Have you been AMPLIFYed?
As we head into LGBT History Month, it is the perfect reason to schedule the time to complete the AMPLIFY Q&A. The Q&A takes about 30 minutes – it covers everything from your coming out experiences to your insight on current community priorities. You have full control of what name you use, if you submit a photo and how you answer the open-ended questions. We even have an option to update your responses down the road.
To date, we have over 230 responses representing people with ties to 20 of the 26 Western PA counties. I estimate that there are between 80,000 – 200,000 LGBTQ folks living in this region (educated guess based on Census data) so clearly there are many more stories to be archived.
You know that the more responses we get, the more attention each unique contribution receives – the mighty algorithms of social media. You know that for someone feeling isolated or frightened, there cannot be too many stories about neighbors in nearby communities who had similar experiences, 20 years ago or today.
I continue to ask you for your story because it continues to matter. I’m looking at the data – I see that folks from rural Western PA regions are reading these stories. I watch them move from Q&A to Q&A, following tags based on identity or county or favorite entertainer. I see what links they click on from the posts – links to resources, Facebook groups and events.
Your contribution doesn’t have to be perfect (you can update as I said.) An imperfect response today is going to reach someone whereas the perfect post in a draft folder reaches no one. Your contribution doesn’t have to be earth shatteringly brutal – if you want to selectively share your experiences, that’s reasonable and still very helpful. It doesn’t have to be dramatic, funny, or tragic – the power of sharing typical stories of family acceptance and a contented life is that this narrative never gets assigned to fictional LGBTQ characters. Where else will someone read this?
Please make it a priority to invest 30 minutes of your time to complete the Q&A during October.
You can use the online form http://bit.ly/AmplifyLGBTQ or you can use the attached document. Please, just do it!
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