NBA, GLSEN and Ad Council’s Official Think B4 You Speak PSA
NBA players Grant Hill and Jared Dudley shot a PSA for GLSEN and the Ad Council’s Think Before You Speak campaign on April 12, 2011. The PSA is the first phase of a partnership between GLSEN, the NBA and the Ad Council to address anti-LGBT language among teens. Learn more about the campaign at thinkb4youspeak.com
Homophobic #ToMyUnbornChild tweets turned into PSA
Charlotte Moore from Raleigh, North Carolina has created a PSA against homophobia after the Twitter hashtag #ToMyUnbornChild attracted homophobes to publicly announce that they would murder their child if he or she was gay.
#ToMyUnbornChild became a trending topic on Twitter a few weeks ago, and while most people used it to write loving tweets to their future children, some homophobes decided to do just the opposite.
@Homophobes, a Twitter account that retweets homophobes to expose their ignorance, published an article of 100 extremely homophobic tweets, which gained quite a bit of attention around the web.
Charlotte Moore was inspired, and decided to write and direct a PSA using the tweets. The video was produced by Brian Lee and Nick Heim.
From the video’s description:
I got the idea on a Thursday. By Sunday, we – me, my boyfriend, and whatever friends we could find to help us – had it filmed.
It’s easy to dehumanize hate speech online because we’ve gotten so used to seeing it. We tell ourselves that it’s the product of trolls, of random, anonymous strangers.
Except they’re not. They’re real people. Many of them will be parents. And some of their children will be gay.
The homophobic tweets, which were compiled using Storify, gaining nearly 300,000 views, 4,000 tweets, and thousands of reblogs and likes from our Tumblr post and another Tumblr user. The post was covered by the Huffington Post, The New Civil Rights Movement, Queerty, Towleroad, Buzzfeed, AmericaBLOG, and several other blogs.
Last weekend, @homophobes also published a satirical guide on how to “rid the gay” from your child.
More info:
Adorable: Gay marriage proposal in Singapore
A heart-warming video of a gay couple’s proposal on February 14, 2012 in Singapore.
It Gets Better - Parents of Transgender Children
The first “It Gets Better” video of its kind: Featuring parents from PFLAG’s support group for families of transgender children sharing their personal struggles to understand their child’s needs and find support for both themselves and their families.
(via Huffington Post)
Dad gets “Born This Way” tattoo after son comes out as bisexual
After being so nervous about coming out to his father, Dylan comes home one day to find that his father got a “Born This Way” tattoo on his arm to show his acceptance.
From the video’s description:
“So: my brother came out that he was Bisexual last year and it was one of the hardest things he’s ever had to do and one of the most courageous. He was most nervous about coming out to my old school Italian father who can be a bit of a hardass but mush at heart. So my brother decided to get born this way tattooed on his wrist in gagas handwriting after he met her, for obvious reasons, and it meant and still does a lot to him. My dad yesterday before Dylan came home for spring break got born this way in Italian tattooed on his wrist to show his acceptance and deep love for his only son who he is so proud of every day. I love my family.”
So this is the brother haha my name is Dylan. My sister posted this video through my account on her phone. I can’t believe this happened! I am so grateful for my family and I hope that everyone watches this and takes from it that acceptance is possible! You were born this way!
(via Reddit)
A Valentine’s For Homophobes: FCKH8’s new video
(Warning: Explicit language)
FCKH8 released a new Valentine’s Day-themed video calling out the “hypocrisy of homophobes’ claims to preserve the ‘sanctity of marriage.’”
FCKH8.com will give 5¢ for every Facebook “Share” & Twitter tweet of this video - up to $5,000 - to H8Sux.com, a project that will give thousands of free “OK4U2BGAY” t-shirts to school kids to fight bullies, suicide and H8 in schools! FCKH8.com has raised over $250,000 for the fight for equal rights through T-shirt sales! Tees start at $9.99. Get yours at FCKH8.com!
The press release states that FCKH8’s videos have generated over 6 million views and sold over 70,000 t-shirts with $250,000 raised for gay rights causes.
Join the movement:
14-year-old asks Maryland lawmakers to vote against gay marriage [audio]
In this audio clip, a girl visits the Maryland’s Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on her 14th birthday and asks lawmakers to vote against same-sex marriage.
“…I really feel bad for the kids who have two parents of the same gender. They have no idea what kind of wonderful experiences they miss out on…”
(via ThinkProgress, Peter Frank)
“A Coming Out Story”
“A teenage boy comes out to his family about his sexual orientation, which proves disastrous.”
Gay California teen Eric James Borges commits suicide, weeks after posting an It Gets Better video
This is Eric James Borges. He posted this It Gets Better video last month. Yesterday, he committed suicide. Eric, 19, was an intern with the Trevor Project, a suicide prevention organization for LGBT youth.
Jim Reeves, Vice President of Queer Landia, had met Eric personally. He reports about his suicide:
Word began spreading late Wednesday among shocked and saddened friends and acquaintances. Not accepted by his birth family, EricJames was striking out on his own, trying to deal with his personal situation, but also wanting to help others. Sadly, even involvement with the Trevor Project was not enough to help him navigate the turbulent waters of young adulthood.
Update: Stephnie Davison, a classmate and good friend of Eric's responded to this blog post by sharing a bit about Eric:
He was an amazing person who was bullied throughout his entire life. He was beaten at home for being gay and kicked out multiple times. His mother never approved of him being himself. When he tried to be Eric, he couldn’t. He was an artist, a friend, a boyfriend, and a truly amazing individual. EricJames Borges will always be remembered and he was my friend.
[…]
His mother disowned him, and refuses to talk to him. I’m not sure that she knows he even committed suicide tbh.
