WHAT NEXT?
"Sunrise from the International Space Station" by NASA Johnson is licensed underCC BY-NC 2.0
In the midst of uncertainty… WHAT NEXT?
To articulate a vision for the future, is in a sense, to create that future - if not physically manifested, at very least, in the mind’s eye. To describe a possible new future is to plant a seed for that future. Spring is coming. A time for planting seeds, and for nurturing seeds that have survived the long winter.
These seeds will be gathered up and shared at the upcoming Wisconsin LGBTQ+ Health Summit on April 9, 2021, and posted (with authors’ permission of course) to this website and other media spaces, where community can view them and nurture and support them and each other.
Buttons at the top and the bottom of this screen will direct you to an online form where we invite you to share your thoughts, spoken words, art, or other media to respond to this question - in any way you feel moved to do so -
WHAT NEXT?
This project is open to persons of any/all genders, sexual orientations, backgrounds, & positionalities. (You don’t need to identify within any of the LGBTQIA2S+ spectra to contribute.)
HERE ARE JUST A FEW POTENTIAL PROMPTS FOR CONSIDERING: WHAT NEXT?
"LGBT Families for Immigration Reform" by ep_jhu is licensed under CC BY 2.0
What Next: for you and your community?
What new futures - whether that is tomorrow or many years from now - are you anticipating? What has you hopeful? What has you worried? What will you celebrate? What will you grieve? What steps are you taking to create (or prevent) that future?
"IMG_5179a" by Elvert Barnes is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
What Next: for trans, queer & collective liberation?
Where do you locate yourself in the movement for trans, queer, and collective liberation? What structures and institutional barriers to that liberation impact you now in the present? How will you lift up the work of others in this space, and can community support you?
"2013 Rally for Transgender Equality 21169" by tedeytan is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
What Next: for LGBTQIA+ health & health care?
What are your visions for health and health care that affirms, lifts up, and centers LGBTQIA+ people’s perspectives and especially those of Black and/or Indigenous communities and other communities of color? What will it look like for health systems and care providers to nurse the community? What will it look like to ‘queer’ taken-for-granted assumptions about what is health & health care? How will structures (education, insurance, housing, health systems, etc.) need to transform?
You can also reach out to project organizer Rae directly, by email to: R.Walker@UMass.edu or via Twitter at @UMassWalker