Congratulations to Our 2026 Black Skeptics First in the Family Humanist Forward Freethought Awardees!

This year’s cohort were engaged in LGBTQ+ advocacy, STEM advocacy, community service and social work. Awardees Heather Buckner (UC Berkeley), Blessings Coly (North Carolina A&T), Kelan Speed (UT @ San Antonio), Mariah Slade (North Carolina A&T), Daniel Sierra (UC Berkeley) and Kallyn DaCosta (UMass Boston) exemplified outstanding achievement, community service and dedication to humanist social justice practice in their high school careers. The awards were made possible by generous multi-year contributions from the late freethinker advocate Lance Bredvold via the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

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Black Skeptics Receives Community Grant from the Black Freedom Fund!

Excited to anounce that BSLA is among the 2026 Black Freedom Fund grant recipients! The BFF supports “organizations advancing work across advocacy, organizing, civic engagement, health equity, worker rights, criminal legal reform, healing, culture change, housing justice, immigration justice, and long-term movement infrastructure. This 2026 cohort reflects: $4.6 million invested in organizations building power across California and 119 organizations funded statewide.”

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LAUSD June School Board Action: Speak in Support of LGBTQ+ Youth

In June 2025, the LAUSD school board voted to allocate $2 million in funding to LGBTQ+ affirming educational programming, training and outreach for students, families, staff and community. To date, very little of the funding has been spent, and there is no formal mechanism or community oversight to ensure the district is accountable to school-communities for the proper expenditure of these funds.

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