A North GA organization uniting trans and queer folks in the collective liberation and material change for all.
About Us
The time is NOW to mobilize and unite against queerphobia and to work for the collective liberation of working- class trans and queer people. We can make actual substantial and material changes to better the every day lives of working-class queer and trans people in our town of Gainesville, and in the North GA region.The Rainbow Collective org is working to create local communities of care and support systems by empowering our local community members and educating allies, fighting back against gentrification and towards affordable housing, connecting and providing trans and queer folks to resources, and creating more safe spaces for all trans and queer people, including black, people of color, immigrant, the unsheltered, and disabled individuals.We have the power to change things. We are changing things. Let's continue doing the good work!
Goals
Social Support
Now more than ever it is important marginalized individuals have social support systems in place. Legislation can be dangerous, but isolation can be fatal.It's important people are aware of the social support they have locally. Being apart of a group is important, because then you know you're not alone, there are others experiencing similar things to you, and you're also more easily connected to streams of information and are aware of what's happening or coming up.If something happens, you also have a support system and networks of care to fall back on. A friend that can drive you to your doctor's appointment when your own car is having issues, an elder you can help out and help bake bread to eat together after Sunday or Shabbat service, or you can help provide child-care for when a couple has to attend university classes or go to work.Ultimately, what the Rainbow Collective is striving for is to create communities of care.
Communities of Care
While we work to help improve life and the day-to-day of individuals we must also work to improve the collective as a whole.By bringing out individuals from the darkness of isolation, and empowering them and creating opportunities and safe spaces, we are also enabling individuals to connect with one another and take care of each other.We must move beyond individualistic "self care" and allow ourselves to grow interdependent with one another and our community. Acts of mutual aid, such as food drives, sexual and menstrual health supplies distribution, clothing swaps, acts of solidarity and direct support with mutual understanding(not charity), are a direct form of community care. Consider the act of dreaming, and instead of how you as an individual dream, what would the collective or your community dream about? Many movements like Black feminism, Black radicalism, Indigenous activism, disability justice, and many others have dreamed of not just the collective liberation of one, but the collective liberation for all.In her essay Poetry is Not a Luxury, Audre Lorde said, “Within structures defined by profit, by linear power, by institutional dehumanization, our feelings were not meant to survive. Kept around as pleasant pastimes...But poets have survived. There are no new pains. We have felt them all already. We have hidden that fact in the same place where we have hidden our power. They lie in our dreams, and it is our dreams that point the way to freedom. If what we need to dream, to move our spirits most deeply and directly toward and through promise, is discounted as a luxury, then we give up the core -- the fountain -- of our power...we give up the future of our worlds.”
A Principled Approach and Actions
Liberation will not be achieved overnight. It will take time and consistent, disciplined and well planned out actions. Don't forget to check out our The 3 A's page to learn more about what principles guide The Rainbow Collective, as we work towards queer and trans liberation, and the liberation of all.