The Hebrew word chaya or chaim means life. When we say l’chaim in celebration—of marriage, of family, of friends—we are raising a toast in celebration of the precious and fragile gift of life.
This year has not been an easy one, in too many ways, for too many people. Coming off the heels of a global pandemic that claimed millions of lives, we have continued to see innocent civilians being caught in the crossfires of war—in Ukraine, in Israel, in Gaza. War can be rooted in complicated ideology, but it’s not hard for all of us to agree that the loss of innocent life anywhere is tragic and heartbreaking.
One of the tenets of the concept of intersectionality is not just that we all bear multi-faceted identities, but that the struggles for freedom and full self-actualization are all linked. Reproductive rights are human rights. Black lives matter.
Everyone deserves to live in peace.
At the Leonard Litz LGBTQ+ Foundation, we stand in solidarity with our queer family and allies under siege both around the world, and right here in the U.S., where craven political attacks on LGBTQ+ families, and on trans youth in particular, have disrupted so many lives, creating modern-day refugees in places like Texas and Florida.
They are seeking to erase our very lives.
All we want is for our community to live, in ways that realize their full potential as human beings.
Roger and I are not as young as we were in the picture above. But we don’t look on it with wistful nostalgia—because we have lived. We have confronted and overcome all manner of setbacks. We have been delighted to see and experience so much that this world has to offer. It’s fitting that we are raising a glass in the picture, because we have always celebrated life. And now we enjoy the opportunity to continue living a rich and fulfilled life in part through the work of this Foundation.
Our hope for all of us in the new year is simply that we find a way to live.
We thank each of you for being part of our Foundation in any way. May you achieve all your dreams and more in 2024.
L’chaim!
Elliot and Roger