Tag Archives: gay pride

Support & Advice

Ellen DeGeneres Is The Most Visible LGBT Public Figure In America

More than anyone else, Ellen DeGeneres is the face of LGBT America. Still.

That’s the verdict of two new Pew Research Center surveys, one of the general U.S. population and the other of LGBT Americans specifically.

Not only was the comedian and television host by far the most frequently cited example of a gay or lesbian public figure in the general-population survey, she and President Obama were the leaders when LGBT Americans were asked to name a well-known figure who’s been important in advancing the rights of LGBT people.

DeGeneres was already a well-known comedian and star of her eponymous sitcom when she came out publicly as a lesbian 16 years ago. Since then, she’s established herself as a highly successful talk-show host, voice actress (“Dory” in Finding Nemo) and commercial spokesperson. A 31-year-old bisexual woman in our survey captured DeGeneres’ appeal and significance as well as anyone: “[S]he has been out for so long that it is no longer an issue, and older white women feel comfortable with her show. She normalizes LGBT people.”
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Support & Advice

The Fashion of Acceptance In Sports

The world’s foremost name in sporting apparel isn’t just dipping its toe in the waters of expression and acceptance. It’s diving in headfirst.

After signing the WNBA’s Brittney Griner to a contract that has her market and wear men’s clothing as well as women’s apparel, and makes her the company’s first openly gay athlete, Nike released the second edition of its #BeTrue line of shoes and sportswear last week.

The line, which openly gay NBA player Jason Collins wore to Boston’s Pride Parade this weekend, is “in celebration of sport as a universal language,” according to Nike, and includes shoes, t-shirts, and flip-flops with rainbow prints and the line’s #BeTrue name. Like the original line Nike released last year, profits will go to the LGBT Sports Coalition, an organization that is aiming to end homophobic discrimination in sports by 2016. Nike is a member of the coalition and is hosting its second annual LGBT Sports Summit this week in Portland, Oregon.
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Real Stories, Support & Advice

“The Out List” from Timothy Greenfield-Sanders

On Thursday, June 27, HBO is premiering The OUT List, a film of intimate docu-portraits from photographer and director Timothy Greenfield-Sanders that follows in the vein of his well known projects About Face: Supermodels Then and Now, The Latino List and The Black List.

The film is a storytelling project in which Greenfield-Sanders’s subjects, a diverse swath of well-known and lesser-known figures in the LGBT community, speak directly into the camera and divulge intimate tales of their careers, activism, and pride, as well as details of personal discrimination they’ve experienced and overcome.

The film was produced by out filmmaker Sam McConnell, who also served as the interviewer on the project.
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Real Stories, Support & Advice

Gay teens find Internet fame, acceptance

CARMEL, N.Y. — High school students designated the “cutest couple” in their yearbook’s senior superlatives, sparking international attention for the gay teens, are basking in the whirlwind of publicity they have received.

Hours away from their senior prom Monday, Carmel High School students Bradley Taylor and Dylan Meehan donned tuxedos with coordinating blue and silver vests and ties, living up to their newfound class designation.

“It’s been insane,” said Taylor, 17. “We are very, very proud to show that Carmel High School is the way it is.”

Meehan agreed. The support and attention, he said, have been inspiring.

Their best friend, Chelsea Blaney is responsible for their Internet fame. After she posted a picture Friday of the two on her Tumblr blog, saying they won cutest couple, she went from 15 likes to 7,000 in minutes, she recalled.
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Support & Advice

Indiana LGBT Youth Group Win Legal Battle To Sell License Plates

The Indiana Youth Group, an LGBT youth support group, is celebrating a big win after a judge ordered their specialty license plates to be reinstated after they were halted last year for dubious reasons.

From the IYG press release:

“The revenue generated from license plate sales is crucial for continuing the programs and services offered to the youth served by our organization”, [IYG’s executive director Mary] Byrne said. In the 10 weeks in 2012 that IYG was able to sell their specialty plate over 800 plates were sold. Plate sales generated over $20,000 during the same period.

IYG is the only not-for-profit agency that is solely dedicated to serving lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth in Indianapolis and the only agency with a full-time staff in the state. “The youth we serve often have nowhere else to turn and the money we raise goes directly toward supporting disenfranchised youth and toward putting a stop to needless bullying and violence in our schools,” Byrne said.
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Support & Advice

Finding A Gay Teen Community In Your Area

Being a teenager isn’t easy and being a gay teen is even more difficult. It is often harder than being a straight teen because of the stigma many still attach to being gay as well as the teen often having a feeling of being alone, not knowing where to turn for support, and the social issues surrounding being gay. Puberty and the years following are riddled with questions, doubts, fears, and a general feeling of awkwardness for everyone going through this period of life gay or straight. As gay teens are a small minority of the population it can be difficult for them to find friends who are gay as well that understand the unique issues they face when trying to deal with and understand these concerns. As having a normal social life with ones peers is essential to healthy development what is a gay teen to do?
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