Drew for Equality NC
My teenage years and early twenties were spent avoiding exercise if at all possible. In 2019, I was at a particularly low point in my mental health journey and began running as a way to clear my head and center myself.
One of my goals for 2020 was to run a 5 mile, many person, charitable race. Needless to say, 2020 had other plans. In 2021, I gave myself the goal of comfortably, healthily adding 10k’s into my weekly routine by May or a ‘10k by May’.
We are on the precipice of May and my training is going well, but the whole thing has felt much more selfish than my goal for 2020. I’ve decided to use my 10k by May goal as an opportunity to raise money for Equality NC. @equalitync is an organization dedicated to fighting for the rights of lgbtq people in my home state of North Carolina.
Growing up in NC was a contributing factor to severe internalized homophobia I still deal with and no doubt delayed my coming out for years. It’s my hope that grassroots programs like ENCF’s Rural Youth Empowerment Fellowship will help young people in fringe areas of the state like where I grew up.
For the next month, I will be fundraising and the last weekend of May I’ll be running a 10k to honor that fundraising.
More information about Equality North Carolina Foundation (Equality NC): Equality North Carolina builds LGBTQ+ power through advocacy, education, and uplifting the stories of queer and trans North Carolinians in pursuit of racial and social justice. We envision a thriving, liberated North Carolina with a powerful LGBTQ+ community. We hold people at the center of all we do: we see, hear, respect, and value each other. We build power on the margins until the margins are the center. We know all oppression is interconnected; none of us are free until all are free. We work strategically and sustainably: our work elevates the need for both long- and short-term progress. Y’all means all: we believe in the inherent worth of all, including people who are LGBTQ+, Black, Brown, Indigenous, Workers, Women, Resource Poor, Incarcerated, Immigrants, Undocumented, Rural.
One of my goals for 2020 was to run a 5 mile, many person, charitable race. Needless to say, 2020 had other plans. In 2021, I gave myself the goal of comfortably, healthily adding 10k’s into my weekly routine by May or a ‘10k by May’.
We are on the precipice of May and my training is going well, but the whole thing has felt much more selfish than my goal for 2020. I’ve decided to use my 10k by May goal as an opportunity to raise money for Equality NC. @equalitync is an organization dedicated to fighting for the rights of lgbtq people in my home state of North Carolina.
Growing up in NC was a contributing factor to severe internalized homophobia I still deal with and no doubt delayed my coming out for years. It’s my hope that grassroots programs like ENCF’s Rural Youth Empowerment Fellowship will help young people in fringe areas of the state like where I grew up.
For the next month, I will be fundraising and the last weekend of May I’ll be running a 10k to honor that fundraising.
More information about Equality North Carolina Foundation (Equality NC): Equality North Carolina builds LGBTQ+ power through advocacy, education, and uplifting the stories of queer and trans North Carolinians in pursuit of racial and social justice. We envision a thriving, liberated North Carolina with a powerful LGBTQ+ community. We hold people at the center of all we do: we see, hear, respect, and value each other. We build power on the margins until the margins are the center. We know all oppression is interconnected; none of us are free until all are free. We work strategically and sustainably: our work elevates the need for both long- and short-term progress. Y’all means all: we believe in the inherent worth of all, including people who are LGBTQ+, Black, Brown, Indigenous, Workers, Women, Resource Poor, Incarcerated, Immigrants, Undocumented, Rural.
Organizer
Andrew Martinelli
Organizer
New York, NY
Equality North Carolina Foundation (Equality NC)
Beneficiary