February 2023 Update
ID: “February Monthly Update” www.freedomoklahoma.org/news and the FOK logo. The background is a picture from a trans rally at the Oklahoma Capitol with a light blue overlay with orange and blue lines and dots
We do this work because we believe in us.
This month marks the start of the most violent policy attacks on Two Spirit, transgender, and gender nonconforming+ (2STGNC+) Oklahomans we’ve seen in modern history. And it’s not just in Oklahoma. Across the country, we’re faced with attacks on our bodily autonomy, attempts to limit best-practice medical care for transgender folks, attacks on our representation, disruption to our education, and harm from so many directions at our 2SLGBTQ+ community.
In our Oklahoma legislature, it comes in the form of 15 different bills to ban gender-affirming care, 4 attacks on drag performers and performances, 2 attempts to weaponize sensationalized rhetoric around grooming, countless book bans, and a proposal to enshrine gender-based discrimination in statute. It’s enough to shake the hope of many people. But, Mariame Kaba reminds us that hope is a discipline. So we’re practicing hope by working together to build a future where all 2SLGBTQ+ people have the safety to thrive. By fighting these attacks, even when the odds are stacked against us. Because they always have been. And those who paved the way for us demonstrated that impossible odds are no reason to back down from what is just and what is right.
So we’re fighting back. Not just because we don’t want trans kids to die, but because we want trans kids to live. To thrive. To build family and community and experience joy, and have access to best-practice medical care and library books where they can see themselves and teachers who want them to learn and grow and succeed. It is not just that trans lives are worth saving, it is that trans lives are worth living.
We know the fight ahead of us is long. It’s more work than a single legislative session or election cycle. It’s the work of generations, of the movement, of building the power at the intersections of our lives with our siblings who are historically marginalized, excluded, and attacked, and fighting for us all to get free. We do that by not compromising on behalf of our most vulnerable and excluded community members, especially Two Spirit, Transgender, and GNC people of color. We do that by centering 2STGNC+ joy and safety and health. We do that by fighting against the urge to turn on one another, by disrupting respectability politics and the status quo and by refusing to further the harm being directed our way.
It’s February. It’s Black History and Black Futures Month. It’s Youth Action Month. It’s another legislative session in Oklahoma. And it’s also an opportunity to build power toward the future where we all have the safety to thrive.
We do this work because we believe in us. We know our dignity is inherent, and it cannot be legislated away. We do this work because we know that with enough of us, we can not only defeat harm, we can win.
Will you help us?
In solidarity,
Nicole McAfee (they/she)
Executive Director
Important Links and updates:
YAM IS HERE!
Youth Action Month 2023 starts TODAY!
We’ve got resources, videos, and tips ready to go on our website to help you find and use your voice and power. These modules and activities will provide the tools you need to enact change in YOUR community.
Here are just some of the ways you can engage with YAM 2023:
Learn how to cultivate your story for legislators and the like with YAM: Tell Your Story Your Way Resources
Learn how to connect your story to a cause that needs attention with YAM: Comms for the Cause Resources
Learn all of the different ways that art can impact real change with YAM: Art as Resistance Resources
Submit what you made or what you’re making that showcases how you have shown up for your community: photography, a video, your story, a campaign, a poem, rally signs, a zine, and artwork; there are so many different ways to highlight your work!
Text: Youth Action Month 2023 on a collage graphic of notebook paper, blue paper, tape, stickers, the FOK logo, and an orange paint brush stroke with cutout images of a people in protest settings–holding a fist in the air, talking into a megaphone while wearing a mask, holding signs, and holding hands.
FEbruary Community Groups + Liberate Preview
Join us February 14 - 16 at our 2SLGBTQ+ Virtual Community Groups for Educators, Parents/Guardians, and Students! We’ll share a special preview of our inclusive, accessible, and engaging sexual health education resource hub: Liberate and hold space to talk about YAM 2023, the Legislative Session, and anything else you need.
To the left is a circular image of a person speaking at a podium and the Freedom Oklahoma logo. The text: "Freedom Oklahoma Virtual 2SLGBTQ+ Community Groups" "Teachers & School Staff: Tuesday, 2/14 Parents/Guardians: Wednesday, 2/15 Students: Thursday, 2/16" and "2SLGBTQ+ youth organizing & GSA support" on a blue background with dark blue and orange gradient circles and white squiggles.
COMING UP: NAME AND GENDER MARKER CORRECTION CLINIC
Sign up for the next Name & Gender Marker Correction Clinic that is happening on Saturday, March 4th!
Participation is on a first-come, first-served basis due to capacity. Prior registrants will get 1st priority.
Pink and blue gradient background. In the center of the image is a rendering of a pop-up computer window. Text "Name and Gender Marker Correction Clinic Saturday 3/4 RSVP today!" In the lower right, the arrow from a computer mouse hovers just under a Freedom Oklahoma logo.
HAPPY BLACK HISTORY AND BLACK FUTURES MONTH
This February we're celebrating Black history and Black futures.
We're lifting up Black leaders, and the work for collective liberation. We're highlighting lessons and tactics given to us by Black movement leaders. And we're grounding that in Black joy, and the future where Black excellence is celebrated, and all Black folks have the safety to thrive. 2SLGBTQ+ liberation is bound in Black liberation, and Black liberation is bound in 2SLGBTQ+ liberation.
Sepia tone photo of two Black people in white shirts, each with their right arm grabbing their left looking at the camera, water and distant land visible in the background. Text "Black History AND Black Futures Month" From the lower right is an orange bar with a Freedom Oklahoma logo.