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8 | Produced by ST Content Studio he queer community is increasingly under fire. Individuals, organizations and even government bodies are trying to walk back rights and acceptance of LGBTQ+ people. Anger is present, and protests are happening. But an art competition %u2014 sponsored by Seattle Pride and Free2Luv, a nonprofit dedicated to uplifting queer youth through the arts %u2014 aims to show that joy can be just as powerful a tool in pushing back against these efforts.Art contest challenges LGBTQ+ community to ponder joyBy Lisa Jaffe%u201cOpen Your Eyes to the World%u201d was created by Skanda Ravindra, the 17-year-old winner of last year%u2019s art contest. He says art is about representation, recognition and acceptance. (Courtesy of Skanda Ravindra)Tonya Sandis, founder of Free2Luv, says there are always stories about overcoming hardship and things that may be hard or challenging. %u201cWe wanted to focus on joy,%u201d Sandis said. %u201cIt is a birthright.%u201dSeattle Pride Executive Director Patti Hearn says that art is a way for people to learn to accept and love themselves. %u201cIt contains elements of both telling and receiving a story and allows for a special kind of connection. It is humanizing and a destroyer of bigotry,%u201d Hearn says. %u201cAnd it has been an important tool of resistance and resilience throughout history. It%u2019s so important to make space for young people now, to validate them. It is important, necessary and good.%u201dThe queer community has a lot of experience finding joy even in terrible times, she adds. %u201cOur theme for Pride this year is Louder. We want joy to be louder,%u201d she says.Sandis says these are scary times, and the conversations organizations like hers are having with young people are heartbreaking. %u201cThey are being erased, told they don%u2019t belong,%u201d Sandis says. %u201cArt is a way to articulate without words, to be heard and seen. Holding hands with Seattle Pride is a way to show loudly and proudly the thoughts people are having.%u201dThis is the second year of the competition. Sandis says it was a spur-of-the-moment decision last year, and submissions were open for just two weeks.