Rainbow Youth Alliance

A queer-friendly community where all identities are normalized and visible.

 
 
 
 

At Rainbow Youth Alliance (RYA), we’re creating a community where LGBTQIA+ youth feel supported, seen, and connected. A community where all identities are normalized and visible.

When you’re young, it’s easy to feel isolated because of your identity—even in a queer-friendly community like South Orange / Maplewood (SOMA). But identifying as LGBTQIA+ is much more common than you might think, even in junior high and high school.

When you make friends with other LGBTQIA+ teens, tweens, and allies, you’ll feel connected. You’ll be surrounded by people like you and people who like you just the way you are. RYA is somewhere between a support group and a club—our events range from speakers to social events.

Our queer and supportive community helps everyone feel comfortable and confident in their identities. We encourage you to bring straight- and cis-identifying friends to our events, so that a queer identity is normalized throughout SOMA.

We want to create a new kind of community where all young people, including LGBTQIA+ youth, have a strong sense of belonging and familiarity. A community where no one has to feel awkward, unseen, or alone. A community united.

 
 
Learn more about RYA
 

What is coming up at Rainbow Youth Alliance?

Come and watch our award-winning documentary CURED! Five years in the making, CURED illuminates a pivotal yet largely unknown chapter in the struggle for LGBTQ equality: the campaign that led the American Psychiatric Association (APA) to remove homosexuality from its manual of mental illnesses.

Tickets sales will be donated to Rainbow Youth Alliance.

 
Learn more about our events