Youth's Lives Every Day
The Trevor Project caught up with Joshua Croke (they/them), the President and Co-Founder of Love Your Labels. The organization is based in central Massachusetts, and its mission is to support LGBTQ+ youth through art, fashion, and design, while working with families and communities to create inclusive and loving space everywhere. Love Your Labels’s upcoming event, Queer AF, takes place on September 6, 2024, in Massachusetts.
Tell us about Love Your Labels and how you positively impact the mental health of LGBTQ+ young people in MA.
Thanks to the research of The Trevor Project, Love Your Labels knows the impact of having affirming adults in the lives of 2SLGBTQIA+ youth. Our organization fiercely advocates for youth by using art, fashion, and design programming to build community with and provide support for 2SLGBTQIA+ young people and create inclusive and loving spaces everywhere.
Our Threads Youth Fashion program for high school-age youth uses fashion design and sewing skills education to talk about expression, identity, gender, and more, creating an inclusive and loving space where youth are affirmed as they explore and come into their own identities. When we feel pressured by outside influences like society and the media to dress a certain way, clothes can make us feel very dysphoric. On the other hand, clothing can feel incredibly affirming and joyful when we’re able to express ourselves in the way we want.
Our Threads program helps provide some tools for students to create their own garments to express themselves in the way that feels best, which can go a long way in supporting the mental health and wellbeing of 2SLGBTQIA+ youth.
Queer AF sounds like a great way to build and find community. What inspired you to create the annual event?
Queer AF was the first fundraising event we held as an organization and it came out of a desire to create a fun and accessible event that uplifted and amplified queer and trans folks in the community. Seeing queer and trans adults living joyful lives in an affirming community can be transformative for people navigating their own journey at any age.
Queer AF is about queer joy and providing opportunities for folks to walk proudly as themselves. Our community modeling program means that many of our models have never walked a runway before, some saying they’ve been told — either directly or by false mainstream standards of beauty — that it isn’t a place for them. Our runway is for everybody, and we’ve had so many stories from folks who have said that experience helped them come out, gave them the confidence to do drag, or provided an opportunity to have a conversation with their child.
The growth of the event, from 100 guests the first year to over 700 in 2023, has been a true testament to the power of community. And the fact it’s currently our largest fundraiser for our youth programs is really an incredible icing on a pretty fabulous cake.
How does Queer AF support the LGBTQ+ young people in your area?
Queer AF is our largest fundraiser for Love Your Labels, but it also gives students of our Threads Program and youth in the community opportunities to connect with each other, model in the show, and some former students even participate as featured designers in the show alongside designers who are more advanced in their careers and have appeared on shows like Project Runway.
This year our show is 13+, including a free youth section for 13- to 17-year-old youth. I can’t imagine the impact of being that age, walking into a historic venue like Mechanics Hall, and seeing 700 queer people and the people who love them celebrating our identities and community — it still makes me emotional every year. The queer joy is palpable.
What are your goals with the Banned Books Drag Looks campaign? How do you hope the campaign impacts LGBTQ+ young people?
This year, our Queer AF theme is #WithTheBanned. While this event is centered and rooted in queer joy and celebration, we must also take a stand against the rise of book and drag bans and efforts to erase queer and trans stories from our schools, our media, and our laws. Our #BannedBookDragLook campaign was inspired by this theme.
The art of drag is a powerful medium that so many follow and engage in, and we’re hoping more folks can bring visibility to book-banning efforts through this creative medium, tell their followers what is going on across the country, and share how people can get involved to fight back against this hate.
What message of hope and inspiration do you have for LGBTQ+ young people?
My message of hope to queer and trans young people is that we can create our own worlds within this one that celebrate, love, and affirm who we are. It’s not always easy and it’s not always as accessible as we want it to be in our present moment, but building and stepping further into that world is worth everything — there is so much joy and boundless love for you in these worlds we can create together. My message of hopeful inspiration is to stay informed, find joy in the advocacy we have to do together, and pursue your passions fiercely. Onward!
