Award winning music-duo Tegan and Sara have established a foundation in their own names “to dismantle the systems of inequity that prevent LGBTQ girls and women from reaching their full potential.”
The identical twins have a massive LGBTI fan base. As well as a way of giving back to their devoted fans, they have a much more universal mission: to work for “economic justice, health, and representation for LGBTQ girls and women.”
Tegan and Sara publicly announced themselves as feminists on Twitter in August, and four months later established a foundation to fight for racial, social and gender justice for girls and women.
Perhaps coincidentally, the level of guidance needed by safe space foundations has increased over the duration of the US Presidential election. In November, The Huffington Post reported the Crisis Text Line and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline experienced an increase in people reaching out to their services, with the Crisis Text Line encountering a surging correlation between the words “election,” “scared” and “LGBTQ.”
While there is a dangerous reality for women who experience injustice, it is inherent to the core of its ideology that feminism benefits people of all gender, age and sexuality.
The sisters, who also identify as lesbian, have just released their eighth studio album, Love You To Death, and will tour Australasia in 2017.
Read the beginning of their heartfelt statement below, or the full version on the their website.
Statement from Tegan and Sara
Since the beginning of our career, our LGBTQ fans have supported us in innumerable ways. Our journey navigating sexism and homophobia in the music industry has always been interwoven with the stories you share with us. Your personal histories of injustice and discrimination at home, school, work, and church have inspired us to use our public status to speak out about the struggles of the LGBTQ community.
Our fans not only support us, but each other as well. We see hope and strength in our community, whether through every day acts of kindness or through the power of mobilizing behind a common cause. Therefore, it is with deep gratitude and pride that we commit ourselves further to the fight for justice, equality and progress.
Over these last months, we have been working on a new project, the Tegan and Sara Foundation. Our mission is to fight for economic justice, health, and representation for LGBTQ girls and women.
