Tegan and Sara have launched a foundation to support LGBTQ girls and women
Canadian pop duo and all around amazing people Tegan and Sara have launched a foundation to support LGBTQ girls and women and we can’t stop applauding them!
This year has been eventful for the twin sisters. The pair released their eighth album Love You to Death earlier this year, and have undertaken the daunting task of creating a visual for each track, some of which are hilariously suggestive and others that pay homage to queer artists and raise awareness about mental health issues.
However, now Tegan and Sara have announced that they’re starting a foundation to support LGBTQ women.
Announcing the news on their website, twin sisters Sara and Tegan Quin, who both identify as LGBTQ, said that they wanted to “fight for economic justice, health and representation for LGBTQ girls and women.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BOM6LYzAH7e
"LGBTQ women are experiencing disproportionately high levels of poverty, health issues and inequality. LGBTQ women of color, especially transgender women often experience these issues even more severely due to racism and transphobia," they said in a letter on their website. "Today, given the state of politics in the United States, we must continue to unite and fight for our rights and against all forms of oppression."
The band opened up about how, while touring their new record Love You to Death around North America, they were confronted with the pressing issues and needs of LGBTQ people in the country.
“We learned that the lack of federal funding for LGBTQ services, limited training for doctors about the needs of their LGBTQ patients, and severe workplace discrimination are disproportionately affecting women,” they said. “Most importantly, we learned that LGBTQ women and girls are feeling overwhelmingly rejected and left behind.”
According to statistics on the foundations website, 23% of lesbian women live in poverty and women of color are 3 times more likely to live in poverty than white, LGB women. What’s more, transgender women are four times more likely to have a household income under $10,000 and twice as likely to be unemployed, while one in five transgender women have reported being homeless at some point in their lives.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFAZf4TS8tY?feature=oembed
Appropriately called “The Tegan and Sara Foundation,” the organization plans to support and work alongside similar charities supporting LGBTQ issues and women’s rights in a proactive way.
We started the Foundation to dismantle the systems of inequity that prevent LGBTQ girls and women from reaching their full potential. Together, we can make a difference," she said.
You can read Tegan and Sara’s full mission statement here. For more information and how you can donate, visit the foundation’s website.
