Welcome, welcome everybody!!
The making of this website has been a really exciting experience! I hope you enjoy reading, exploring, and interacting here as much as we enjoyed creating it.
Before I get too carried away, let me introduce myself. My name is Allegra Anka, I'm an LGBT Health Specialist at AIDS Rochester. I'm passionate about the health and rights of queer women, and transgender and intersex members of our community.
As Erik highlighted in his blog, we hope this site will be a place for our community to learn, share, and empower one another through open and honest dialogue. Although we'll definitely use this site as a means of sharing good information about physical and medical health issues that are relevant to our community, we understand that our health and well-being as queer people are comprised of much more than that.
As LGBTIQ people, we're confronted daily by ubiquitous messages that tell us there's something inherently wrong with who and what we are. These messages range from lack of positive representation and visibility in almost every facet of society, to blatant expressions of homophobia and hatred. So for us, feeling proud, feeling connected, feeling safe, and feeling good about who we are, are all important components that affect our overall health and well-being.
I look forward to the dialogue, communication, support and positive energy this website will generate and provide for our community...all of which are important steps toward keeping ourselves and one another strong, happy and healthy.
And that truly is something to celebrate.
Thank you for your enthusiasm and hard work in creating a forum where queer women (and men) can feel proud, connected, and happy!
Your positive energy is infectious!
xoxo
Rock on, Allegra! :) Thanks for your hard work on the website. It looks fab and I can't wait to see it grow and grow and grow. Thanks for always reppin' for queer women and gender non-conforming folk!
I'm lovin' the site! Your many contributions to the community make me so happy and proud!