What a year! As we prepare to usher in 2019, the JQ Board and Professional Team feel blessed and honored. Blessed with the amazing education and support services we have brought to the Jewish community and honored at the number of LGBTQ+ Jews and allies who have joined us for a year of groundbreaking community and identity-building programming.
JQ has hosted, served, and reached over 14,000 people in the past year through an array of dynamic events and support services. Our community continues to grow and our leadership has taken significant steps to advance our advocacy for greater inclusion of LGBTQ+ Jews and allies in the Jewish community. Here are just a few of our successes:
- Expanded the Teen JQSA and new Tzelem for LGBTQ+ Jewish Teens in partnership with Moving Traditions;
- The continued success of JQ’s innovative Persian Pride work, including the Persian Pride Fellowship training LGBTQ+ and ally Persian activists to be changemakers;
- Educational, transformative, and inspirational community-wide panelevents; and
- Thousands of community members and dozens of Jewish institutions served by the one-of-a-kind JQ Helpline and Inclusion Services;
We know this is the time of year when you are thinking about your year-end philanthropic giving. We are turning to you to help us ensure the continuation and growth of JQ’s transformative community-building programming and lifesaving support services. Don’t take our word for it, hear from those we impact each and every day…
“The Teen JQSA has given me a sense of community where I never expected to find one before. It has opened my eyes to how I can connect my Jewish and queer identities, and has also helped me intersect the two. I’m forever grateful to the Teen JQSA!”
– Avi Strok, JQSA Teen
A gift of $18 ensures an LGBTQ+ and ally teen can participate in one of our JQSA events free of charge. Making sure our teen programs remain free is vital to creating accessibility and a safe space for this vulnerable population.
“JQ and the Persian Pride Fellowship are doing something unprecedented; a movement to impact generations to come. I never imagined being this comfortable and proud to call myself Jewish, Persian, and gay. JQ gave me the voice to be myself and the pride to strengthen and support others like me”
– Matt Lavi, JQ Persian Pride Fellow
A gift of $36 allows us to invite a young adult or college student to one of our community shabbat dinners or holiday celebrations free of charge. Creating programming that fuses LGBTQ+ and Jewish identities contributes to a life of feeling whole and healthy.
“Thanks to the JQ speaker, I learned about self acceptance and how when you accept yourself, it becomes easier for others to accept you. I learned that it is important to be an ally and support others. Nobody should have to wait to be comfortable in their own skin.”
– Pressman Academy Student
A gift of $180 makes it possible for our members of the JQ Speakers Bureau to be trained in the art of advocacy-based storytelling. JQ knows personal stories deepen the understanding of the LGBTQ+ Jewish experience. Sharing our stories at institutions and organizations throughout Los Angeles represents a significant opportunity to change hearts and minds to promote a more embracing and understanding community.
“I turned to the JQ Helpline when my 15-year-old lesbian daughter and I were going through a rough time. Not only did they find resources for my daughter with the Teen JQSA, but they also helped me and my entire family find a supportive and culturally sensitive Orthodox therapist. Our family now has the tools and support to make our lives better.”
– Devorah, JQ Helpline Caller
For a commitment of $100 a month, you can join the Friends of JQ. This community of supporters ensures that JQ’s valuable and lifesaving services including the JQ Helpline are available to community members in need. Whoever they are, whatever they need, the JQ Helpline is there for them. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, we rely on the generosity of our community and supporters to continue our transformative and lifesaving work. Please consider a gift of any size to support us today. All donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law.
Wishing you and yours a happy and healthy 2019. Thank you,
Vaughan Meyer
JQ Board Chair
Asher Gellis
JQ Executive Director
