Greetings, friends of OutSupport!
We hope that this finds you well! Know that we, at OutSupport, while not meeting until we can again meet safely, remain busy in doing what we can do to make the world a better place for LGBTQ+ folx in Medina County and beyond.
We are happy that we have been able to make community connections in the area. If you are ever in Medina, and notice the “Hate Has No Home Here” signs around town, that was a collaborative effort between OutSupport and the Medina Diversity Project. It’s nice to see that the effort expanded and many businesses in town now display these signs in their windows and in front of their businesses.
We are now starting additional collaborative efforts with Medina County Health Dept., to provide important healthcare to the LGBTQ+ community. The MCHD provides confidential HIV testing, and PReP is available there. In all of their communications, they include a wider gender and sexuality options when registering and communicating with them. Also, their medical staff is sensitive to gender diversity and special concerns therein. OutSupport can confidently say that if you are seeking medical or dental care, please don’t hesitate to go there for care.The next phase of collaboration with the health department is with tobacco use. They are trying to gather information to guide policy in regard to possible specialized LGBTQ+ services regarding tobacco education. But they need help in gathering that info from LGBTQ people.If you are a current or former tobacco user, or even non-user, the MCHD needs your input for this effort. If you did not complete the anonymous survey before, please take a minute to answer this survey to help with this process. If you live, work, play, pray, or attended an OutSupport meeting, please participate in this! This will help make Medina County a healthier place for LGBTQ+ humans! Please complete by Thursday, January 7. Thank you! **GSA Advisors*** Please ask your GSA student to fill out this survey if you can. This will benefit them!!
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/658WVJB
OutSupport is very grateful to the Akron Community Foundation’s Millennium Fund for Children, as they awarded OutSupport a grant to continue our “UnderSupport” program, providing transgender and non=binary teens and young adults with new undergarments to help them see themselves as they authentically are. These funds will allow us to purchase for 40 teens.We had quite a bit of media around this, and had a write up in the Akron Beacon Journal, were interviewed by WKSU, and also a lengthy interview with Eric Resnick from Gaywaves, Ohio’s longest, continuously running LGBTQ public affairs radio show in Ohio (and possibly the nation). We talked about the beginning of OutSupport and how and why we came up with the undergarment program. It was broadcast on WRUW.org (from the campus of Case Western Reserve) and can be heard in the archived section from Dec. 31, 2020.It is also available to be heard on:
Since the media exposure, we’ve received 5 requests for undergarments, which we’ve been happy to order for 5 local teens. We are grateful for everyone’s support!!
One last thing: If any of you have activities that are coming up and want to get the word out, please contact us and we will help you advertise (please give us at least a week’s notice!).
Wishing you all the best that 2021 has to offer! Stay safe, stay healthy!!
Warmly,
Sandy