Doylestown LGBTQ youth center to expand thanks to state funds
In a move to support LGBTQ+ youth, Pennsylvania Sen. Steve Santarsiero announced at a press conference that $630,000 in state funds will be allocated to the Doylestown LGBTQ+ youth center, The Rainbow Room. Not only will the existing Rainbow Room be able to provide more robust educational programming and support, but a second location will open in Bucks County to provide even more resources to queer and trans youth.
“I have seen first-hand the immense benefit The Rainbow Room offers LBGTQ+ youth and their families in Bucks County,” Sen. Santarsiero said in a press release. “At a time in their lives with so much pressure and scrutiny, The Rainbow Room provides a safe and nurturing space for these young people to find community, education, and empowerment.”
The Rainbow Room, which opened in 2002, is an initiative of Planned Parenthood Keystone and serves youth ages 14-21. Also at the Press Conference was Melissa Reed, CEO and president of Planned Parenthood Keystone; Rainbow Room Director Marlene Pray; parents and youth of The Rainbow Room; and clergy members.
“There are so many organizations, parents, students, teachers in Lower Bucks that have been reaching out to us for years, especially within the last several months as we’ve been prepping for this new center to open, who are eager, enthused and ready to partner with us,” Pray said at the press conference. “This is truly a collaboration. We are here for the youth, and we know that there has been an escalation in cruelty and attacks and bigotry directed toward queer youth. Planned Parenthood will never stop standing with young people, and will never stop fighting for their lives and their dignity and their rights.”
Political action committee announces big ad buy targeting pro-equality, pro-choice voters
The national political action committee Agenda PAC is launching a six-figure advertising campaign to underscore what’s at stake in this election: centering LGBTQ+ rights, choice as related to abortion rights, and the urgent need to protect democracy. The ad is called “Siren” and is running on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. It is set to reach 150,000 voters in Pennsylvania, including young voters who support equality and choice but who need more messaging about the platforms of the Pa. candidates and thus a stronger push to vote. Agenda PAC is also running ads targeting voters on Grindr.
“I think the Dobbs [decision] was a wake up call and put a target on the back of the LGBTQ community,” said Ted Bordelon, executive Director of Agenda PAC. “Our vote is the one line of defense that we have against people who want to take away our rights, but also against people who want to take away democracy, people who want to take away the right to choose.”
“Siren” heavily criticizes Pa. gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano and senatorial candidate Mehmet Oz for “promoting a fascist, anti-truth agenda,” and strongly suggests that the path to protecting civil liberties lies with voting for Josh Shapiro and John Fetterman.
“The Republicans running at the top of the ticket in Pennsylvania are out of touch,” state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, chair of Agenda PAC, said in a press release. “One is from out of state. The other we’d send out of state if someone would take him. But they are both out of their minds. Too much is at stake in this race — our very freedoms. We have to win for Democrats up and down the ballot.”
A report first shared with Politico, based on research by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation and Bowling State University, revealed that an increasing percentage of LGBTQ people in the U.S. are voting. The report shows that by 2030, LGBTQ people will account for roughly one in seven voters.
“You can look at the polls and say, well Shapiro is looking pretty good,” Bordelon said. “If we don’t put Mastriano away in a big way, what does that say not only about our state, but about the other Mastriano’s of the world who might be emboldened to run? It’s a referendum on everything that Mastriano stands for.”