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Resources for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Questioning Youth

The Outlet Program, Mountain View
www.projectoutlet.org
The Outlet Program supports and empowers lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning youth ages 13 to 20 living on the Peninsula and in South Bay. Through a range of support services, leadership training, community education and advocacy, Outlet successfully increases youth confidence, builds personal assets, and creates healthier communities.

LGBTQ Youth Space, San Jose
www.youthspace.org
The LGBTQ Youth Space is a program of Family & Children Services that provides a community drop-in center and mental health program for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning and ally youth and young adults ages 13-25 who live in Santa Clara County. The Youth Space offers a safe and confidential space for youth to access support groups, leadership opportunities, online chat forums, referrals, and social activities. Free mental health care, including psychiatric services, is available and provided in English, Spanish and American Sign Language.

LYRIC, San Francisco
www.lyric.org
Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center (LYRIC) is a community center for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning youth age 23 and younger. LYRIC's mission is to build community and inspire positive social change through education enhancement, career training, health promotion, and leadership development with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning youth, their families, and allies of all races, classes, genders and abilities.

The Pacific Center, Berkeley
http://pacificcenter.org/

The Pacific Center is a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community center serving the East Bay and Greater Bay Area that offers a broad array of human and health services for LGBT people of all ages and backgrounds.

The Lambda Youth Project, Hayward
www.gayprom.org/lypinfo.html
The Lambda Youth Project serves needs of LGBTQQ youth as well as their friends and families. It provides a safe place for young people to explore feelings and connect with other young people, and creates drug/alcohol-free activities and events.

The Diversity Center, Santa Cruz
www.diversitycenter.org
The Diversity Center is a community center dedicated to advancing the causes and priorities of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and questioning (LGBTIQ) individuals and their allies in Santa Cruz County.

Positive Images, Sonoma County
www.posimages.org
Positive Images provides a safe space for teens and young adults and provides community educational services for high schools, businesses, community-based organizations, colleges, hospitals, social service departments and other organizations interested in learning more about the issues facing GLBTQQI youth and young adults.

Spectrum, Marin County
www.spectrummarin.org
Spectrum hosts and collaborates with a variety of programs, groups and activities for the LGBT community, including Rainbow's End, a facilitated social and support group for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth ages 14 to 19 that meets weekly for fun, discussion and support.

The GSA Network, based in San Francisco and serving all of California
www.gsanetwork.org
Gay-Straight Alliance Network is a youth-led organization that connects school-based Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) to each other and community resources. Through peer support, leadership development, and training, GSA Network supports young people in starting, strengthening and sustaining GSAs and builds the capacity of GSAs to:

Create safe environments in schools for students to support each other and learn about homophobia and other oppressions
Educate the school community about homophobia, gender identity and sexual orientation issues
Fight discrimination, harassment and violence in schools

Resources for queer parents and parents with queer children (adult and teen children):

Colage
www.colage.org
Exists to engage, connect and empower people to make the world a better place for children of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgender parents and families.

PFLAG San Jose Chapter
www.pflagsanjose.org
Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays promotes the health and well-being of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered persons, their families and friends through: support, to cope with an adverse society; education, to enlighten an ill-informed public; and advocacy, to end discrimination and to secure equal civil rights. Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays provides opportunity for dialogue about sexual orientation and gender identity, and acts to create a society that is healthy and respectful of human diversity.

Transgender specific organizations, local and national
The word "transgender" is an umbrella term that includes female and male cross dressers, transvestites, drag queens and kings, female and male impersonators, intersexed individuals, pre-operative, post-operative and non-operative transsexuals, masculine females, feminine males, all persons whose perceived gender or anatomical sex may be incongruent with their gender expression, and all persons exhibiting gender characteristics and identities which are perceived to be androgynous.

Transgender Law Center, San Francisco
www.transgenderlawcenter.org
The Transgender Law Center (TLC) is a civil rights organization advocating for transgender communities. They connect transgender people and their families to technically sound and culturally competent legal services, increase acceptance and enforcement of laws and policies that support California's transgender communities, and work to change laws and systems that fail to incorporate the needs and experiences of transgender people.

TransGender San Francisco
www.tgsf.org
TransGender San Francisco is a non-profit corporation dedicated to serving the educational, social and recreational needs of the transgendered community. TGSF is also dedicated to educating the general public about transgenderism and promoting a positive image of transgendered persons among the general public. The transgendered community includes all transgendered persons, their family and friends, and anyone with a sincere interest in the transgendered.

Youth TIES, SF Bay Area
www.youthgenderproject.org
Youth Trans & Intersex Education Services (Youth TIES) is a youth-led organization advocating for trans, gender-variant, intersex and questioning (TGIQ) youth. They address the challenges facing TGIQ youth in the San Francisco Bay Area by educating the service providers who work with them, and providing TGIQ youth with information and referrals.

Gender Education and Advocacy
www.gender.org/
Gender Education and Advocacy (GEA) is a national organization focused on the needs, issues and concerns of gender variant people in human society. They seek to educate and advocate for all human beings who suffer from gender-based oppression in all of its many forms.

For parents with gender variant children:

The Gender Development Program
www.childrensnational.org/DepartmentsandPrograms/default.aspx
The Gender Development Program provides outpatient psychosocial evaluations and therapeutic services for children, adolescents and their families. The program focuses on gender variant behaviors and gender or sexual identity development. The GDP also assists children with these issues and co-occurring mental health disorders, as well as provides psychosocial consultation for children with medical genital conditions.

Guest Reviewer:
Eileen Ross
Assistant Director, Outlet Program
Mountain View, CA