National Youth Advocacy Coalition
Encyclopedia
The National Youth Advocacy Coalition, or NYAC, which ceased to operate on May 12, 2011 was a organization which sought to fight discrimination against and promote the leadership and wellness for lesbian
, gay
, bisexual, transgender
, queer
and questioning (LBGTQ
) youth.
NYAC was founded in 1993. At its height NYAC had as many as five staff and a $550,000 budget. Much of its work centers on both social justice
advocacy work, LGBTQ youth leadership development, and HIV
/STI prevention and education work, as well as other health work, much of which is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
. For much of the past ten years, NYAC has put on a National Youth Summit in DC; the conference has been attended by as much as 600 youth.
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
, gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
, bisexual, transgender
Transgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
, queer
Queer
Queer is an umbrella term for sexual minorities that are not heterosexual, heteronormative, or gender-binary. In the context of Western identity politics the term also acts as a label setting queer-identifying people apart from discourse, ideologies, and lifestyles that typify mainstream LGBT ...
and questioning (LBGTQ
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
) youth.
NYAC was founded in 1993. At its height NYAC had as many as five staff and a $550,000 budget. Much of its work centers on both social justice
Social justice
Social justice generally refers to the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being. The term and modern concept of "social justice" was coined by...
advocacy work, LGBTQ youth leadership development, and HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
/STI prevention and education work, as well as other health work, much of which is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services headquartered in Druid Hills, unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, in Greater Atlanta...
. For much of the past ten years, NYAC has put on a National Youth Summit in DC; the conference has been attended by as much as 600 youth.
See also
- LGBT rights in the United States
- List of LGBT rights organizations