Thank you to everyone who came out to our Empathy Versus Misinformation: Transgender Youth series of panels. There has been a lot of interest in transgender youth in the media, and yet so few easy ways to access reliable answers to questions community members might have about this vulnerable part of Philadelphia’s communities. Misinformation has been rampant, and in these media discussions, we forget that the people we’re talking about are real human beings with lives of their own.  The mission of the Free Library is to advance literacy, guide learning, and inspire curiosity. We should embrace our fellow Philadelphians with curiosity and eagerness to learn, not fear or hostility.  So we assembled a team of experts to travel across the city and make themselves available to the public, and connect face to face one human being to another, across political and generational divides, answering every question that community members asked.

Across our four events at the Walnut Street West Branch, Lillian Marrero Branch, Parkway Central Library, and Thomas F. Donatucci Branch we reached sixty-two people with this program series. We received a lot of positive feedback from those who attended, and the expression “this is exactly what I needed” was used at every session. Our panelists were smart, funny, compelling, and made connections with audience members that will last even beyond the program series.

Couldn’t make it to one our sessions? The full recorded event from the Parkway Central Library is now available on our YouTube channel.

Big thanks to all of our panelists, the Attic Youth Center, Galaei, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the Mazzoni Center, Temple University Hospital, and Blaq Noyz LLC for supporting this program—whether on stage or behind the scenes.