A new website offers LGBTQ youth, youth with LGBTQ parents, and allied youth a chance to elevate their voices around the issues that matter most to them, and gain an introduction to journalism at the same time.
ProudYouth will offer young people an opportunity to write about current events, sports, and politics; review art, music, movies, and events; and pen personal stories, advice columns, op-eds, and artistic pieces such as poetry. It aims to empower youth with all the tools they need to share their authentic voices, rather than letting themselves be written about by others. The site is a project of One Million Kids For Equality, which launched last January as “an organization of people working collectively to engage, educate, and empower youth with a voice around equality.”
ProudYouth will connect youth with experienced journalists and editors to work with them on grammar, punctuation, and making sure their messages read as intended—but as long as the story falls within ProudYouth editorial guidelines, it will run, “even if it presents a less than rosy picture,” affirmed the founders in a press release. “No story will be altered or slanted in any way.”
Managing Editor Theresa Volpe (a lesbian mom who was also a plaintiff in an Illinois marriage equality case) said, “ProudYouth is unlike any publication on the media circuit today. Its approach empowers youth to express their views and, at the same time, learn important skills. The publication places tools into the hands of the people who will shape our world to come, our youth.”
This seems like a great project. I can’t wait to see what they write!
ProudYouth is seeking additional youth and allied contributors. If you would like to write for ProudYouth, or know someone who might be interested, please e-mail editor@proudyouth.com for more details.