To get registered, please go through the following steps:
Step 1: Download the Registration Form. (Right Click the link and choose Save Link As)
Step 2: Fill out the PDF. Fields are set up so you can do this on your computer. (Adobe Reader available here) Save the changes.
Step 3: Email completed form to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Step 4: Pay for the conference. Either mail a check, or call 801.539.8800 x 22
Scholarships are only available for Foster Youth and Foster Parents. Download the Scholarship Application.
Email completed forms to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Kids Like Me is a play group for gender exceptional children, and for children with gender exceptional caregivers. The purpose of the group is to provide a welcoming environment for kids and families to meet each other and to share resources. Accepting kids who are toilet trained up to age 10. Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more information.
Meets 1st Saturday of every month from 2-3:30pm in the Utah Pride Center's Multi-Purpose Room.
MISSION
The Utah QSA Network is a youth-led program of the Utah Pride Center that connects Queer-Straight Alliance clubs (QSA or GSA) from around the state of Utah to each other and community resources. Through peer support, leadership development, social gatherings and trainings the QSA Network supports young people in starting, strengthening, and sustaining QSAs and equivalent clubs statewide.
Utah QSA Network empowers students to advocate for safe school policies, mobilize their peers to stand up for safety and equality, and trains teachers to stop bullying. By providing in-depth leadership and activist training for youth, the Utah QSA Network is building a generation of leaders for LGBTQ rights and social justice in Utah.
As a youth-driven network, the Utah Pride Center brings the voices and perspectives of youth to the forefront of the LGBTQ movement.
Check us out on Facebook! Check out our page for Utah QSA Network Updates, upcomming events, and opportunities for student advocacy!
Utah QSA Network 2012 Climate Survey
Survey Closes on Sunday February 26th. Please take a few minutes (only takes 10 minutes!) to complete this survey and help the Utah QSA Network better understand the needs of QSA's in Utah. Open to all current high school/middle school students in Utah QSA's.
Utah QSA Network Youth Empowerment Survey
Survey closes on Tuesday, February 2nd. All youth and students in Utah are encouraged to participate in this brief survey. This survey will be used to help the Utah QSA Network develop new trainings and presentations, as well as help us plan for student conferences in the future!
CONTACT INFORMATION
Primary Contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it 801.539.8800 x18
QSA Network Mentors – Peer Resources
C Gatsby: Utah State Region - Toole School District & Northern Utah. Utah State University, Snow College. Salt Lake Region - Jordan School District This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Dylan Barton: Utah State Region - Northern Utah/Southern Utah, Weber State University, University of Utah & Southern Utah University This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Shay Hulbert: Salt Lake Region - Salt Lake City & Murray School District, Salt Lake COmunity College & Westminster College This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Jaaycob Okumura: Salt Lake Region - Granite District This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Carlye Dalkyert: QSA Network Student Resources This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Click here for resources to build your GSA.
QSA Media Attention
Alta High School GSA Starts Drive to Help Homeless Teens
LGBT youth find it hard to fit in Davis County
LGBTQ Resources
State
Utah Pride Center – A non-profit that offers programs, services and resources for the LGBTQ community statewide including a youth center and coordinates collective activities and leadership opportunities for LGBTQ youth.
PFLAG – Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays – support for the entire family.
Equality Utah – Legal Advocacy for LGBTQ rights and social justice
VOA –Volunteers of America is a non-profit with many community resources including a homeless youth drop in center – day resource for homeless youth.
OUTreach Ogden - Offers an open, safe, comfortable haven where you can come to be free of charge, judgement, harassment and discomfort that is a fixture in many of our lives. We offer a drug, alcohol, tobacco, hate & violence free zone.
National
Trevor Project – The Trevor Project is the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) youth.
Family Acceptance Project – A project that promotes family acceptance and educates on the dangers of rejecting behaviors on LGBTQ youth
GLSEN – GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, is the leading national education organization focused on ensuring safe schools for all students. Established in 1990, GLSEN envisions a world in which every child learns to respect and accept all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. GLSEN seeks to develop school climates where difference is valued for the positive contribution it makes to creating a more vibrant and diverse community.
GSA Network – A California based organization that coordinates training, networking and capacity building of youth involved in school based clubs for LGBTQ youth and their straight allies.
NCLR– The National Center for Lesbian Rights is a national legal organization committed to advancing the civil and human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their families through litigation, public policy advocacy, and public education.
Lambda Legal - Offers research and resources about LGBT issues including information for GSA groups and for youth in out of home care.
Day of Silence - Official Day of SIlence webpage. Offers resources and downloadable content for GSA groups and student leaders. Sponsored by GLSEN and Lambda Legal.
GSA Day - Official GSA Day website! Offers information about GSA Day, event ideas, and resources for GSA groups. Sponsored by Iowa Pride Network & National Association of GSA Networks.
Video Resources
Family Acceptance Project
GLSEN Video
Open Doors Project
Make it Better Project
RISE to the call for action to end HIV in our community! Envision a future where we are empowered together. RISE (formerly known as FAYME Utah) is the newest program of the TINT Youth Activity Center and Utah Pride Center with a commitment to mobilize queer youth and strengthen our community through advocacy, education, outreach, and social events. With the understanding that HIV impacts all of us, we seek to bring awareness to an issue that is more than a virus, but an issue of justice. RISE seeks to develop future leaders invested in social justice movements that eradication oppression in all of its forms. RISE! is open to all queer youth ages 14-20.
RISE! Meets every Saturday from 6-9pm.
Utah Pride Center
355 N 300 W, First FL Salt Lake City, UT 84103
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jude McNeil (
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
or 801.539.8800 x 14)
Salt Lake City, UT: With four of its largest and most-anticipated youth events of the year all scheduled in April, the Utah Pride Center (UPC) has dubbed April "Queer Youth Month".
During April, the Utah Pride Center will host Night of Noise, The Big, Big Event, its first annual Youth Empowerment Summit (YES), and the eighth annual Queer Prom.
"In addition to having abundant and important programming, Queer Youth Month aims to bring visibility and voice to youth who are too often silenced," said Jude McNeil, Youth Program Director. "Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth have a multitude of needs that we at the Center work to address year-round, but April is when we host our biggest and most visible events."
The Utah Pride Center's programs cultivate acceptance for LGBTQ youth in their homes, in schools, and throughout statewide systems of care. Without agencies working on their behalf, LGBTQ youth are at risk and often fail to thrive when compared to their straights peers.
Research conducted in 2009 by GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, shows that nearly 9 out of 10 LGBTQ students experience harassment in school, which greatly hinders academic success and sense of safety. Additionally, a study by Dr. Caitlin Ryan's Family Acceptance Project found that youth in highly rejecting homes are more than 8 times as likely to have attempted suicide, more than 3 times as likely to use illegal drugs, and more than 6 times as likely to report high levels of depression.
"Our goal is to be a catalyst for dialogues in our state that address the particular needs of LGBTQ youth and how we as guardians, siblings, educators, programmers, counselors, etc. can meet them," McNeil continued.
April's Queer Youth Month activities are listed below.
• April 15 4-7P | Day of Silence, Night of Noise | Day of Silence is a national event sponsored by GLSEN, whose website describes the event as "a day of action in which students across the country take some form of a vow of silence to call attention to the silencing effect of anti-LGBT bullying and harassment in schools. Through their activities students can speak out against harassment and organize for change for their schools and communities." That evening, local LGBTQ and ally youth will gather at the UPC for a Night of Noise where they will begin with a ritual to break the silence and follow with personal stories from youth about their experiences with bullying, coming out, and determination to take a stand against harassment.
• April 15 5:30P| The Big, Big Event | Hosted during Night of Noise, the Big, Big Event is a huge talent show when the youth choose their monarchs for the year's Queer Prom the following day. Unlike typical high school dance royalty, the monarchs of Queer Prom are not restricted to any gender or sex stereotypes, which allows the youth to showcase their true selves.
• April 16 8:30A-5:30P | Youth Empowerment Summit: Infinite Potential | The Utah Pride Center's QSA Network proudly introduces its first annual Youth Empowerment Summit (YES). The mission of YES is to provide students in GSA clubs or similar diversity clubs with the resources and skills they need to organize and advocate in their own communities, schools, and at a statewide level. This Summit is being held at Westminster College Gore School of Business (1840 S 1300 E - parking available in the North Parking Garage).
• April 16 8P-midnight | Queer Prom | Hundreds of youth gather from all across the state for Queer Prom, the most-anticipated youth event of the year. LGBTQ youth ages 14-20 can enjoy a safe, affirming prom with the date of their choice. This important rite of passage is taken from many LGBTQ students at their schools across the nation, but Utah ensures that all youth who want to attend a prom can do so. Music, lights, dancing, photos, and acceptance!
Some of the year-round youth programming includes a drop-in youth activity center, social groups, leadership and advocacy groups, support groups, mentorship, food and hygiene kits, and a free cyber space with computers for safe web surfing and homework. For more information on the Utah Pride Center's youth programming, please visit utahpridecenter.org.
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PFLAG National has just released their 2011 Scholarship program for 2011. This scholarship is available to High School Seniors who may be Gay, Lesbian, Bi Sexual, Transgender, Queer or Straight Ally (LGBTQ).
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – October 4, 2010
Contact Valerie Larabee, Executive Director
801.539.8800 x 10 or cell: 801.403.1038
UTAH PRIDE CENTER SPEAKS OUT ABOUT SUICIDE CRISIS AND THE LDS CHURCH,
AND WORKS TO SAVE LIVES AND FAMILIES
Salt Lake City, UT: In recent months, there have been six high profile stories of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth who have taken their lives due to bullying and hostile environments. The Utah Pride Center is working with tireless dedication and with both local and national organizations to deal with this issue head-on here in Utah.
“Saving lives is part of our charter at the Utah Pride Center, “ said Executive Director, Valerie Larabee. “We find these recent events particularly alarming, and we are ramping up our efforts to overcome the messages that leads LGBTQ people to feel hopeless by providing messages of love, acceptance, affirmation, and hope.”
In addition to the string of suicides, the Utah Pride Center is alarmed and heavy-hearted by Mormon Church leader, Boyd K. Packer’s sermon from the Mormon Church’s General Conference on Sunday, October 3, 2010. Packer, the second highest ranking leader in the Mormon Church, referred to being LGBTQ as “impure and unnatural”, and broadcast egregious misinformation about how people can and should change their sexuality.
“We hold the LDS Church accountable for giving Packer the worldwide platform and access to literally millions of families who have LGBTQ loved ones. Their statements are antithetical to current scientific research and to the work of the Utah Pride Center,” Larabee said.
A resolution published by the American Psychological Association (APA) and posted on its website says, “APA is concerned about ongoing efforts to mischaracterize homosexuality and promote the notion that sexual orientation can be changed and about the resurgence of sexual orientation change efforts.”
The seventh point of the APA’s resolutions states, “BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the American Psychological Association advises parents, guardians, young people, and their families to avoid sexual orientation change efforts that portray homosexuality as a mental illness or developmental disorder and to seek psychotherapy, social support and educational services that provide accurate information on sexual orientation and sexuality, increase family and school support, and reduce rejection of sexual minority youth.”
The Utah Pride Center is hosting two upcoming events this weekend to address these very issues. The first is a suicide prevention workshop put on by the Trevor Project, and is being held at the Utah Pride Center from 1-5P. The Trevor Project Lifeguard Workshop Program addresses topics around gender identity, sexuality, the impacts of language and behavior, and what it means for young people to feel different. Through the workshop, people learn to recognize the warning signs of depression and suicide, and thus become “lifeguards” to keep their friends and peers safe.
The second event is the groundbreaking Family Acceptance Regional Conference being held Oct. 8-10 at the Sheraton Salt Lake City Hotel. Dr. Caitlin Ryan, whose research indicates that LGBTQ youth in highly rejecting families are eight times more likely to attempt or complete suicide, will be the conference keynote. Her address will not only speak to the findings of her research, but will also provide solutions to keeping LGBTQ youth safe.
“We will overpower negative messaging and discriminatory attitudes, and I look forward to our events this weekend, especially the Conference which aims to illuminate the risks of rejection to youth’s well-being and to provide strategies for keeping families united,” Larabee said.
For more information on the work of the Utah Pride Center, the Trevor Project workshop, or the Family Acceptance Regional Conference, please visit www.utahpridecenter.org.
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Do you want more info on hormones or changing your name and gender legally? Do you want more info on what being Trans means? Has your child come out as Transgender or are they exploring their gender?
Do you need more information?
Below are links to various resources for anyone that has these questions, and more! Feel free to dip into any of the resources on topics like health, legal issues and media lists.
Youth Resource Packets
Transgender Health Medical Issues
Support Organizations and Media Resources
Transitioning in the Workplace
Other Resource Packets
Read our resource just for the parents of trans and gender questioning youth.
Click here to read information for Clinicians working with transgender or gender questioning youth.
Click here to read resources for Out of Home Care Providers Working with transgender youth.
Resources for Educators Working with Transgender and Gender Questioning Youth
Transgender support group for all identies of gender variant youth up to age 21. Come explore the various issues facing young trans people. Intake is required before joining the group. Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it (801.539.8800, ext. 17) for more information.
Below are links to various information pages for young transgender individuals in our community. Feel free to read through these resources!
Transgender health medical issues
Support Organizations and Media Resources
TINT (Tolerant Intelligent Network of Teens) is the Utah Pride Center's youth activity center which provides a safe place for people ages 14-20 regardless of race, ethnic background, physical ability, religion, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation or identity. Not only does the TINT provide social and support groups for GLBTQ youth, but we have food, a big screen TV, video games, computers, a library, a pool table, and much, much more!
