The Texas GSA Network, a program of Austin-based Out Youth, is accepting submissions for a Queer Youth Zine to be published in May. The deadline for submissions is April 20, and they can be made on the website or by mail. According to a press release, the zine will feature, art, poetry, stories, rants, comics, how-tos and more crafted by queer youth from across the state.
“This is a chance for us to express our very unique experiences as queer young people in Texas,” says Angie Clark, Texas GSA Network youth intern and self-identified zinester.
Read the full press release after the jump.
Texas GSA Network Launches Statewide Queer Youth Zine
(Austin, TX) — Queer youth in Texas are looking to raise their voices through the release of a new do-it-themselves publication. The Texas GSA Network, a youth-led statewide organization supporting middle and high school students in Gender and Sexuality or Gay-Straight Alliance clubs (GSAs), is uniting youth from across the state in a Texas Queer Youth Zine publication.
The Texas Queer Youth Zine will feature art, poetry, stories, rants, comics, how-to’s and more, all crafted by Texas transgender, queer, lesbian, gay, bisexual, questioning and allied (TQLGBQA or LGBTQQA) youth.
“This is a chance for us to express our very unique experiences as queer young people in Texas,” says Angie Clark, Texas GSA Network youth intern and self-identified zinester.
A zine, short for magazine, is an independently published booklet. Zines are commonly used as forums for expression and organized resistance within marginalized communities.
The Texas GSA Network sees the Zine as a platform for queer youth in Texas to define their own identities, and create a shared vision apart from a mainstream lesbian and gay rights movement that doesn’t always represent them.
Nik Peet, who started his own GSA last year at Flour Bluff High school in Corpus Christi amidst a storm of administrative opposition, shares, “We are queer youth, we are trans youth, we are youth of color and youth with disabilities, we are immigrant youth, we are homeless and we are in schools, we live in rural areas and in cities. Sharing our visions about the Texas we want to live in builds our power.”
The Texas GSA Network believes that together, queer youth can make change in their schools and communities now, rather than waiting for it to get better later.
“Adults in our communities talk about queer youth, but this zine is an opportunity for queer youth in Texas to speak for themselves, to share their experiences on their terms. We hope that adult allies and advocates will listen!” says Andi Gentile, Regional Director of the Texas GSA Network.
Youth have until April 20th to submit to the zine, and the publication is set to be released in May. Submissions are being collected by email, post, and a website dedicated specifically to the zine, www.texasqueeryouthzine.weebly.com.
