LGBTQIA+ AND QUEER
COMMUNITY RESOURCES

We are proud to support love and equality for all of our 445,000+ songwriters.

We are committed to fighting for representation for all songwriters, at any stage of their career. Below is a collection of organizations and resources to support and empower the LBGTQIA+/Queer community. 

Organizations

  • A community-led funding initiative founded in 2012 to support grassroots, trans justice groups run by and for trans people. Learn more.

  • A collective that seeks to address the global crisis faced by Black Trans people by bringing home-cooked, healthy, and culturally specific meals and resources to Black Trans People. Learn more.

  • A black trans and queer-led collaborative that builds the power of people to wage and win campaigns that force systematic divestment from the prison industrial complex and investment in the services that support us. Learn more.

  • BTFA Collective is a community-based arts organization that builds a space for the production and preservation of Black Trans art and culture and mobilizes resources to support Black Trans femme artists. Learn more.

  • PFLAG NYC — Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People — is the founding chapter of PFLAG, the nation’s foremost family-based organization committed to the civil rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.  Learn more.

  • OutRight Action International fights for the human rights for LGBTIQ people everywhere. OutRight works at the international, regional and national levels to research, document, defend, and advance human rights for LGBTIQ people around the world. Learn more.

  • The International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association is the world's leading network of LGBTQ-welcoming tourism businesses. They provide free resources and information for LGBTQ+ travelers including this list of global gay pride events. Learn more.

  • Lesbian and Gay Band Association (LGBA) is a musical organization comprised of concert and marching bands from cities across the United States and the world. Formed in 1982 as Lesbian and Gay Bands of America when seven independent bands met formally in Chicago, the Association has grown to 38 member organizations including international bands. Learn more.

  • Heritage of Pride is a nonprofit organization that plans and produces New York City’s official LGBTQIA+ Pride events each year to commemorate the Stonewall Riots of 1969 — the beginning of the modern Gay Rights movement. Learn more.

  • GLAAD rewrites the script for LGBTQ acceptance. As a dynamic media force, GLAAD tackles tough issues to shape the narrative and provoke dialogue that leads to cultural change. GLAAD protects all that has been accomplished and creates a world where everyone can live the life they love. Learn more.

  • Founded in 1998 by the creators of the Academy Award®-winning short film TREVOR, The Trevor Project is the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & questioning (LGBTQ) young people under 25. Learn more.

  • Victory Institute’s International Program aims to increase the participation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people in the democratic systems of their country, in order to advance toward equality. Learn more.

  • The ACLU works to ensure that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people can live openly without discrimination and enjoy equal rights, personal autonomy, and freedom of expression and association. Learn more.

  • Pride Foundation was founded in 1985, in the midst of the HIV & AIDS crisis, by a small but courageous group of people who came together to create a source of light and hope during a period of profound darkness. Together, they have invested more than $70 million in transformative community change in pursuit of this vision. Learn more.

  • The Human Rights Campaign represents a force of more than 3 million members and supporters nationwide. As the largest national lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer civil rights organization, HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ people are ensured of their basic equal rights, and can be open, honest and safe at home, at work and in the community. Learn more.

  • Amnesty International is a global movement of millions of people demanding human rights for all people – no matter who they are or where they are. They are the world’s largest grassroots human rights organization. Learn more.

  • IssuesFunders for LGBTQ Issues works to increase the scale and impact of philanthropic resources aimed at enhancing the well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer communities, promoting equity, and advancing racial, economic and gender justice. Learn more.

Articles, Books, and General Resources

  • Trans singers like Kim Petras, SOPHIE, Lucas Silveira, and Teddy Geiger are all making music you should add to your playlist. Read more.

  • We’re seeing an awakening of LGBTQ artists receiving representation in music & finding success in their careers, but there is still a lot of work to be done. Mike Lorenz discusses the intersection of LGBTQ and music, and what the music industry needs to focus on to achieve representation for all. Read more.

  • Songwriters and musicians have become some of the best storytellers. Storytelling lends itself to visibility and representation, fostering a sense of community. Our Software Engineer, Allison Palum, shared her resonating story about finding herself and her place in the LGBTQ community through the world of music. Read more.

  • LGBTQ music history is so much more than a timeline of who came out when and which songs became gay anthems. It’s also about the artists who weren’t afraid to be themselves in eras when doing so often had personal and professional risks attached. Celebrate the artists and movements that paved the way for countless other LGBTQ artists today. Read more.

  • Hear from some of music's greatests, such as Bessie Smith, Freddie Mercury, David Bowie, and Elton John, by getting your hands on autobigraphies, interviews, and novels from Gay Pride Shop's online bookstore. Read more.

  • Lil Nas X's release is part of a legacy of music videos with LGBTQ themes or visuals by Sam Smith, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, George Michael, Melissa Etheridge, Perfume Genius... and those of some straight artists, too, from Red Hot Chili Peppers to Olivia Newton-John. Read more.

  • Exploring your sexual orientation and/or gender identity can bring up a lot of feelings and questions. Inside this handbook, we will work together to explore your identity, what it might be like to share your identity with others, and provide you with tools and guiding questions to help you think about what coming out means to you. Read more.

  • Gender is something everyone thinks they understand, but most people really don't. Here, it's broken into three categories: identity, expression, and sex. It's less "this or that" and more "this and that." Read more.

  • The Safe Zone Project (SZP) is a free online resource providing curricula, activities, and other resources for educators facilitating Safe Zone trainings (sexuality, gender, and LGBTQ+ education sessions), and learners who are hoping to explore these concepts on their own. Learn more.

Video and Audio Resources

  • The Mask You Live In follows boys and young men as they struggle to stay true to themselves while negotiating America’s narrow definition of masculinity. Learn More.

  • Is there such a thing as a "gay voice"? Why do some people "sound gay" but not others? Why is the "gay voice" a trigger for bullying, even violence? DO I SOUND GAY? explores these questions and more and includes revealing interviews with Margaret Cho, Tim Gunn, Don Lemon, Dan Savage, David Sedaris and George Takei. Learn More.

  • Still Processing is about how different cultural artifacts, past and present, affect how we relate to the world around us. Covering topics as varied as Beyonce at Coachella to BBQ in a quickly gentrifying Brooklyn, their chemistry and the intimacy of their discourse will hook you in.  Learn More.

  • Our stories are the most powerful tools that we have. LGBTQ&A features weekly interviews with the most interesting and influential members of the LGBTQ+ community. Past guests include Pete Buttigieg, Roxane Gay, Kate Bornstein, Laverne Cox, and Trixie Mattel. Learn More.

  • Making Gay History documents the oral history of those on the frontlines of the LGBTQ movement from 1945-1990, including Randy Shilts, Evelyn Hooker, Vito Russo, Larry Kramer, and Ann Northrop. Learn More.

  • HOMOGROUND is an audio podcast featuring music by queer (LGBTQ & allied) bands/musicians. The podcast was created to bring exposure & access to non-mainstream bands, especially those in isolated communities. Learn More.

  • A podcast on queer folks’ taste in music. A great love for music and the need to offer other LGBTQIAP+ people a place to talk about this is what brought this podcast into being. Music plays a huge role in queer life. With so many memories, anecdotes and other stories that have songs attached to them, it would be a shame if no one would ever share them. Learn More.

  • In this passionate talk, diversity trainer and activist Fahad Saeed addresses the persistent myth that inclusive language and acronyms create more barriers than they tear down. Sharing his own experiences as a gay Muslim man born to immigrant parents, he explains how redefining the constructs around personal identity can have positive repercussions in marginalized communities and beyond. Learn More.

  • Dictionaries and grammar "rules" don't have the final word on language -- and believing they do can harm more than help, especially for the trans community. Sociolinguist Archie Crowley deconstructs three common myths around language, demonstrating how it's a fluid system that naturally evolves in the direction of inclusion. Learn More.

  • Teenasai a queer, non-binary trans musician talks about the challenges faced to create an inclusive space for Transgender people. Through her journey she explains the intricacies of this topic, relating to her identity & the experiences of trans musicians in the contemporary music industry/scene in India. Learn More.

  • Looking at metal from a queer perspective, and a platform for the LGBT+ community within metal. Tom & Matt lead the discussion, opinions, insights, and interviews, and chat about good music. Every Monday. Learn More.

  • Outward, Slate’s queer podcast, is a whip-smart monthly salon in which hosts and guests deepen the audience’s understanding of queer culture and politics, delight them with unexpected perspectives, and invite listeners into a colorful conversation about the issues animating LGBTQ communities. Learn More.