In 2002, I moved to Oregon and attended my first Rainbow Youth meeting (back then we called the meeting “group”) without realizing this moment would shape the course of my life. I was an angsty queer looking for connection, community, and a place where I could find acceptance amongst peers being fully myself. Rainbow Youth became much more than a weekly (eventually bi-weekly) meetup. It became my home.
At this time, there were very few spaces that offered safety and affirmation to the queer community. Youth were frustrated over their limited abilities to engage in political affairs, due to their age. Queer and trans youth resources were scarce, especially in the smaller or more rural areas outside of Salem. School-based sex education was riddled in heteronormativity. We were taught about abstinence, pregnancy prevention, HIV/AIDS/STDS, but usually from a lens that excluded our identities. Queer relationships, consent, boundaries, gender diversity, and real conversations about safe sex for LGBTQIA+ individuals were nowhere to be found in the curriculum. One place that provided this accurate, inclusive education, and still does to this day is Rainbow Youth. These are practical, affirming, and life-saving health lessons presented with the intention to remove shame and offer a safe place to learn.
Rainbow Youth has been the antidote to resource scarcity and community silence. Facilitated by volunteers, many of which were LGBTQIA+ adults themselves, the group created a space where young people could show up as they were. These volunteers didn’t just supervise. They showed up as mentors, role models, and advocates. Their continual presence offered the youth something powerful: consistency and visibility. For many of us, it was the first time we saw openly queer and trans adults living in the real world, representing the community in which we were beginning to navigate and hoping to someday thrive in.
Throughout the years, Rainbow Youth didn’t only offer discussion, support, and a place to hang out. We would go on field trips to local swimming holes, participate in local Pride events, unlimited access to their on-site queer library and discuss the books we read, engage in light political debates (George W. Bush was president at the time), and participate in cooking nights to learn new recipes. Some of the better events included the drag shows that were held at local nightclubs (at reasonable hours) where youth could explore gender and performance in a supportive environment. Many of the top performing Drag Queens from Portland would travel down to the local shows to connect with the youth and root us on!
Many of the friendships I formed at Rainbow Youth have lasted into adulthood. We have shared milestones, supported each other through personal transitions, and remain connected across state lines as our lives have changed. Sadly, the impacts of systemic marginalization have harmed this community in irreparable ways. I still grieve the losses of my fellow Rainbow Youth friends who have lost their lives throughout the years from substance use, HIV/AIDS-related complications, and mental health crises that were shaped, in part, by the daily trauma of navigating a world not built for us.
These losses have never left me. They fuel my ongoing commitment to this work.
I began volunteering with Rainbow Youth in 2017. Over the years, my involvement with Rainbow Youth has deepened. I currently serve behind the scenes on the organization’s board, helping support our long-term vision, advocacy, and operations. I’ve also spent time volunteering at monthly art nights, organizing Pizza in the Park events, supporting our annual HoliGay parties, and ensuring youth have access to affirming spaces. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when in-person gatherings came to a halt, I stepped in as treasurer to ensure the organization would remain financially stable and able to meet the needs of our youth in an increasingly isolated world.
Even when the meetings moved to screens and our events were canceled or reimagined, Rainbow Youth remained a lifeline for our queer and trans youth. We adapted. We found creative ways to show up for the youth who relied on us and needed us more than ever. Our board was small in 2020, but we managed to keep afloat for the sake of the youth!
My experience with Rainbow Youth also played a key role in shaping my professional goals. The safety, compassion, and mentorship I received there added to the many reasons I chose to pursue. a Master’s Degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Today, I’m a Professional Counselor Associate in Oregon and a Licensed Mental Health Counselor Associate in Washington. My clinical work focuses on the needs of LGBTQIA+ youth and adults. I value the lessons I learned in Rainbow Youth and can easily apply lived experiences to my work daily.
I am grateful for the life experiences I have had that led me to this full-circle moment where I am now supporting the queer and trans youth who are seeking a safe, affirming place to make connections and find community (and maybe get some free pizza)! I will always advocate for spaces like Rainbow Youth. Queer youth deserve to see queer adults advocating to make their lives safer and more equitable to their non-marginalized peers. Their future depends upon it.
–Amanda Love, Board Member & Former Rainbow Youth attendee
