Just Us is a group of programs at Oasis Center dedicated to helping lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth to achieve their full potential. Specifically, Just Us provides LGBTQ+ students a liberating space where they can be authentic and celebrate the fluidity of identity.
In 2011, Oasis Center launched “Just Us” to provide LGBTQ+ youth with a safe and affirming space to feel validated for their authentic selves and to learn how to use their voices to create change. Through open dialogue, small group discussions, individual interviews, and anonymous surveys, Oasis Center was able to identify eight target areas that would become our focus for creating positive change in Middle Tennessee. Our goal is to partner and collaborate with other LGBTQ+ agencies, service providers, and entities that are currently working within each of the target areas and to build alliances that further our efforts to end disparities for LGBTQ+ youth. These eight areas of focus are:
- Self Acceptance & Empowerment
- Safe & Accepting Schools
- Family Acceptance
- Peer & Adult Education
- Open & Affirming Faith Community
- Civil & Human Rights
- Access to Quality Healthcare
- Access to Safe Housing
What’s in a name?
Everything – especially when the name is a product of youth voice. Throughout our one year development stage of speaking with young people about their needs, they told us that they wanted people to identify them as human beings, teenagers, or people and not as a letter in a predetermined alphabet. They asked us, “Why can’t we be just us?” Our response…
You can!
