Within a 24-hour span last weekend, Jason Landau Goodman traveled from Pittsburgh to Harrisburg to Philadelphia to Reading and back to Philadelphia.
But heading from one side of the state clear to the other is just all in a day’s work for the head of an organization looking to bring together young people throughout the Keystone State around issues of LGBT equality.
“Pennsylvania’s a very big state, but it’s definitely feeling a lot closer as we become more connected,” said Landau Goodman, the executive director of the new Pennsylvania Student Equality Coalition.
Launched this spring, the coalition is the first of its kind in the nation — a statewide LGBT youth agency run solely by youth and for youth.
Landau Goodman, a student at the University of Pennsylvania, became involved with social-justice issues on his campus and recently was a leading force in the successful push to ban LGBT discrimination in his hometown of Lower Merion.
“As a student, I could see that it was important that LGBT and ally youth have an opportunity to be empowered to take ownership of their own part in this movement, in this struggle,” he said. “I saw what youth can do and should do and need to do and thought, what if college students were able to come together and organize and do what we can to help the movement. I thought it’d be a great force for change.”
Since launching in late April, the coalition has attracted the membership of more than 70 LGBT student organizations in the state, separated into eight regions.
PSEC, funded through private donations, has opened field offices in Philadelphia, Harrisburg and Pittsburgh with plans for more locations in the future, and has registered as a nonprofit organization with the state.
PSEC Philadelphia chair Connor Hesketh, a senior at Temple University and former president of the college’s Queer Student Union, said the coalition’s youth-driven nature has been a defining and vital factor.
“One of the things I believe is that we’re not just an organization, but really a movement,” Hesketh said. “By striking out on our own, it’s a little bit scary, but we had to be true to ourselves. It was really important to have our own voice and not someone else at the top telling us what we should be doing. It’s really important that we’ve gotten to do this on our own.”
Villanova University student Julia Arduini, PSEC Delaware Valley chair and director of communications, co-leads two of her college’s LGBT groups.
She said PSEC is a natural extension of her on-campus work and has shown her the potential that lies within her community.
“I love being involved with the LGBT community, and I think there’s so much more young people can do. We are very passionate and have a lot of energy. What drew me to this coalition in the beginning was the fact that it strongly empowers youth and encourages us to understand that we can do more than be a part of our schools’ gay organizations. There’s a lot that we can be doing.”
And there’s a lot the coalition has already done in the past three months.
The coalition’s work is multifaceted — from education to advocacy to community organizing.
In May, coalition leaders headed to Washington, D.C., where they met with leaders from several national LGBT organizations and visited the offices of Pennsylvania’s Senate and Congressional representatives to lobby for LGBT issues.
In conjunction with The Attic Youth Center, PSEC conducted an assembly at Masterman High School on diversity in the classroom.
Its website offers a litany of local, state and national LGBT resources, including a comprehensive list of the Pennsylvania ordinances offering LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination ordinances, as well as recent data on LGBT youth.
Despite the seemingly daunting task of getting a statewide agency off the ground, Landau Goodman said the process has gone relatively smoothly.
“It’s really been an incredible journey so far,” he said. “We have amazing support from LGBT student groups across the state, as well as from local, state and national organizations.”
Current coalition partners include The Attic Youth Center, The Delta Foundation of Pittsburgh, the LGBT Center of the University of Pennsylvania, LGBT Community Center Coalition, Out in the Silence Campaign and the William Way LGBT Community Center.
The partnerships forming among LGBT youth leaders across the state have been at the center of PSEC’s success so far and will be integral to its future development, Landau Goodman said.
“Someone will say, ‘Let’s meet in Harrisburg,’ and that doesn’t seem that far anymore. Having all these different bases across the state and meeting people from all different regions really brings us a lot closer together,” he said. “We knew all along we wanted to be a true statewide organization so we have to have a presence across the state, and that’s what we’ve been working toward.”
Youth from around the state will come together next month for a PSEC convention in Harrisburg, where they will review the organization’s progress thus far and strategize for the fall semester’s agenda.
Moving forward, PSEC plans to press for stronger statewide antibullying protections and advocate for pro-LGBT on-campus policies such as nondiscrimination measures, gender-neutral bathrooms and housing. The coalition will continue to offer youth-advocacy training programs and is eager for the incorporation of high-school students, many of whom have already expressed interest.
Locally, Hesketh said Philadelphia members will be organizing around the proposed statewide nondiscrimination bill and are looking to get involved in the effort to remove gender markers from SEPTA transpasses. A social for Philadelphia-area members is in the works for September.
“We’re powering ahead and going strong,” Landau Goodman said. “LGBT youth across Pennsylvania need to unite as a strong force for change in our communities and throughout the commonwealth.”
For more information, visit www.pennsec.org.