A statewide LGBT student organization announced this week that it has a new name and refocused mission.
The Pennsylvania Student Equality Coalition, established four years ago, will now be known as the Pennsylvania Youth Congress.
The mission of PYC will be to “advance freedom and justice for young LGBTQ Pennsylvanians through advocating for responsible public policy.” The PYC will represent citizens who are working toward “safer schools and thriving communities” throughout Pennsylvania.
PYC executive director Jason Landau Goodman said PSEC supported youth working for change in a variety of sectors, from health-care reform to classroom freedoms. The revamped organization will refocus those efforts on designing and implementing state-level public policy.
“Young people have the power to define our own future,” Landau Goodman said. “We are currently a leading organization in Harrisburg on anti-bullying measures, and we are capitalizing on that momentum to ensure that all of Pennsylvania’s youth feel empowered at home, at school, at work and through their government.”
PYC is the only statewide LGBT-advocacy organization led entirely by youth in the nation.
With the new name came a new logo and website, as well as the appointment of a deputy director, Turner Stulting, a rising senior at Bucknell University who was recently named to the Trans 100 list of influential transgender leaders across the nation.