Ending Gay Bullying....

Even in this day and age, queer youth face the risk of bullying, tormenting, and even attacks. There have been numerous, at least eight, suicides of teens who were gay or were bullied and harassed on the assumption that they were gay.

These stories break my heart for multiple reasons. First of all, the loss of people as young as 13 is just heart wrenching. A 13 year old has not experienced so many of life's joys and the experiences they have missed out on is so sad. At 13, there were so many things to live for that I didn't even know about and had not yet experienced. Everyone deserves the chance to experience life's up and downs and the things that make life worth living for.

Also, for those who were queer, they never got to be okay with who they are. They bullying and teasing made them feel so ashamed of who they are that they would rather commit suicide than have their family know they were gay or acknowledge their true selves in public. They never got to find people and family that love and accept them for themselves, no matter who they love.

And the fact that gayness is still being used as a pejorative label. Bullies use queerness to belittle and make one the other. To show their difference and make it a weakness. To say you are weird and that weirdness makes you a bad person. That kids and full grown adults still use these identities as an insult and consider them to be bad and a threat to our society is just ludicrous. But as insults they have the power to make children contemplate and attempt suicide.

And the reason it is so important to talk about this is because gay teens attempt suicide four times more often than their straight peers. Not being accepted and considered weird your whole life definitely impacts queer teens through bullying and teasing...


So today, I am donating to GLSEN - the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network. They do some really great work at trying to stop bullying in our schools and to create safe space for diversity. They are "the leading national education organization focused on ensuring safe schools for all students. Established in 1990, GLSEN envisions a world in which every child learns to respect and accept all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. GLSEN seeks to develop school climates where difference is valued for the positive contribution it makes to creating a more vibrant and diverse community."


I first heard about this organization through participating in the Day of Silence event held in April across the nation. It is a nationally student organized event in which participants are silent throughout the day in order to raise awareness of the silence around the issue of LGBT bullying. It is a symbolic event to show the helplessness and inability to voice their true feelings that many youth experience.  LGBT and allies, raise awareness through not speaking of the issues facing our youth.


I found it to be a very powerful and moving event and thus think that GLSEN is a great organization for me to support on this blog.


And to any queer LGBT youth, I care about and accept you, please don't think about giving up on life so early. If you or anyone you know is thinking about suicide because of their sexuality please call the Trevor Project - 866- 4 U TREVOR.


Thanks all, and please spread the word that in this day and age we should all support our queer friends, family, and everyone else!

Happy National Coming Out Day!

Today is a day in which the queer community supports others through national coming out events and is also a great chance for all people to support their LGBT families, friends, employees, and other peoples. So I am supporting the Human Rights Campaign today, because they organize many of the events today.

Additionally, this year's day is especially important in regards to the recent teen LGBT suicides which I have written about previously. From the Human Rights Campaign website, here is some info on the events: "This year’s National Coming Out Day takes on increased importance after at least eight teenagers have taken their own lives as a result of anti-gay bullying and harassment, including four in one Minnesota school district alone. “The more we as LGBT people tell our stories and engage others, the closer we are to achieving equality,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese.  “The recent tragedies involving young gay Americans, and those perceived to be gay, increase the urgency for all people of good conscious to Come Out for Equality. Our youth need to have ‘out’ role models and see the visible support of non-gay Americans.”

The importance of this year’s event will be heightened by the recent news of teen suicides precipitated by anti-LGBT bullying and/or harassment.  National Coming Out Day encourages people that are or may be LGBT to live open and honest lives. Similarly, the yearly observance is also an opportunity for all fair-minded Americans, friends and family members to support LGBT people they know."

So, as all fair minded Americans should support LGBT individuals and support children's right to go to school without experiencing bullying. Today I come out in support of LGBT right and support everyone who is coming out or reaffirming their sexuality. I hope you do too!

Be proud of who you are!

Being a teenager is hard for everyone, now imagine what it might feel like if you you were also an atypical teenager. There have been multiple teen suicides in the last week by students who were outed, tormented, bullied, and harassed for their sexuality.


Multiple studies have shown that LGBT teens are at a higher risk to attempt suicide. "A controversial U.S. government study, titled Report of the Secretary's Task Force on Youth Suicide, published in 1989, found that LGBT youth are two to three times more likely to attempt suicide than other young people." And "for every completed suicide by a young person, it is estimated that 100 to 200 attempts are made (2003 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey)."

So, while suicide is tragic for every community, it is especially tragic for the queer community because it affects so many of our youth. And in this day and age it is absolutely ludicrous that people discriminate and tease other youths to the extent that they feel hopeless. And it is EVERYONE'S responsibility to change our society. Today, I am going to support The Trevor Project whose focus is on helping end teen suicide among LGBT youth. They "advocate acceptance and help prevent teen suicide by promoting mental health and positive self-esteem through a premiere on line destination, nationwide 24/7 call centers, and empowering social activities."

They are an amazing group, don't believe me, here is Daniel Radcliff's PSA for The Trevor Project.



For more information, here are a few links.
Suicide among LGBT youth - Wikipedia.
Gay And Lesbian Teen Suicide: The Trevor Project Helpline - NowPublic.
The Trevor Project.

The Girl Effect.

Thanks to a professor of mine for this link, I found it to be very provocative and thoughtful. And it has a great point. So, today we are helping Girl Effect in order to help them grow into powerful women.

According to their site, merely 2 cents of every aid dollar is given to girls. They want to change that math, lets help them. According to their website: "there are 600 million adolescent girls living in poverty in the developing world. By giving one of these girls a chance, you start the girl effect. When girls have safe places to meet, education, legal protection, health care, and access to training and job skills, they can thrive. And if they thrive, everyone around them thrives, too."

I love it when i find the sites to be interesting and thought provoking, its worth it to explore their website to learn more about the plight facing young girls globally.

Sites that donate while you shop...

Now, if you are a shopper, I have some help for you on how to donate online while you are shopping. Here are a few options iGive, and Charity Mall.

iGive work by donating for every search and up to 26% of your purchases at over 700 participating stores; such as Amazon.com, eBay, Staples, JCPenney, Barnes & Noble, Overstock.com, drugstore.com, Office Depot, QVC, Expedia, Home Depot, HSN, Best Buy, Drs. Foster & Smith, Gap, Buy.com, & NORDSTROM. Lots of options and you get to choose your favorite charity to donate too. There are more than  34,367 organizations listed already at iGive.com, and more get added every day.

The Hunger Site and associated sites...

Another great site, which I often forget about is The Hunger Site. This is a great site, they have partners who donate money every time a person clicks a button on their home page. You can only click once a day and it REALLY only takes a few seconds to do. A great way to utilize this is to have it set as your homepage, then you can help the world every morning before you even check your email. For the hunger site the money goes to Mercy Corps, Feeding America, and Millennium Promise.

At the top of the website, there are tabs to show the other projects similar to the Hunger Site. There is The Breast Cancer Site, The Child Health Site, The Literacy Site, The Rainforest Site, and The Animal Rescue Site. These all function like the Hunger Site, in that their partners donate money for every click on the button on their home page. All you have to do, is take that two seconds to click a button, let it load the thank you page, with the ads.... and you have helped a great cause. In all it takes less than  twenty seconds to go through all six pages and make a positive impact on the world for the day.

Help charities while searching the web!!

Hey all,

Here is a blog post listing some great ways to do good while searching the internet. Which is really great, because I know I spend a lot of time online, so here is another painless way to help others in our daily lives. I want to talk about a few of the search engines from the blog post.

The first one I want to mention is MagicTaxi, it is a UK based engine which donates 50% of its daily advertising directly to various UK charities. I like this one cause it reminds me of my blog, except it functions differently. Here is a Metro article about the company for more info.

The next is Search Kindly which uses the money they raise to build mobile libraries for underserved schools, as an avid reader I really like the goal of this site. They way they function is to "take something that you'd be doing anyway, like surfing the Internet, and turn it into a meaningful action." Every time you visit their page, they get roughly 1/3 of a cent for the advertising costs, which they then use for the libraries. You can also set it for your homepage as an easy way to help or add it your search bar to use every time you search the web.