INTRODUCTION

Each day in 2022 seemed to dawn a new bill—a new legislative attack—targeting queer and trans people. According to the Movement Advancement Project’s February 2023 report “Under Fire: The War on LGBTQ People in America”, 315 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced in state legislatures in 2022– 29 were signed into law. These bills are designed to criminalize queer and trans people’s existence and erase us from schools and public life. Unfortunately, this is just a continuation of the same tactics we’ve been responding to for several years. In this context, it was bone-chilling, but hardly surprising, to read an announcement from the CDC: more than 1 in 5 (22%) queer and trans youth attempted suicide in the past year.

The critical work of the Midwest Institute for Sexuality and Gender Diversity emphasizes building community and building strong movements. This is how we fight back. We know that building community improves mental health outcomes for queer and trans youth. We know that building a strong movement of queer and trans change makers is how we win.

In this annual report, we highlight some of our achievements from 2022:

• We held the 30th annual Midwest Bisexual Lesbian Gay Transgender Asexual College Conference (MBLGTACC) in Columbus, Ohio. The theme for this gathering was “Limitless: Queer Activism of the Future.”

• We produced two seasons of our podcast, Take the Late Bite, with episodes covering topics including mental and physical wellbeing, joy as the antidote to despair, electoral politics, student debt, reproductive justice, and more.

• We held the 6th annual Trans(Gender) Justice Teach-In, in partnership with the University of Minnesota Duluth’s Sexuality and Gender Equity Initiatives. The theme for the 2022 teach-in was Trans Fat: Lessons from Large Trans Folks.

• We continued the Queer Policy Series partnership with the University of Michigan Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy with a conversation titled Racial Foundations of Public Policy: LGBT Rights.

In 2022, we welcomed three new members to our board of directors: Jamal King, Alan Toussaint, and Gigi Wickline. These new members have brought wisdom, perspective, and guidance drawing on their expertise and involvement in higher education, advocacy, and social justice.

On August 10, 2022, our board of directors adopted an updated strategic plan defining three main goals for 2023-2025:

1. Establish the Institute as a trusted resource for information about the experiences of Midwest queer and trans youth

2. Improve material conditions for queer and trans youth across the Midwest

3. Fairly compensate staff and contributors for their labor

These goals will guide our work and priorities for the coming years as we seek to build community among queer and trans youth (and those who support them), expand knowledge of sexuality and gender, and create lasting change across the Midwest through advocacy and expansive programming.

Financially, we ended 2022 with $58,763 in net assets. Revenues totaled $126,298 and expenses totaled $125,327. Administrative and fundraising expenses represented 3% of our total expenses, meaning 97 cents from every dollar received is allocated to programs supporting the queer and trans community.

WE BUILD COMMUNITY AMONG QUEER AND TRANS YOUTH (AND THOSE WHO SUPPORT THEM), EXPAND KNOWLEDGE OF SEXUALITY AND GENDER, AND CREATE LASTING CHANGE ACROSS THE MIDWEST THROUGH ADVOCACY AND EXPANSIVE PROGRAMMING.