News & Stories

Congratulations to Leonard Litz Trustee Robyn Schlesinger, who was honored with the Intersex Visibility Award at Triangle Community Center’s (TCC) Phantoms and Flora Gala in Stamford, CT, this Fall. InterConnect Board Member Liat Feller presented the award and reflected on the power of community, telling attendees the story of how the two became fast friends and chosen family at Interconnect’s 2023 Minneapolis conference. Robyn spearheads the TransPLUS Initiative at Leonard Litz, which provides funding and support for projects benefiting trans, intersex, and gender non-conforming youth. Robyn shared her Interconnect experiences and the intentional steps that she, the Foundation, and TCC are taking to support intersex lives. How fitting that the gala took place on Intersex Awareness Day (Oct 26)—what a way to celebrate!

Well, it’s been quite the year. It feels as though the last few weeks, in particular, have been dominated by one negative headline after another. Many of you have understandably felt drained and defeated. We’ve felt it, too. But we’ve also felt the urgent pull of the mission that has driven our work from the start. We have had the opportunity to reflect among ourselves and with one another, and we have been reminded of why we do what we in the first place. Our mission has always been to do whatever we can to help make a better tomorrow for our community, especially those among us who are the most vulnerable and subject to attack. Seasons come and go, administrations change, but our mission remains the same. So while we’ve all been able to take a much needed breather, it’s time to get back to work. After getting together to do some internal strategic planning this year, we are pleased to announce that our Grant Applications have been revamped for 2025. Many of the changes are subtle—repeat applicants will now have the opportunity to share updates on the progress of their work, for example—but the main difference is that…

“All good art is political, there is none that isn’t.” So goes a quote by the great American novelist Toni Morrison: “The best art is political and you ought to be able to make it unquestionably political and irrevocably beautiful at the same time.” Few artists embody this ethos for the LGBTQ+ community more than Keith Haring. His work was both personal and political, endearing him to audiences as much for its immediately recognizable and unique aesthetic and its uncompromisingly defiant advocacy. He was a personal favorite of Elliot Leonard and Roger Litz, founding Trustees of the Leonard Litz LGBTQ+ Foundation and avid art curators in their own right. Now, through the Foundation, Elliot and Roger have made it possible for a new generation of LGBTQ+ artists and activists to be inspired by Haring’s legacy, with the donation of Haring’s “Apocalypse” series, including 30 distinct pieces of art,  to the City College, part of the City University of New York. Haring created “Apocalypse” in 1988, at the height of the AIDS pandemic and after his own diagnosis. The screen prints are accompanied by captions composed by his series collaborator, William S. Burroughs. The complete set, including the captions, will be displayed…

Judy Troilo is no stranger to the LGBTQ+ equality movement. She has served as Executive Director of The LOFT LGBTQ+ Community Center since 2014, transforming the organization into the largest LGBTQ+ service provider in Westchester County. The LOFT has been a model for LGBTQ+ community centers across the nation, with dozens of free programs, services, and events offered to LGBTQ+ folks and our allies in Westchester and beyond—including The Hudson Valley TransForum, the largest annual conference focused on the Transgender, Gender Non-conforming, and Non-Binary communities in the Lower Hudson Valley. Because of her work at both the local and national level, Judy has been listed on City and State’s Westchester 100 as one of the most influential leaders in the county. More recently, Judy was awarded CenterLink’s Lorri L. Jean Leadership Award in recognition of her “exceptional leadership and visionary impact”on the LGBTQ+ community. So it was clearly a no-brainer to invite Judy to join The Leonard Litz LGBTQ+ Foundation as an Executive Consultant beginning in 2025. In this capacity, Judy will work to expand our bandwidth to offer more proactive support to the community organizations we are here to serve by helping to compile a toolkit of programs and services (and sample…

There is no question that the “T” in our LGBTQ+ alphabet has been at the center of the vitriolic hate and attacks against our community recently. We’re witnessing the same playbook that was used against gay men and drag queens—painting us as sexual deviants and a danger to minors—only this time it’s meant to dehumanize people who are transgender, gender-nonconforming, non-binary, and intersex (TGNCNBI). This is exactly why Leonard Litz created The TransPLUS Initiative in 2023. As we all continue to embrace the nuanced, socialized, and evolving experiences of gender identity and expression, TransPLUS seeks to center and uplift those voices in our community that have historically been relegated to the far margins of the movement. Now, that Initiative has expanded into a vision for a TransPLUS Resource Center, with our very own Robyn Schlesinger serving as Director. In addition to grant funding, the TransPLUS Resource Center will seek to amplify voices of TGNCNBI leaders and build greater awareness of the community’s socio-economic and political challenges by: Cultivating connection and communication among Transgender, Gender Non-Confirming, Nonbinary, and Intersex services providers and individuals Developing peer-support networks across TGNCNBI communities nationwide Maintaining a regularly updated toolbox of resources and services for the…

The inauguration has not even happened yet, and already the battlefield is beginning to take shape. Nancy Mace (R-SC) has used Sarah McBride’s historic election of the first openly transgender person to serve in the United States Congress as an excuse to peddle in more of the vicious trans-phobic rhetoric we saw during the campaign. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nominated for Health and Human Services Secretary, has signaled his intent to undermine the effectiveness of life-saving vaccines here in the U.S. and around the world. And Donald Trump has kept his word about using the power of elected office to go after his perceived enemies. It’s going to be a long four years. But thankfully, we’re not going into it unprepared. LGBTQ+ advocates and allies went into this election hoping for the best, but strategizing for the worst. We’ve seen this movie before, and we’re not about to give them carte blanche to write the sequel. Lambda Legal is one of the organizations that did thorough scenario planning for every election outcome. For 50 years, Lambda has been the nation’s critical and sometimes last line of legal defense for LGBTQ+ communities. They have fought not only to protect, but to…

A lot of things happened this week: Sarah McBride won her race in Delaware, making her the first ever out trans member of the United States Congress. Tammy Baldwin fought back homophobic attacks against her as an out lesbian to hold her U.S. Senate seat in Wisconsin. Julie Johnson made history as the first out LGBTQ+ person from Texas to be elected to Congress. Keturah Huron became the first out LGBTQ+ person of color to be elected to the Kentucky State Senate. In New York, an overwhelming majority of voters approved a proposed amendment to the state constitution to expand anti-discrimination and equal protection rights to include ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, pregnancy outcomes and reproductive health. Voters also chose to support abortion rights in seven of the ten states where reproductive health was on the ballot. The U.S. Senate will now include two Black women for the first time in history, Lisa Blunt Rochester from Delaware and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland. And about 200 LGBTQ+ candidates won their races in state legislatures nationwide, including here in Connecticut, where the number of LGBTQ+ legislators has expanded, with the re-election of Reps. Raghib Allie-Brennan,…

Another Memorial Day has come and gone, which means that we have unofficially entered the Summer season and are officially in the throes of Pride. Many of us attended barbeques with friends and family and traded “Happy Memorial Day!” greetings back and forth. To be clear, we deserve to seek and find every happiness, especially here, especially now. But Memorial Day is about more than backyard cookouts. As President Joe Biden noted at a ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day, “We’re not far off from the time when the last living voices of those who fought and bled on D-Day will no longer be with us.  So, we have a special obligation.  We cannot let what happened here be lost in the silence of the years to come.  We must remember it, must honor it, and live it.” That is the same mantle of Pride. It is a time for LGBTQ+ folks and our allies to celebrate and have fun—yes. But we must never forget how we got here. The first Pride was a Riot, and though we’ve made significant gains towards equality, we are still fighting for our rights today amidst a fierce socio-political backlash. But remembering and…

It is difficult not to succumb to the temptation to talk about a certain former President turned felon. He already soaks up too much oxygen in almost all media. But we also cannot bury our heads in the sand. Sadly, despite the thirty-four (34!) convictions (so far…), November is still going to be a dogfight for democracy. We know what’s at stake, not just for the LGBTQ+ community, but for all marginalized people. There is no room for error. But rest assured, our fate is in our own hands. Let’s channel our anxiety about He Who Shall Not Be Named into advocacy and support for people like Sharice Davids, who in 2018 became the first openly LGBT Native American elected to the U.S. Congress, the first openly lesbian person elected to the U.S. Congress from Kansas—and one of the first two Native American women elected to Congress. Sharice is one of a growing number of openly LGBTQ+ elected officials in the U.S., and she, along with so many others serves as an important reminder that if you’re not seated at the table, you’re in danger of being on the menu. As President Biden recently remarked, “Democracy is never guaranteed.  Every generation must preserve…

Please join Leonard Litz in congratulating the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center, which recently executed a hugely successful fundraising campaign to sustain the organization and maintain delivery of its vital services. Anyone who has ever engaged in this work knows it’s far from easy. Beyond the emotional labor, the endless cycle of fundraising and grant-reporting can feel draining. In some cases, a Center finds itself teetering on the brink of unsustainability. When we at Leonard Litz received an emergency call from the Milwaukee LGBT Center seeking financial relief during a period of restoration and restructuring, we knew we had to help somehow. “After COVID, a lot of organizations felt a dip in funding,” said Ricardo Galaviz, their Associate Director. “You know, times are tough and we understand that.” It took an entire community effort and a well coordinated media campaign, but they made it, and no one is more grateful than the very community members they serve every day. “There’s a lot of things to celebrate here in Milwaukee,” says Galaviz. “I want people to know that this is a thriving community. It’s not just a community in crisis mode. We are in a temporary crisis mode. But as history has…