News & Updates

Queer Youth Speak Out 2023 panel participants at the ened of the event.

Watch the entire event: Queer Youth Speak Out 2023

November 13, 2023

On November, 2, three high school students shared their personal stories about the effects today’s social and political landscapes have on them directly. The audience of 100+ participants, in-person and virtually at Beverly Hall at the Naples United Church of Christ, had the chance to ask them questions through a Q&A at the end of…

Queer Youth Speak out panel participants.

WINK News: Giving a voice to the LGBTQ+ community in SWFL

November 3, 2023

Teens who feel their voice is routinely drowned out are now being heard. Teens who are part of the LGBTQ+ community got to control the conversation about what being part of their community is like here in Florida. These Collier County students shared a piece of their lives with the crowd on Thursday night at…

Kayak

NDN Op-Ed: Queer Youth Speak Out

October 30, 2023

This opinion article was published in the Naples Daily News and The News-Press on October 29, 2023. In current Florida public schools, you are made to fear being queer. You are different, and you are punished for that. You cannot see yourself in the faculty around you, as they cannot speak about being queer for…

Fanfiction writing.

Fanfiction: Beacon of LGBTQ+ expression amidst censorship, underrepresentation

October 12, 2023

What do Vergil, Dante Alighieri, John Milton, and Erika Mitchell have in common? They all wrote fanfiction. Dante’s Divine Comedy, The Aeneid, and Paradise Lost are literary classics. Erika Mitchell’s Fifty Shades of Grey, originally published as a fanfic, made more than a billion dollars from the movie alone and broke several box office records.…

Educators Information Night. Classroom with pencils and a globe

NDN: GLSEN gives teachers resources for LGBT-friendly classrooms

September 25, 2023

NAPLES Fla. – Local Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) leaders were getting ready to host a training session for Collier County educators at the Naples Pride Center on Sept. 13 when protesters arrived. In a matter of minutes, protesters began harassing teachers as they were getting out of their cars. The protesters took photos…

Ollie, at the 2023 Youth Pride Conference sponsored by GLSEN Collier County on March 25, 2023, in Naples, Florida.

BuzzFeed News: Florida LGBTQ+ kids are learning how to fight back

March 29, 2023

NAPLES, Fla. — “I love Florida, but Florida doesn’t love me back.” Those were the words of Ollie, a nonbinary high school senior in Collier County who has lived in Florida all their life, but who is now plotting their escape. Last year, extreme bullying at school forced Ollie to switch to a dual enrollment program…