ID: digital collage with spring elements including flowers and butterflies and text "March" with a freedom oklahoma logo.

Comrades,

Is it just me, or does March always hit you like a ton of bricks? After an agonizingly long January and a February that was so busy you don’t know where it went, here comes March, ready with severe weather, even more severe legislation, and the continual ask to figure out how we celebrate trans visibility when visibility is and has become increasingly more dangerous. So I pause, and try to take a breath.

I remind myself again and again, visibility was never the goal. Right now our community is too seen, to our continued detriment. What we need is safety, resources, community, folks who want to help us build the world where we as mad, disabled, unruly, weird and wonderful trans+ folks can thrive as our whole selves, free from the horrors of government sponsored surveillance and disproportionate harm.

So how do we shift from an embattled present and the work of building towards our future, to the work that creates the safety to build a better now? I think we ground ourselves in building community, starting closest to home. They want us to be afraid of one another. To feel like resources are too scarce to fight alongside each other while we’re facing our own attacks. But any step towards liberation gets us all closer to freedom. We can’t do it all, but together, we can do a lot. So what does that look like, in tangible actions you can take right now.

Build yourself a care menu. This is a living document that allows you to accept and offer bids for care (h/t N. Oumou Sylla) to engage in community as a praxis. Think about what capacity you might offer and how that can be sustainable, as well as assessing where your gaps are in who you're in community with versus who you want to be in community with, who you're hoping to help. Because the act of helping sustainably is vulnerable. Care isn't always reciprocal, but the community piece of it is. Given your desire to help, where, how, and who are you hoping to help? What are ways accepting help has been accessible to you, and how can you replicate that in ways you show up to try and offer support?
Introduce yourself to your neighbors. Yes, literally those people who live in your neighborhood. Most of the time, when we say we want community, the idea of starting just beyond our front door can seem legitimately terrifying. And oftentimes, it’s there where we most need safety. What does it look like for you to safely approach your neighbors to start building connections? How can you begin being a better neighbor?
If you have material resources, think about how you’re distributing them as locally as possible. Listen, as a small nonprofit, we’d love for you to donate to Freedom Oklahoma, we could always use it. And we know just as much, there are so many grassroots led, mutual aid focused, and community-centered organizations that need your help right now. So do some wealth redistribution. Give to the Black, Indigenous, undocumented, trans, sex worker, disabled led orgs that exist in the places where you live. Help us build the infrastructure to support survival in the present, towards a future where we all have the Freedom to thrive.
As we see more blatant fascism at every level of government, we see more and more acts of defiance and resistance criminalized. When you learn your rights, also learn the reality of criminalization in the place where you live. And learn about your local bail funds. Because no one should be held in jail just because they can’t afford their freedom, and that’s a reality every day for more than 70% of folks held in county and municipal jails across Oklahoma. Free folks literally.
Invest in community artists. Who are the 2SLGBTQ+ folks, undocumented folks, BIPOC folks, disabled folks, poor folks making meaningful art in your community? How can you expand their capacity to make art? Because we need the art from those with the least resources, with the most to lose, and the most to teach us, now more than ever.
Don’t obey in advance. We’ve told you this before, and it bears repeating. Where are you already shifting behavior because of the threat of enforcement? Where have you accepted the status quo? Where should you be pushing back? Don’t comply, don’t obey.

We are living through times that are ripe with the opportunity to change the course of history. Times that are challenging and lend themselves to despair. But let’s build a better present towards a better future. Let resistance continue to take root here, in the heartland.

In Solidarity,

Cole

ID: A muted, floral background, silver, painted clouds, paper stars. and a baby blue oval. Text reads "Lavendar Youth Leadership Summit," and "Monday March 23!" The YAM Freedom Oklahoma sits in the corner.

It's time! We're back with the 2026 Lavender Youth Leadership Conference! This year's theme is...“Action! Resiliency Without Compromise."

Mark your calendars: Monday, March 23rd, 9:45-3:00pm @ The Stillwater Community Center

This is an in-person event open to all middle and high school youth throughout Oklahoma.

This event aims to connect 2SLGBTQ+ youth across the state and create space for them to explore what “building their armor” means to them. The event will provide opportunities to sharpen one's toolkit with different resources in building power and impacting change. Bridging our vocality with active movement, we build our own stage–starting with a strong platform to Cultivate, Act, Restore, and Empower.

We're so excited to see everyone again for this one, and hopefully some new faces, too!

Register Here!!

ID: Digital collage with text “If your voice didn’t matter they wouldn’t silence it.” Airbrush and spray paint elements in various shades of pink and purple. The Freedom Oklahoma logo is in the bottom left corner.

To the hundreds of Oklahoma youth protesting against ICE around the state:

We hear you.

Over a hundred students are facing suspension for participating in ICE protests during school hours. They’re also calling to have teachers’ licenses revoked for not stopping them from protesting. Unexcused absences are one thing, but suspension over students exercising their right to free speech seems more than excessive; it’s an attempt to silence youth.

Students of Mustang, Norman, Santa Fe South, Moore, Bixby, Putnam City, Will Rogers, and all other student bodies involved: your voice means something. Hats off to those who stand up for themselves and neighbors when others want to oppress your words. In times like this it’s more important than ever.

ID: A collage picture with flowers and patterns and the letters "Love Letters to Trans Oklahomans" with a picture of a type writer in the center of the screen and the Freedom Oklahoma logo in the bottom right corner with a star.

The month of March ends with Trans Day of Visibility. And, at a time when trans folks are too visible, what we need to see most is outpourings of love and solidarity. Enter, you.

This year marks our fifth love letters to trans Oklahomans effort, where we invite you to share your love for Two Spirit, trans, and gender nonconforming folks in Oklahoma through whatever medium you choose.

You can submit your love letters HERE or at the linktree in our bio.

View past submissions on our website https://www.freedomoklahoma.org/news/transloveletters2025.