From: OUTspoken
Date: June 8, 2020
Subject: Nobody knows when these newsletters will be sent out. Least of all me.


large white text on plain black background that says BLACK TRANS LIVES MATTER. The word TRANS is written in the colors of the trans flag, blue, pink, and white

Okay I don't know how it's possible but I think I got a Pringle crumb in my eye.

Oh look, another newsletter being sent out on a not Friday. If any of you are thinking, "I wish the newsletters would actually be regular and consistent," well that makes two of us. Time to share some groups/events/whatever else makes it's way in here.

I just learned about a relatively new LGBTQ+ group in the Rochester area, Next Generation Men of Transition, which is a support group for trans men of color. I thought that was pretty neato and wanted to share. 
This next group operates around the world, and I've never seen anything like this before. The Okra Project brings homecooked, healthy, and culture-specific meals to black trans people who need it, and actually offer a cooking academy for black trans people to learn and help out! Yeah, this isn't exactly a group, but I saw it and thought it was super neat and nobody can stop me from putting it in this newsletter so there. 
Wow I felt like I had more, but I have terrible memory when it comes to actual important stuff. Can't remember stuff that I looked at within the last few days but I can still remember that this one girl in my Kindergarten class would always use the scarlet crayon (not red. Scarlet.) and that I punched a kid in the stomach in a Wal-Mart checkout line when he made fun of my sister. Oh! And that I was wearing the same shirt both times I had to get stitches. (It was a Yankees t-shirt in case anyone was curious.)

Just one more thing before I go because I need to practice driving (I'm horrendous at turns, but the sooner I get my license the sooner I can legally multitrack drift) so that I can just lay down and watch ATLA for the rest of the night until I go to bed, and I have spent way too long on too few words. Side note: I think one of my personality flaws is excessive compound sentences. There's probably a reason for that. Maybe I'll psychoanalyze myself later.

ANYWAY. (Wait imagine if I accidentally closed this tab, that would be so terrible. Okay. For real this time.)

There's a virtual forum sorta thing happening tomorrow, 6/9 nice from 8-9 pm EST and it's called (according to Facebook because I don't want to use my limited brain power to come up with my own words right now) LGBTQ Community Dismantling White Supremacy. The Facebook event has more details including the link and all that stuff. The event will have both interpreting and captions (any event that I share will have at least one because I'm not gonna be like "oh hey look at this cool thing PSYCH NOT IF UR DEAF SORRY BUDDY." That's not cool.) which saved me the effort from annoying them with questions about it. I'm gonna check it out, and if you're white I highly suggest you do also. 

UGH, NOW I HAVE TO DO THINGS. I WANT TO NOT DO THINGS. As always, follow us on social media because I put stuff there way more frequently. Also you get great memes and original content from me, which as we all know, is something everyone needs.

Elizabeth Sherrock (she/her)
Director of Marketing
Cover of By Any Means Necessary by Candice Montgomery. The background is different shades of yellow in a paint texture pattern, and a black college-aged man is walking through paper cutouts that look like a city skyline added to the background. The title

Bees?

I found a gay bee book! I'm 99% sure that bees are RIT LGBTQ+ culture. 

By Any Means Necessary by Candice Montgomery

Summary: On the day Torrey moves and officially becomes a college freshman, he gets a call that might force him to drop out before he’s even made it through orientation: the bank is foreclosing on the bee farm his Uncle Miles left him.

Torrey’s worked hard to become the first member of his family to go to college, but while the neighborhood held him back emotionally, Uncle Miles encouraged him to reach his full potential. For years, it was just the two of them tending the farm. So Torrey can’t let someone erase his uncle’s legacy without a fight.

He tries balancing his old life in L.A. with his new classes, new friends, and (sort of) new boyfriend in San Francisco, but as the farm heads for auction, the pressure of juggling everything threatens to tear him apart. Can he make a choice between his family and his future without sacrificing a part of himself?