Since 2013, April 10th has been recognized as National Youth HIV & AIDS Awareness Day (NYHAAD) . NBJC joins youth leaders and activists, advocates, families and communities across our nation on this day with the intention of educating the broader public about the unique impact of HIV/AIDS on young people, especially youth of color. Young people today are the first generation to have never known a world without HIV/AIDS, but continue to be disproportionately infected and affected by the preventable disease.

National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NWGHAAD) is observed annually on March 10 to highlight the importance of women and girls taking action to protect themselves and their partners from HIV through prevention, testing and treatment. Sponsored by the Office on Women's Health of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, this year's NWGHAAD theme is "The Best Defense is a Good Offense," and as a proud Black woman, I encourage all of my sisters--transgender, queer, same gender loving, gay, lesbian and heterosexual--to get tested to be part of the solution to fight HIV/AIDS.

Liberation for Black folks must start with a focus on the issues that hinder the most marginalized in our community. Fueled by movements like #BlackLivesMatter, there is a new generation of freedom fighters that are shifting the conversation—Black millennials. This has led the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC), the nation’s leading civil rights organization dedicated to the empowerment of Black lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, to continue to empower young professionals and emerging leaders, including ourselves. 

To My Young Transgender Sisters,

I honor those we have lost and those elders in the community who have paved the way for all transgender people.  As a transgender woman who has been blessed to see 57 years of life, I send a message of hope and love to all young transgender women of color. On this day that reminds us all of how fragile and tragic life can be for folks like us who live our truth unapologetically, I call on you to love yourself with no limits or constraints.  Despite what society, religion or even your family may say—you are right to exist and authenticity has NEVER been a sin.