brittanymcmillan:

|Spirit Day | October 20, 2011 |

Last year, on October 20, 2010, more than 2 million people around the world wore purple, including celebrities like Ellen Degeneres, Cyndi Lauper, Perez Hilton and the cast of Glee (for more supporters click here). Spirit Day participants banded together to remember teens (such as Tyler Clementi, Asher Brown, Seth Walsh, Justin Aaberg, Raymond Chase and Billy Lucas) who commit suicide after being bullied because of their sexual orientation. We made a huge impact last year, and we’re making progress, but unfortunately it’s not good enough.

Last Sunday, Jamey Rodemeyer, from Buffalo, N.Y., commit suicide. He was only 14. The sad truth is that these sorts of things happen every day. Teens are bullied in their homes, schools and workplaces based on their sexuality and they end up cutting their lives short.

So this year, we’re going to do it again. Wear purple on Thursday, October 20th, 2011. Stand up to homophobic bullying. Support your LGBTQ friends, family members and co-workers. And mourn the lives lost in our battle for equality.

Reblog. Trend #SpiritDay. Attend the Facebook event. Tell everyone.

For more information check out these websites:

http://www.spirit-day.doodlekit.com/home

http://www.glaad.org/spiritday/about

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_Day

(Source: the-wardrobeintocamelot)

14-year-old JAMES RODEMEYER, in a Facebook posting on September 9; days later, he would commit suicide over anti-gay slurs directed at him at school and on the Internet.

Rodemeyer taped a message four months ago as part of the “It Gets Better Project,” saying, in part, “Love yourself and you’re set.  I promise you, it does get better.”

This is what happens when our leaders allow people to think, and accept, that it’s okay to hate others based on their sexuality, their gender, their race, their ethnicity, their religious beliefs.

This is why we stand up for others.  To prevent good people like James from dying at the hands of ignorant, cruel, bullying brutes.

Tumblr’s thoughts and prayers are with James’s family for their terrible loss.

(via the New York Daily News)

(Source: inothernews, via vivrelamoustache)

The Trevor Project is determined to end suicide among LGBTQ youth by providing life-saving and life-affirming resources including our nationwide, 24/7 crisis intervention lifeline, digital community and advocacy/educational programs that create a safe, supportive and positive environment for everyone.
http://www.thetrevorproject.org/

The Matthew Shepard Foundation runs Matthew’s Place, an online community and resource center for LGBTQ youth.
http://www.matthewsplace.com/

GLSEN, which counts about 4,000 Gay-Straight Alliances in schools out of 12,000 public school districts. GLSEN works to eradicate bullying and bias in schools.
http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/home/index.html

Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, or PFLAG. A national support, education and advocacy organization. Support group meetings are available through PFLAG chapters for families.
http://community.pflag.org/Page.aspx?pid=191

The Lambda 10 Project - National Clearinghouse for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Fraternity & Sorority Issues works to heighten the visibility of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender members of the college fraternity by serving as a clearinghouse for educational resources and educational materials related to sexual orientation and gender identity/expression as it pertains to the fraternity/sorority experience.
http://www.lambda10.org/default.asp

(courtesy of http://www.unm.edu/~women/lgbt.html)

Jay McDowell, a high school teacher in Howell, Michigan, was suspended last month for disciplining an anti-gay student. At a recent school board meeting, openly gay 14-year-old Graeme Taylor came to McDowell’s defense with an incredibly articulate/inspiring speech.

thathardcorekid:

It’s been decided. On October 20th, 2010, we will wear purple in honor of the 6 gay boys who committed suicide in recent weeks/months due to homophobic abuse in their homes at at their schools. Purple represents Spirit on the LGBTQ flag and that’s exactly what we’d like all of you to have with you: spirit. Please know that times will get better and that you will meet people who will love you and respect you for who you are, no matter your sexuality. Please wear purple on October 20th. Tell your friends, family, co-workers, neighbors and schools.

• RIP Tyler Clementi, Seth Walsh (top)
• Justin Aaberg, Raymond Chase (middle)
• Asher Brown and Billy Lucas. (bottom)

REBLOG to spread a message of love, unity and peace.

(Source: the-wardrobeintocamelot, via fuckyeahgaycouples)

Save A Life. Especially Your Own.

This is UNACCEPTABLE!! That Poor Boy!!! =[

(photo via: gleeky.tumblr.com)

GLEE goes Gaga Gay?

Tonight Glee once again took on the issue of homosexuality, homophobia, bullying, and being an ally. What did you think about the episode? Does it help or hurt?

by Michael A. Jones April 26, 2010 06:07 AM (PT)

A few weeks ago, thousands of students across the country, both gay and straight, honored an event called the Day of Silence. It’s a day where students pledge to remain silent in order to honor the harassment that many gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students face inside the classroom. After all, upwards of 80 percent of LGBT youth report feeling unsafe inside school.

There are some folks, however, who revolt against the Day of Silence. For them, honoring a day to draw attention to LGBT bullying is nothing more than caving in to the homosexual agenda. Because apparently taking a stand against bullying is heretical.

In a rural school district in Michigan, opposition to the Day of Silence took on a whole new level, with a group of about four dozen students showing up to school wearing “Straight Pride” T-shirts. The subtext? According to a Facebook group developed to organize the “Straight Pride” event, it was to point out that homosexuality was an “abomination,” with one student proudly saying “Hell yeah, that’s what I’m talking about … I’m a queer beater and a chaser lol.”

Not sure LOL is the best way to end that comment. More like WTF?

According to the Michigan Messenger, which interviewed a number of folks about the “Straight Pride” event, the “I’m a queer beater” comment was one of the more tame comments made by supporters of the “Straight Pride” T-shirts. One student even went so far as to suggest that the book of Leviticus calls for gay students to be put to death.

That drew an immediate rebuke from a host of organizations, including from a spokesperson at Michigan’s Triangle Foundation.

“‘Straight Pride’ is a coward’s way of showing off a straight privilege. A ‘Straight Pride’ celebration is a slap in the face to all other forms of relationship recognition,” Alicia Skillman, Executive Director of the Triangle Foundation said. “Being able to celebrate, publicly, your form of relationship building is a privilege, a privilege that heterosexuals have day in and day out with no hesitation.”

Behind Skillman’s words is an important truth: straight students celebrate “Straight Pride” day in and day out by the mere privileges of heterosexuality. Generally speaking, straight students never have to worry about being beat up or ridiculed for holding their boyfriend’s or girlfriend’s hands. Straight students generally don’t get threatened with being thrown off of a cliff because of their sexual orientation. Straight students don’t get shot in the face during English class because of their sexual orientation. Straight students don’t get teased about their perceived heterosexuality, to the point where they feel suicide is the only option.

In other words, the last thing straight students need is a T-shirt to show their pride. All they have to do is just show up for class.

Meanwhile, over the weekend a new study from Harvard’s School of Public Health became available, illustrating that LGBT bullying is not only a real phenomenon inside America’s schools; it’s a downright epidemic. The study notes that LGBT youth are much more likely to be tormented at school, at rates that many people would think are alarming.

“I think people know there’s discrimination, but they don’t know the breadth or severity of it — or how lasting the impact is,” said Andrea Roberts, the lead author of the study.

Yeah, come to think of it, WTF is the more appropriate acronym to end on.

Photo credit: Michigan Messenger