Beyond Acceptance: Documenting the Experiences of Queer Youth and Their Families

The guests for this Pride Month episode of The Thought Project include Mica Baum Tuccillo, a student in the Psychology Ph.D. program (Critical Social/Personality Psychology training area) at the CUNY Graduate Center and a research fellow in its Publics Lab. She supported and facilitated the Beyond Acceptance Research Collective, a queer youth research project under the auspices of the Graduate Center’s Public Science Project. Tuccillo worked with co-researchers Tess/Audre and Leo Lipson, student artists who just graduated from high school. Tess/Audre will start at City College in the fall. Lipson will attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. They contributed drawings and zines to the Beyond Acceptance project. The three guests discuss the work of the Beyond Acceptance Research Collective, which involves youth and adults in documenting the family relationships and experiences of LGBTQ+ and gender-expansive youth. The Beyond Acceptance Research Collective was funded and supported by the New York City Unity Project and the City of New York’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.