Environmental Justice Fund Grantee Spotlight: Seattle’s LGBTQ+ Center

Across the United States, race is the most significant predictor of a person living near contaminated air, water, or soil. It is for this reason that Seattle's Environmental Justice Fund was created in 2017 to support efforts that benefit and are led by, or in partnership with, those most affected by environmental and climate inequities: Black, Indigenous, People of Color, immigrants, refugees, people with low incomes, youth, and elders. The Environmental Justice Fund supports a wide variety of community-led projects that advance environmental justice and respond to the impacts of climate change. This spotlight is part of a story series highlighting some of the incredible work led by community groups and organizations supported by the Environmental Justice Fund.

Since 1995, Seattle's LGBTQ+ Center has provided a space for queer folks to access care and resources while building a community stronger than HIV. Over time, the LGBTQ+ Center has grown to offer youth programs, trainings, art workshops, HIV/STI testing, and more. As one of the 2023 EJ Fund award recipients, the LGBTQ+ Center will launch a new project this year that brings attention to the intersections of queerness and climate change while promoting a positive and empowering vision of a sustainable and equitable Seattle.

"Environmental justice very much centers the people who are most affected by these environmental issues, which tends to be communities of color, unhoused folks, indigenous people, etc. which, intersect with the LGBTQ+ community in general," said Jing Jing (they/them), Co-Manager of the center. "Yet, environmental justice isn't always something that people associate with queer folks, but it matters to our community and does affect us a lot." The program will use art and creativity to educate queer youth on climate change and environmental justice. Starting in spring of 2025, youth will participate in a program designed to educate, empower, and help youth cope with the effects of climate change. They will also receive training in risograph printing, an eco-friendly printing technique, to create posters and a zine to distribute in community. Arts programming has been a staple of the LGBTQ+ Center since the early 2000s, as art is both a creative outlet and an instrument for change and advocacy.

"The idea is to support youth in creating art that paints a positive, sustainable vision of what climate resilience or environmental justice looks like in our communities," said Andrew McGinnis (he/they), Communications Co-Manager for the Center. "I think it's really helpful for alleviating climate grief, and by supporting the youth in creating this work and providing education around environmental issues, we can also support the youth in developing self-advocacy skills." The LGBTQ+ Center is excited to launch this new program to shed light on the connections between environmental justice and LGBTQ+ issues.

The end goal of the program is to empower queer youth to engage in environmental and resilience efforts in their communities as well as contribute to the long legacy of community solidarity amidst environmental issues in Washington state.

About the Author

Jazzmin (she/her) is a Climate and Environmental Justice Intern at OSE. She is leading the Environmental Justice Fund Storytelling Series and is working to bring greater awareness to the critical environmental justice work happening in Seattle. Jazzmin is a recent graduate from the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs at the University of Washington where her graduate research focused on community engagement, marine renewable energy, and environmental justice.