in our genders, to nurture the social connections that sustain our wellbeing, and to imagine together how the world can be otherwise. We have done this because our lives and our futures quite literally depend on it.
Why Now?
Caring about our health is an act of resistance in a world that is institutionally stacked against us. That is why in this moment, Queer Tallahassee is going to keep doing what we’ve always done: uplift the wellbeing of our entire community and share abundantly the information and resources we have. We are -- and will always be -- working to make equity and justice in a world that gives us little of either.
What’s Next?
This sew-a-thon on March 28th is the first COVID-19 action that Queer Tallahassee is taking. We’ll be sharing future mutual aid efforts as we develop them with the Big Bend community collectively! Link up with us at The Halfway Point and Rooted Resistance!
SEWING IN THE CIRCLE
Are you a Sewist local to the Big Bend of Florida? Want to join a virtual social movement of neighborhood sewers to support your community?
The Halfway Point is hosting a grassroots community drive to stitch together reusable, washable face masks to supplement the health supplies for the communities in our area that need it. These masks are sewn on a four-layered, 100% cotton & high-thread count standard and The Halfway Point is offering tutorials for both hand stitching & machine sewing through the Facebook event.
This is a preemptive drive, as we hear differing calls from across the globe and see an upcoming shortage in certain protective supplies. The face masks we create will be donated to a larger mutual aid fund run by Queer Tallahassee - an emerging group of LGBTQ+ professionals who aim to provide support to the marginalized corners of our community. The masks we make will directly support our Big Bend Area. For those that don't sew, but want to support this mission, we encourage you to sponsor a sewist & donate a face mask!
Saturday, March 28th, The Halfway Point will be hosting a virtual streaming event where masks makers can connect with one another while our seasoned Queer Makers whip up a bulk batch of fabric masks in the background.