Queer Youth Task Force

Mission Statement

The mission of The Santa Cruz County LGBT Youth Task Force for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Questioning Youth -- aka Queer Youth Task Force/QYTF -- is to improve the quality of life for all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth in Santa Cruz County, as well as children and siblings raised in homes where LGBTIQ people live.

The Task Force is comprised of individuals and organizations that work with, or are interested in helping, queer youth in Santa Cruz County. We exchange information about current services, assess unmet needs, strategize about new resources and improve current resources, collaborate county-wide about ways to improve services, and develop community response to issues that arise.

We meet at the Aptos Public Library conference room, 7695 Soquel Drive, Aptos CA.

Agenda Items During Queer Youth Task Force

QYTF Meetings are currently informative meetings where individuals, agency and organization represenitives who work with youth in Santa Cruz County network and exchange information about current services, assess unmet needs, strategize about new resources and improve current resources, and collaborate county-wide about ways to improve services to queer youth (Please read the QYTF Mission Statement).

If you or your organization would like time on the agenda of any Queer Youth Task Force meeting that pertains to the mission of QYTF, please submit AGENDA ITEMS two weeks before a meeting . Also, please add how much time you require on the agenda.

If you would like to know more about the Queer Youth Task Force, or want to know how you or your organization can help make Santa Cruz County a safer place for queer and queer-friendly youth, please contact us.

Chair: Stuart Rosenstein

 

QYTF
P.O. Box 8280
Santa Cruz, CA 95061
Phone: (831) 427-4004
FAX (831) 425-0743
email:

The Task Force is an affiliate of The Diversity Center.

Sub Committees of QYTF

Quote

Statement of Congressman Sam Farr (D) - Santa Cruz/Monterey on the floor of the House of Represenatives, Washington, D.C. on National Day of Silence, April 10, 2002:

"Mr. Speaker, today across the country thousands of students on our college campuses are silent. They are silent as a sign of solidarity with persons who -- because of sexual orientation and gender identification -- cannot speak for themselves. They are silent as a form of protest against a society that silences persons who are different, persons who do not meet main street's definition of "proper".

"They are silent but we here in Congress should not be.

"We should shout and raise our voices and call for an end to discrimination and prejudice against gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender persons. We should affirm - loudly - that on this Day of Silence, America has the capacity and the heart to say all persons are just that: persons, and here in America all persons are deserving of fair treatment."


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