Dear John,

Our LGBTQIA+ children face mental health challenges at a higher rate than their peers, and they’re often the target of bullying, discrimination and horrible cruelty. Too often, these challenges play out in our classrooms and our healthcare facilities, but educators and healthcare professionals find themselves strapped for the resources they need to provide meaningful support.

While some extreme elected officials target our LGBTQIA+ youth, Sens. Laphonza Butler and Tina Smith and Rep. Sharice Davids are providing real solutions and investing in accessible, affirming mental health and crisis intervention resources with the introduction of the Pride in Mental Health Act, which will be game-changing for all of us trying to support our kids.

The Pride in Mental Health Act works to close LGBTQIA+ mental health information gaps, improve physical and mental health for at-risk youth, and ensure all our students have access to the mental health supports they need. You can take action now by letting your members of Congress know that you support this legislation.

Among many other things, the Pride in Mental Health Act would award grants for mental health services to assess and improve mental health and substance use outcomes for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, nonbinary, intersex and Two-Spirit youth. It would also require eligible entities to utilize funds to issue school bullying prevention guidelines concerning LGBTQIA+ youth.

As we saw with Nex Benedict in Oklahoma earlier this year, legislation protecting our students is crucial now more than ever. We will never be able to undo the harm done to Nex. Now, their memory is a blessing and a call to action.

We need your help to make sure that this legislation, the Pride in Mental Health Act, is passed in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Click here to send a letter to your senators and representative now. Once you provide your information, you will be given a letter for each legislator based on their current support for the bill.

This weekend we celebrated International Transgender Visibility Day, a day to acknowledge the strength and resilience of our transgender union and community members and affirm our commitment to creating a more inclusive and equitable workplace for all. I hope you’ll take this action with us.

In unity,
Randi Weingarten
AFT President