By Kate Hill
Staff Writer
Sexuality and Gender Alliance (SAGA) Kids is a Cazenovia-based organization dedicated to offering services and support to LGBTQIA+ youth and their families.
On April 25, SAGA Kids held an evening tea-pairing event at Loka Leak Tea Lounge to raise awareness for the group and its work. The event included speeches by SAGA Kids Founder/Director Sara Muñoz and Mayor Kurt Wheeler; a silent auction featuring art by the SAGA Kids Youth Group; and five tea and dessert pairings prepared by Loka Leaf.
Between tea pairings, Muñoz described her organization and the important niche that it fills in the community.
Muñoz started the SAGA Kids youth group in Feburary 2018 after struggling to find a local support base for her gay and transgender child.
The goal of the group, she said, was to provide a safe space for LGBTQIA+ youth to be themselves and to have open conversations with their peers.
“We realized that the need was bigger than just the youth group,” Muñoz said. “It needed to be a community effort; it needed to go into the homes, into the churches and into the schools. It was at that point that I decided we needed to grow.”
In an effort to extend the group’s influence throughout Madison County and beyond, Muñoz reached out to a number of other community organizations, including BRiDGES and Planned Parenthood.
As SAGA Kids grew, its board of directors continued to work to advance the organization’s mission to encourage, empower and elevate LGBTQIA+ youth in rural areas.
In addition to offering a bi-weekly youth support group, SAGA Kids now holds advocacy meetings; organizes events and community service opportunities; participates in pride events and civil rights discourse; offers community training and education programs; presents LGBT+ focused sex education classes; and offers peer-to-peer mentoring and various youth workshops.
In the future, Muñoz said, the SAGA Kids team hopes to offer additional services and to gain the funding and support needed to open a safe space community center in Madison County. SAGA Kids is also working to become officially incorporated and registered as a 501(c)(3) organization.
“We are hopeful that SAGA Kids will provide services, trainings and educational seminars to our youth, community members and leaders to improve the lives and wellbeing of all youth within the community,” said Muñoz.
Later in the event, Wheeler spoke about inclusivity and the importance of continually striving to be the best youth advocate and ally possible.
“As teachers and as supportive adults in the community, we love all kids, regardless of orientation or race or anything [else],” he said. “I think . . . we need to be a little bit smarter and a little more educated to learn how to love and how to support them more effectively.”
One of the major strengths of SAGA Kids, according to Wheeler, is that the organization not only empowers youth, but it also helps adults to become better advocates.
Wheeler concluded his speech on a hopeful note with the reminder that while it can take time, change can and does happen.
“We still have a long way to go,” he said. “But I tell my students, ‘look at [American history]; if you believe in your cause and if you are persistent, things will change for the better.’”
Find SAGA Kids on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @sagakidsofcny. To learn more about the organization, visit sagakids.org or email [email protected].
