Story at a glance:
- Lavender Book is like the historic Green Book, but for people of color in the LGBTQ+ community.
- Users can rate their experience on the app.
- With so many anti-LGBTQ+ policies and the high rate of suicide, boosters hope the app could even save lives by helping people find safe spaces.
Black people in the LGBTQ+ community can rely on a new application that tells them which businesses are inclusive to their identities.
The Lavender Book is an app that shows supportive and safe businesses and facilities, similar to the Green Book during the Jim Crow-era, Time magazine reported.
America is changing faster than ever! Add Changing America to your Facebook or Twitter feed to stay on top of the news.
Created by the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC), an LGBTQ-focused Black civil rights organization, the crowdsourced app was a collaborative effort of a nonprofit called Out In Tech, an LGBT tech community.
With the app, users can search which businesses are Black owned or trans owned, and users can review businesses they have visited and rate them on their inclusivity such as whether the business has gender-neutral restrooms.
“There are unique challenges that those of us with intersectional identities face,” David Johns, NBJC executive director, told Time. “I, as a Black same-gender loving man, know that there are many places in this world that are not accessible to me should I desire to show up with my partner, or in ways that might otherwise invite people to speculate about my sexual identity.”
As Changing America reported, there has been a slew of anti-trans legislation recently, while 42 percent of LGBTQ+ youth considered suicide in the past year.
More than 9 out of 10 LGBTQ+ youth said recent politics negatively affected their mental health, according to the survey by the suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization.
More than 250 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced into state legislatures this year, according to the advocacy group Human Rights Campaign (HRC), and at least eight trans youth-targeted ones have been signed into laws. This year is slated to be the deadliest year on record for Black trans women. Already, there have been 14 Black trans women who have been killed since January, and the year before that, an estimated 44 transgender or gender nonconfirming people were killed, reports HRC.
“[There] are still states where people can be denied services on the basis of perceived sexual orientation and gender identity,” said Andrew Lowenthal, executive director of Out In Tech. “There are also unfriendly, unwelcoming, and even hostile environments specifically for BIPOC members of our community. By leveraging the power of technology and crowdsourcing for social change, we hope to help BIPOC LGBTQ folks find safe and inclusive spaces at the recommendation of their peers.”
Many of the anti-LGBTQ+ laws are taking shape in the South, including Alabama and Louisiana.
“The reality is that most Black LGBTQIA+ folks, we live in the South,” Johns said. “We live in states where it is still legal to discriminate against us based on actual or perceived identity orientation or expression.”
“We spend a considerable amount of time and energy trying to identify places where the likelihood of us experiencing violence or trauma or discrimination is lessened,” Johns continued. “The idea of using technology to reduce the labor that our community invests, and increase access to safe spaces, has always been something that we’ve wanted to do.”
READ MORE STORIES FROM CHANGING AMERICA
NEW NC BILL WOULD REQUIRE SCHOOLS TO TELL PARENTS IF A CHILD ‘EXHIBITS GENDER NONCONFORMITY’
ARKANSAS AND SOUTH DAKOTA PASS LBGTQ BANS THAT TARGET TRANSGENDER MINORS
TRANSGENDER STUDENT WINS $300K FROM SCHOOL IN DISCRIMINATION CASE
FIRST TRANSGENDER US OFFICIAL WINS SENATE CONFIRMATION
MISSISSIPPI BANS TRANSGENDER ATHLETES FROM COMPETING ON GIRLS’ OR WOMEN’S SPORTS TEAMS
changing america copyright.
