About 50 residents of Wasilla, Alaska, came to Monday night’s City Council meeting to air concerns about the presence of a volume called This Book Is Gay in the children’s section of the public library, with some of them calling the volume pornographic and librarians pedophiles.

“I can’t imagine what kind of person would order that material and want to make it readily available for children,” said resident Emily Hardy, according to the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, a Wasilla newspaper. “That is straight-up pedophile kind of behavior.”

The book, by U.K. author James Dawson, became a subject of controversy after a 10-year-old perused it in September and his mother complained about its content. It offers an overview of the LGBT rights movement as well as some frank discussion of sex acts. It was on a shelf in the Juvenile Nonfiction section of the library, which houses nonfiction books both in the Juvenile (age 8-12) and Young Adult (12-18) categories.

“I felt it was too sexually explicit to have in the younger section,” the mother, Vanessa Campbell, told the Frontiersman last week. “I’m not challenging this book at all because it’s addressed to LGBTQ people. It just shouldn’t be in the mix with children’s books.”

She asked librarian Kathy “KJ” Martin-Albright to move the book to the Adult section, but Martin-Albright decided to leave it in Juvenile Nonfiction. Campbell appealed the librarian’s decision and met last week with a library committee, but when some members of the public were turned away from the committee meeting, that led to a call for people to address the City Council.

While some who attended the council meeting objected to the book’s content outright, some focused on its inclusion in the children’s section. “I would doubt that Madame Bovary is in the juvenile section,” Adam Pender told the council.

Martin-Albright said earlier that when city’s new library opens next year, all nonfiction books will be housed together, regardless of reading level. That is a documented “best practice,” she said. “Adults who have limited reading skills don’t feel comfortable going into a children’s section to get materials or information, even though it might be more appropriate and easier for them to understand those,” she told the Frontiersman.“But they will browse everything interfiled, and it’s the same with accelerated readers.”

In the meantime, she said, the book might be moved to the health subsection of Juvenile Nonfiction instead of government, where it is placed now. A library committee will make that decision by December 6.

Some at the City Council meeting defended Martin-Albright. “I really resent the character assassination of Kathy Martin-Albright tonight,” Friends of the Library president Jeanne Troshynski told the council after many of the commenters had left. “I believe that it is irresponsible to not stop that kind of comment. I really appreciate that you listen to everybody’s comments and you’re kind and respectful. I think that’s important, but I think you need to support your staff, too. We always remind people in meetings that I chair that any character assassination on any staff is not acceptable. Period. End of story. That’s not OK. In particular, I feel strongly about that because KJ has a tremendous character and cares tremendously about this community and children and follows the policy as it is outlined.”

Troshynski added, “I don’t know, the book doesn’t sound that great to me, but it’s a public library. And yes, we are censoring if we kick the book out.”

Author Dawson defended his book in an email to the Frontiersman.“If parents think internet savvy young adults aren’t aware of what consenting adults do in bed, they’re kidding themselves,” he wrote. “Would they rather they saw it in pornography or would they rather they took a responsible, sensible non-fiction title out of a library?”

An elementary school in Wisconsin has cancelled plans to read a book about a transgender child.

Mount Horeb Primary Center had scheduled a reading of I Am Jazz, a children't book written by trans teen and reality television star Jazz Jennings.

On November 19 the school sent a letter to parents informing them of the upcoming reading, which was set to take place Monday. The Capital Times reports that a student at the center is transgender, and the reading was part of an effort to create a more inclusive environment.

"We believe all students deserve respect and support regardless of their gender identity and expression, and the best way to foster that respect and support is through educating students about the issue of being transgender," read the letter, which was signed by the school's principal, a counselor, and a psychologist.

However, the reading was called off after "concerned parents" reached out to the Liberty Counsel, which the Southern Poverty Law Center classifies as an hate group and an anti-LGBT group.

The Liberty Counsel sent a letter to the school on November 20, threatening a federal lawsuit if the event was not cancelled. The letter alleges that school administrators were seeking "to subject Primary School students to a discussion of gender confusion and sexuality, under the guise of 'antibullying,''diversity,' and building a 'safe and nurturing environment.'"

The letter goes on to misgender Jennings, referring to her as "a male child 'transgender' activist, who has been permitted to undergo harmful gender reassignment drug therapy and hormone blockers, resulting in permanent physical changes to his body."

Her book, which explains to children what it means to be transgender, is characterized in the letter as "false and misleading." The Liberty Counsel maintains that its reading would result in "confusing many children,""undermining modesty," and "promoting non-factual, radical, and controversial assumptions about 'gender,'" among other so-called harms.

Moreover, the group argues that "the letter [announcing the reading] was sent with one business days’ notice and appears designed to catch parents off-guard, to prevent them from opting their children out of this reading and subsequent discussion."

As a result, the reading was cancelled. The district released a statement Wednesday, saying the Board of Education needs time "to review the needs of all involved, and address a situation for which the District has no current policy."

"Please know that our continuing goal is to protect all students from any bullying, harassing or intimidating behavior at school so that all of our students may learn together in a safe and caring environment," it added.

This is not the first time Jazz Jennings has been the target of right-wing groups. Earlier this year, One Million Moms attacked her TLC show, also titled I Am Jazz,  which the group said “is attempting to normalize the transgender lifestyle and make it appear OK while using a young cast member to lure a young audience."

One Million Moms urged its supporters to contact Revlon, the maker of Mitchum deodorant, which advertises on the show, and demand that the company end its sponsorship.

Hate Group Forces School to Cancel I Am Jazz Book Reading

Hate Group Forces School to Cancel I Am Jazz Book Reading

A massive crowd is lined up for blocks outside of Hollywood’s popular concert venue the Fonda Theatre. Despite the mid-November chill in the air and the fact that it's a school night, the eager mass is made up mostly of a diverse mix of young, high school- and college-aged kids. Some with hair different colors of the rainbow. Some with hip, trendy outfits that look like they took weeks to plan. Some proudly holding hands with their same-sex partners. The sheer excitement on their faces as they wait to see 21-year-old bisexual singer-songwriter Halsey has as much to do with the performer's music as it does with what she represents. 

Halsey is free to be herself and to experience emotion, no matter if it's convenient for you. That relentless loyalty to self-discovery makes the already lyrical songwriter all the more vulnerable in real life.

“Every time I got to play a show, even if it’s already sold out, I’m so scared no one’s going to come,” Halsey (whose stage name is an anagram of the first part of her birth name, Ashley Frangipane) tells The Advocate of the success she’s had following the August release of her debut album, Badlands. “I’m so scared something better is in town, and they’re all going to ditch my show last-minute. I get those weird kind of delusions all the time, but I’m just very, very, very fortunate, and I know that. You can expect nothing in being a musician, and you have to be just very thankful every time it goes positively for you.”

And things have been going very positively for the superstar-to-be. Badlands had the third best opening week for a solo debut album in 2015, and in addition to selling out most of the stops on her tour of the same name, Halsey also snagged a collaboration with Justin Bieber on the song "The Feeling" for his latest release Purpose. 

“There are things that throw me off, and I am in disbelief about the power of my fans,” she says. “It’s so stupid to talk about numbers, and I don’t like to, but numbers are powerful because of what they represent as far as volume. When we put the album out, I had no idea what to expect the first week. The day that the week ended and we found out it sold over 115,000 albums, my brain was like What?!?”

But there is more to Halsey than just her well-written, well-received music. Openly bisexual from the earliest moments of her career, she exudes a confidence both onstage and off that lends itself to activism in different things besides queerness, including feminism, and more recently in raising awareness of mental illness, since she came out this year publicly as a person with bipolar disorder.

pic.twitter.com/i86OrHg3fv

— HALSEY (@halsey) October 1, 2015

Today is International Women's Day! Protect and support! ALL women. @UN_WOMEN#IWD2015pic.twitter.com/BMIWMHx5eZ

— HALSEY (@halsey) March 8, 2015

We need a feminism that is not negligent of women of color, trans women, queer women. We need a feminism that protects ALL women. Globally.

— HALSEY (@halsey) March 8, 2015

Although she’s been hesitant to call herself a role model, Halsey freely expresses her views on issues, creating an intriguing public persona that leaves people, especially her fans, wanting to know more about what makes her tick and the things that mean most to her.

Halsey toldElle in May that she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder as a teenager and that her mom is also bipolar. Since then, she's explained that Badlands is, for her, an exploration of her mental state while writing the album. Ultimately, she wants young people who are free to discover themselves. You can hear that rebellious theme in the way she talks about being bisexual, for example.

“I think a lot if comes down to people not wanting to let young people explore themselves,” she says. “We live in this world where, you’re a teenager, and everyone tells you for three years from the time your 15 from the time that you’re 18 that 'You don’t know anything. You don’t know anything about yourself. You don’t know anything about the world. You don’t know anything, you have no idea.'And if you insist you know something, you know and understand a part of your sexuality, you often get told, 'Oh, things change. You’re still young. You don’t know.'"

And because of this backlash, she wants to shed light not only on bisexuality, but on the larger need for young people to be empowered and able to find out who they are. 

“I definitely have a responsibility, because it is something that is not considered,” Halsey continues, recalling that the music video for her first major single (and crowd favorite) "Ghost" features a woman as her love interest. "When I put out a video of me in a relationship with a woman, most of the reaction was, 'But you have a boyfriend, so that means you’re sexualizing it.' There’s not just me being straight and me being a lesbian. The fact that you didn’t even consider the option that I might be bisexual means that we’re not talking about this enough.” 

The concert at the Fonda is just one stop on the road compared to all of the shows she’s played on the Badlands tour, throughout which Halsey proves that just by being herself, she can have an impact on young people who like both good music and social issues. And she wants to do right by them.

“For me, it’s about more,” she says. “I find myself representing, and I say that word apprehensively because I don’t think one person can represent any community of people, a number of communities. I’m open about having bipolar disorder, I’m open about being of mixed-race, I’m open about being bisexual, and I have this wantingness to talk about it, and for me, it’s about more than being a role model for any specific community. I think it’s about wanting to be a role model that’s comfortable with myself. That’s unafraid of being myself.” 

“My end goal is to encourage kids that they can be proud of who they are, and that doesn’t just mean that I want my bisexual fans to feel proud of being who they are. I want any kid who listens to my music to see that I am confident with all elements of my personality that I can’t change,” she continues. “If me being confident and secure enough to talk about my bisexuality helps some other kid be confident enough to talk about having social anxiety or for another kid to talk about coming from an Islamic background, if it helps any kid who is in a place where they can feel like they’re going to be chastised and judged for who they are, if it helps them talk about it, then that’s all that I want.”

Halsey Fights Mental Illness Stigma, Just By Being Herself

40 Under 40: Musician Halsey Fights Mental Illness Stigma, Just By Being Herself

A few years ago, Thomas Harrington was a local and national executive for the Boy Scouts of America and tasked with enforcing the group's ban on gay scoutsand leaders. After working within the organization to lift the ban, Harrington now has been announced as the new executive director of Valley Youth House, a nonprofit organization that works with LGBT youth.

Harrington served as the CEO of the Philadelphia Cradle of Liberty Council before moving on to become Western Region director for the national organization. During his tenure with the local council, Philadelphia attempted to evict it from city-owned property over the discriminatory policy.

"We never discriminated," Harrington told Philadelphia daily The Inquirer. "Anybody that knew the leadership of the Cradle of Liberty Council would know they were national advocates for changing the Boy Scout policy."

Harrington added that he worked behind the scenes during his time with the national organization to lift the ban. Gay youth were officially allowed to participate in 2014, and the Boy Scouts of America lifted the ban on gay scout leaders earlier this year.

"The national policy was the national policy," he said. "There were many people who wanted to change it."

"I know Tom personally did not agree with that policy, and he worked within the organization to change it," Lesley Fallon, chair of the Valley Youth House board of directors, told the newspaper. "I understand the concerns, because it is so important to us support the LGBT youth. I have no question where Tom stands as a person, and where he has put his influence with the Boy Scouts or now with Valley Youth House."

"We knew there were going to be questions, but we knew Tom was the right person to run the organization," she said. "I'm very comfortable that Tom's personal views are in line with ours."

Valley Youth House operates several programs to help homeless and abused youths. The organization has an annual budget of approximately $20 million.

Ex-Boy Scout Boss to Lead LGBT Youth Group

 Ex-Boy Scout Director Who Helped Lift Ban on Gays to Helm LGBT Youth Group

In recent months photographer Ocean Morisset and I been documenting the stories of LGBT youths who have been driven to homelessness. Their experiences of cruel rejection in their homes as well as the ordeals they endure on the streets provide stark evidence of the harm still suffered by the most vulnerable in our community

We live in times that have seen tremendous progress for LGBT people. We have torn down some of our society’s most formidable structures of homophobia. But progress for our community isn't monolithic. There are at least 200,000 LGBT youths suffering homelessness in our nation. The abuse, hostility, and neglect they endure seem to belong to the time before 1969, rather than 2015.

It is easier to change a law than to change the human heart. LGBT youths who have the misfortune to grow up in homophobic or transphobic homes face terrible cruelty and abuse. At the Ali Forney Center, the nation's largest organization dedicated to homeless LGBT youth, we hear heartrending accounts of their mistreatment. We hear about severe verbal abuse, kids being called "faggots" by their parents, being told that they are disgusting, that they are "against God."

Unfortunately, it's not just verbal abuse. Often youths are subjected to physical violence in their homes; they tell us of being punched, kicked, choked. Also they tell of degrading and humiliating treatment, like the young man profiled below who was made to literally sleep in a closet.

When they become homeless, either being thrown out of their homes, or fleeing from the cruelty and abuse there, trauma intensifies. Homelessness is an ordeal for anyone, but for LGBT youths it is horrific. Listening to them describe their experiences on the streets, I am most struck by how frightened they are, how terrified. Terrified of the people who would rob them or bash them. They tell of being overwhelmed by stress, not knowing how to find food, or shelter, or protect themselves.

Too often the available shelters pose insurmountable obstacles. Many homeless youth shelters push religion on homeless kids, with youths being encouraged to pray, read the Bible, or participate in "pastoral ministry" programs. No young person's desperation for shelter should be exploited to promote a belief system. But this is especially problematic for LGBT youths who have so often been made homeless because of the religious beliefs of their parents. Even more problematic for LGBT youths is the hostility they face from other shelter residents. Unfortunately, many of the beds in this country are in large warehouse shelters. Warehousing homeless people creates dehumanizing conditions where LGBT youths are frequently targets of anti-LGBT violence and harassment. It is very frustrating to listen to so many LGBT youths explain how they feel safer sleeping in the streets than in large warehouse shelters.

Homeless LGBT youths need the advocacy and support of our broader community, The most important step we can take to protect them is to support shelter and housing programs where they can be safe from abuse, whether it be from abusive religious agendas or from conditions that promote violence and harrassment. 

The Ali Forney Center offers emergency and long-term housing dedicated to LGBT youths. We also offer programs which help youths overcome the harm of rejection and homophobia, enabling them to be healed and to rebuild their lives. These include medical, mental health, and substance abuse treatment as well as extensive educational and vocational training and placement programs. All these services are offered in an environment where the youths can be free of the further trauma of homophobia and transphobia. We provide care to over 1,000 youths per year. Please consider offering your support here.

I would also encourage support for LGBT-dedicated homeless youth programs in other parts of the country. To learn more about such programs in your local area, please see our Web page devoted to the services available to homeless LGBTyouths across the country. The Ali Forney Center is dedicated to encouraging the success of programs dedicated to homeless LGBT youths, and we have offered training and technical assistance to many of these vital programs.

This holiday season, please help us bring homeless LGBT youths in from the cold to a place where they can find warmth, healing, safety and affirmation. Now meet three LGBT youths and hear about their lives on the streets of New York. —Carl Siciliano, executive director of the Ali Forney Center

Tank, 23

I grew up in Queens. I had to leave home because I was abused by my mother; called a faggot, vulgar stuff.

When I was with friends who were also homeless, we would huddle together, sometimes in Union Square, sometimes in Staten Island. We would sleep in Staten Island in abandoned buildings that had been left wrecked by Hurricane Sandy. Once when we walked on the floor, the floorboard broke underneath us, and a friend had his leg split open. We closed the wound and took him out into the street before we called the ambulance. We didn't want anyone to know where we were staying.

We were afraid to stay in the adult shelters — we heard too many things about LGBT kids being beaten and robbed there. 

A friend who knew I was on the streets got me a job at Taco Bell. I was working maintenance, working the night shift. I was also going to college. It was hard, sometimes I was crying. Sometimes I would look bummy, but I was still going to class. I had to go. I always heard my mother in the back of my head saying I wouldn't get nothing for myself. 

I want to be a veterinarian. Plus I want to open a home for youth who have nowhere to go.

Angel, 22

My grandmother raised me and my brothers and sisters. She died when I was 14. For a while I stayed with my aunt. It was a nightmare. She wouldn't recognize my gender. I had a job at a theater, and she charged me $200 a week to sleep in a clothes closet on a pillow. I tried to make the best of it. At least the pillow was tempurpedic; it was the comfiest pillow ever.

When I became homeless I tried to go to a big shelter for hundreds of kids. The intake worker refused to respect my gender identity. I showed her that I had a male ID, but she said it didn't make a difference, that my wanting to be respected as a male was bullshit.

They put me in a female dorm. One of the other girls there said I couldn't use the bathroom unless I payed her $40! She raised her fist to me and threatened me for $40!! I couldn't deal with it, so I decided to sleep in the subway. I slept in the subway for two weeks. I found the whole thing so stressful that I couldn't eat.

It was better when I stayed in an LGBT shelter. They respected me when I was transitioning.

Today I got a promotion at my job at Dunkin' Donuts. Now I'm a shift leader!

Quincy, 21

I had to leave my home because my mother couldn't accept me. She would get angry about the way I acted and the clothes I wore. It was always "You're a fag, you're a batty boy" (she's from Jamaica).

For a while after I left home I was sleeping on friends' couches. Then for two weeks straight I was sleeping on the subway. I would clutch all my stuff really tight, holding them close, especially after I was robbed. 

Mornings were rough because I was so exhausted. I could never get enough sleep, only two or three hours. It took a toll on my body. I was always tired and irritated. I couldn't focus.

I was afraid to go to the men's shelter. I have a friend who stayed there, and when they found out he was gay they beat him up mercilessly. If they would do that to a grown man, what would they do to a scrawny 21-year-old gay kid.

When you are on the streets, riding the subways, nights are very tough. Sometimes I felt so alone. Nobody cared, nobody asked about me. I was just alone. 

Three LGBT Youths on Being Homeless in NYC

Three LGBT Youths Describe Being Homeless in NYC

The holiday season is a difficult time of year for many.

Too often we see the commercialism that this holiday brings, totally missing its spiritual message.The underlying message in celebrating the season is the full embrace of human difference and diversity. 

I truly believe if Americans — Christians and non-Christians, alike — stayed more focused on the message and teachings of this holiday season, many LGBT youth and young adults would not have the annual angst of searching for home for the holidays.

Although Christmas is mostly thought of in terms of feasting and celebrating, Jesus’s birth — like his death — was born of struggle, and that struggle was to be fully accepted. Similarly, when I think of the birth of Jesus, one of the themes that looms large for me is LGBT youth and young adult homelessness. Why homelessness? 

Because many of us do not really have a home to go to where we can sit at the family table and be fully out — or if out, fully accepted. As with Mary and Joseph during the time of Jesus’s birth, many of us travel from inn-to-inn to only find there is no room.

"I'm Queer. I'm Homeless. I'm Hungry. I'm Scared. I’m Tired,” was the ad one year by New Alternatives for LGBT Homeless Youth asking the public to give the gift of  $10 during the holiday season to help the homeless.

"Every night, thousands of lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender youth and young adults are homeless in New York City. Whether they have been kicked out by homophobic families, forced to flee conservative communities, aged out of foster care, or come from families torn apart by poverty, AIDS, drug abuse or eviction, these youth sleep in the City’s parks, on the subway, and in public facilities such as Port Authority and Penn Station,”  New Alternatives for LGBT Homeless Youth website reminded us.

While homelessness of teen and youth populations are often attributed to family neglect, family tragedy, poverty, AIDS, drug abuse, eviction, or being aged out of foster care, our LGBTQ teen and youth populations that are homeless are, first and foremost, if not solely, homeless because of their sexual orientation. Sadly, it sends a message that these homes rather have no child than a queer child.

According to a 2011 study from Boston’s Children’s Hospital, published online on the American Journal of Public Health's website, it stated that when it comes to the private institution of the home, our LGBT youth are disproportionately thrown out of theirs, more often than their heterosexual peers, especially in communities of color.

Some years ago when I wrote about  homelessness of African-American LGBT youth this was a typical type of response I received from an irate blogger who read my piece on Black Commentator’s website.

“Given that our resources are tight & these youth are not at all psychologically prepared for our liberation struggle, they are expendable. Such are the realities of war. It's gonna take all of our resources to salvage the heterosexual youth, who will hopefully form strong, loving, heterosexual relationships & produce healthy children. This is how we will produce a strong black nation/community. The dysfunctional youth you are asking us to rescue cannot/will not be able to make the contribution we need, so they are expendable.”

The much-touted African adage that espouses black unity, "It takes a village to raise a child," often rings false when it comes to our LGBT youth.

"The high risk of homelessness among sexual minority teens is a serious problem requiring immediate attention," says Heather Corliss, PhD, MPH, of the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at Children’s Hospital. "Teens with a sexual minority orientation are more likely than heterosexual teens to be unaccompanied and homeless rather than part of a homeless family … these teens face enormous risks and all types of obstacles to succeeding in school and are in need of a great deal of assistance."

Luke 2:6-7 states, "While they were there the time came for [Mary] to have her baby, and she gave birth to a son -- her firstborn. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn."

Our birth, as LGBT individuals and as a movement, mirrors that of Jesus. It comes at a time where there is still neither room nor tolerance for us — even in 2015, with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of marriage equality — in some homes and families.  

Unfortunately, many of our homeless LGBT youth across this country this holiday season will not have a queer-friendly shelter to go to. As we gear up for this holiday season let us enjoy the time. Let us make home, if not with biological family, then certainly with beloved friends. But let us also not forget the continued struggle of the LGBT homeless youth searching for home for the holidays.

Remember Homeless LGBT Youth This Holiday Season

Remember Our Homeless LGBT Youth This Holiday Season

Right-wing activists have sued to overturn an LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination policy adopted by the school board in Fairfax County, Va., claiming it violates state law.

Andrea Lafferty, president of the antigay Traditional Values Coalition, and an anonymous student and his parents are the plaintiffs in the suit, and they are represented by the far-right legal group Liberty Counsel, reports The Washington Post.

The Fairfax County school board, which oversees one of the nation’s largest school districts — located in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. — added gender identity and expression to the nondiscrimination policy last May and sexual orientation in November 2014. But Lafferty’s suit, filed last week in Fairfax County Circuit Court, claims these moves violate a Virginia law known as Dillon’s Rule, which bars local governing bodies, including school boards, from going beyond state law in such policies. Virginia’s antidiscrimination law does not cover sexual orientation or gender identity.

“We have warned for months that such changes were not only jeopardizing our children but in direct contravention of long-standing Virginia statute,” Lafferty said a statement, the Post reports. Lafferty, a Fairfax County resident, had fought against the board’s expansion of the policy.

The student, identified only as “Jack Doe,” is “distressed” about the possibility of having to share gender-segregated spaces with transgender students and being disciplined for violating the student code of conduct if he objects, according to the suit.

“Because the new policy and code of conduct are not sufficiently defined, Jack Doe has no way of knowing whether he can, for example, question someone who appears to be a girl using the boys’ restroom or locker room, refer to someone by a certain pronoun or even compliment someone on his/her attire without being subject to discipline for ‘discrimination,’” the suit reads. “Jack Doe is nervous about having to think about every statement or action and its potential sexual connotations to third parties before interacting with students and teachers.”

In March, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring issued an opinion saying that school districts had the right to amend nondiscrimination policies to include sexual orientation and gender identity under the broad authority granted by the state constitution, although they are not required to do so.

Herring aide Michael Kelly told the Post the attorney general stands by his opinion and believes “strongly for the right of every Virginian to live, learn and work without fear of discrimination.”

School board chair Pat Hynes said the board is drafting regulations to accompany the nondiscrimination policy. The board and administration “will continue to ensure that all of our students and employees are treated with dignity, respect and equality,” Hynes said in a statement to the Post.

Robert Rigby Jr., faculty adviser to a gay-straight alliance at one of the district’s high schools, expressed dismay that opponents of the policy had resorted to a lawsuit.

“The express idea is that greater familiarity leads to greater understanding,” Rigby said in a statement, reports D.C. LGBT paper Metro Weekly.“We invite all opponents to meet with us, as conveniently as we are able to arrange it within our schedules over the next few months. … Although these face-to-face meetings will take time and patience, we think that they are a better approach to the controversy in Fairfax than legal measures such as [Freedom of Information Act] requests and lawsuits.”

Gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer students — and teachers — in Atlanta will have a dedicated safe space to learn and work next school year. 

Pride School Atlanta, Georgia's first school specifically created for LGBT students and those who feel bullied or unsafe at public schools, is slated to open in September, reports the Associated Press.

The school's founder is a 45-year-old transgender man with nearly 25 years' experience teaching, the AP reports. Christian Zsilavetz founded the school specifically for LGBT students and teachers but told the wire service that Pride School Atlanta will welcome anyone who feels they've been mistreated at so-called traditional schools for "being different."

"Kids have full permission to be themselves — as well as educators," Zsilavetz told the AP. "Where there's no wondering, 'Is this teacher going to be a person for me to be myself with?' This is a place where [students] can just open up and be the best person they can be."

The private K-12 school will initially be housed at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta, with an annual tuition of roughly $13,000, according to the report. Financial assistance will be available for students in need, organizers promise. 

The Pride School Atlanta would be the first of its kind not only in Georgia but in the entire Southeastern U.S., reports the AP. The school will be modeled on New York City's Harvey Milk High School, a public school run by the Hetrick-Martin Institute, and utilize a similar "Free Model" approach to education, which encourages teachers to customize each student's curriculum to the student's interests. 

Research consistently shows that LGBT youth are much more likely than their straight cisgender (nontrans) peers to report being bullied or harassed at school, and that such incidents can hinder the student's educational success. In April 2015, 64 congressional Democrats asked the federal Department of Education to take action to protect LGBT students from harassment and bullying in school. 

The Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network's latest School Climate Report, published in 2013, found that most LGBT students experienced discrimination at school, with 65 percent of students saying they heard anti-LGBT language "frequently or often," and 30 percent reporting they missed at least one day of school in the past month because they felt unsafe going to class. A staggering 85 percent of LGBT students reported being verbally harassed in the previous year. 

Such discrimination not only increases LGBT youth's already-elevated risk of depression, suicide, and substance abuse but can also prompt students to drop out of school. 

That's what happened to Emma Grace, a queer 16-year-old who spoke with the AP about her plans to attend Pride School Atlanta. 

"I think it's greatly needed for a school to have LGBT-affirming surroundings and environment," she told the AP. "It's still very much a hidden issue. Not a lot people talk about it because they're afraid."

Georgia's First Pride School Seeks LGBT Students, Faculty

Some parents at a Pennsylvania middle school are upset with the administration because, they say, their children were asked whether they were gay during a workshop aimed at stopping bullying.

Eighth-graders at Imperial, Pa.’s West Allegheny Middle School were attending a Kindness Workshop, created to promote an end to bullying, January 15, the Associated Press reports. They were asked several questions regarding their religious views, their family’s finances, their parents’ marital status, and their sexuality, and then put into different groups based on their answers. Some parents thought these questions were too personal to be answered in a public setting.

“There is now so much damage that was done to these children, and there’s no way to go back and make this better for them,” one parent told Pittsburgh TV station KDKA. 

“She gave the bullies ammo!” another parent said of the workshop’s unintended consequences, which include reports of kids being bullied even more.

According to KDKA, some parents are considering legal action against West Allegheny, despite school board president Debbie Mirich offering a formal apology.

“We do stand behind the intentions of our workshop, and we look forward continuing our work with parents to address this very serious issue of bullying, and the unintentional acts that continue to marginalize different groups of students,” Mirich said. 

Watch the report in the video below.

Parents of Eighth-Graders Angry Their Kids Were Asked If They're Gay

WATCH: Parents of Eighth-Graders Angry Their Kids Were Asked If They're Gay

For some people, it’s been a long time since the thought of a schoolyard bully brought fear and anxiety into their daily lives. Sometimes adults forget the harassment they endured in their youth is still a harsh reality for kids today — especially LGBT kids. However, there is a growing number of allies who are taking a stand against bullying and creating a better environment for young people who feel different. But as loud as their voices have become, there's no substitute for the reach that same message can have when it comes directly from a celebrity who understands the struggles facing teens firsthand.

Gavin MacIntosh wants to be that kind of ally.

The 16-year-old actor and Southern California transplant is a passionate straight ally for the LGBT community. When he’s not raising visibility playing gay teen Connor Stevens on the groundbreaking queer-centric drama The Fosters, he spends much time advocating for kids whose voices often get silenced by those who judge others because of how they act or who they love. 

“More people are grasping that it’s not cool to discriminate and bully someone,” MacIntosh says, explaining why he finds it so important for queer youth to have allies. “Unfortunately, we’re still not in the majority. There are still people out there, if you walk into school and you don’t act a certain way, you don’t act the way that some might say a 'normal' kid walking around in school would act, you will be judged. We really, really have to change.”

With his role on The Fosters, MacIntosh is helping bring about that change, particularly in the way gay kids are perceived by their peers and the public. 

In the nearly three years since its premiere, The Fosters has received much praise for its positive and wholesome portrayal of a family led by two lesbian moms (played by Teri Polo and Sherri Saum). MacIntosh is equally deserving of this praise, especially after he and costar Hayden Byerly (who plays Jude) exchanged television’s youngest same-sex kiss last year. It's a scene that would have been totally taboo on TV just a few years ago.

Fast-forward to 2016, and Jonnor (the cute, fan-created couple name for Byerly’s Jude and MacIntosh’s Connor) has become a phenomenon in a television landscape virtually devoid of queer adolescent couples.

“I really wasn’t aware that my character could make such an impact on viewers,” MacIntosh says. “The kiss was very, very important. It was a groundbreaking thing, and I think it showed the two characters’ relationship more emotionally than sexually.”

“There are a few television shows that are out there that portray gay characters, but I think the reason why Connor’s relationship is so different is because of the age,” he says. “No one speaks for the young LGBT community, or if they do, it’s a very minimal group. I’m glad that I’m the person that gets to be able to do that.”

In addition to helping represent kids who feel they are different, The Fosters has affected MacIntosh’s own life. As a straight person, he says he was rarely bullied growing up. However, the numerous personal stories fans have shared with him have given him a greater understanding of the obstacles they face. 

“I wasn’t really aware of the issues that are happening and the discrimination that the LGBTQ community is facing,” he says. “So when Connor [began to discover who he is], that’s when I became aware and started hearing stories from fans about their problems in life.”

His tone becomes more intense as he adds, “The really sad thing, for me, is when people will see others being bullied and they don't do anything about it. They just don’t care, or they just don’t want to take a stand.”

“No matter what you stand for, there will always be people hating on you,” he says. “But hate isn’t really something I focus on, it's something I turn away from. Hopefully [seeing characters like Connor and Jude on The Fosters] will inspire more kids to have that same attitude.”

The winter premiere of season 3 of The Fosters airs on Freeform Monday. 

The Fosters' Gavin MacIntosh Has Your Back

The Fosters' Gavin MacIntosh Has Your Back

PFLAG Toronto has come up with a way of getting its message to schools — at least to those who know how to read it.

The group's innovative new campaign uses posters that reveal a hidden pro-LGBT message only when students take a picture of them while using a camera flash.

PFLAG estimates that 76,000 middle and high school students will see the posters in Toronto district schools. Featuring rainbow colors, the posters spell out Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Straight, Queer and 2-Spirited on the left side. When students snap a picture, the words "are suddenly accompanied by nouns that illustrate LGBTQ folks are people they know, respect and love,"according to AdWeek.

"We wanted to send a positive message to students that we are all more than just our gender identity and sexual orientation," Toronto PFLAG president Anne Creighton said. "Our mission is to get students talking about these things, so the novel and shareable nature of this poster was a perfect fit for our message."

Watch the ad switch between the two messages:

This PFLAG Campaign in Schools Comes With Hidden Message

Pastor James David Manning has long been an enemy of LGBT New York, with his church putting up signs that call for the stoning and damnation of gay people. In what is a satisfying turn of events for many, his church is now under water and about to be sold at public auction — and the Ali Forney Center and the LGBT-friendly Rivers of Living Water church are working hard to purchase the Harlem house of worship.

Ali Forney — which houses and assists homeless LGBT youth — and the Rivers congregation had raised over $118,000 by late Monday to buy ATLAH World Missionary Church on 123rd Street; $200,000 is needed to meet their fundraising goal. If they are successful, Ali Forney would use part of the church as more housing for queer youth, while Rivers of Living Water would use the remaining space for its parish. (Click here to donate.)

Should the purchase go through, it would offer psychological benefits, along with practical.

“I think it would represent a real healing of a terrible wound that’s been in that neighborhood,” Carl Siciliano, founder and executive director of the Ali Forney Center, told The Guardian.

Pastor Manning has become notorious over the past few years for signage at the church with messages such as “Jesus would stone homos” and that all supporters of LGBT people should be cursed with cancer, HIV, madness, and eternal damnation.

He has also posted videos online in which he claims that “upscale sodomites” gather at Starbucks to spread Ebola and other diseases and that the coffee chain flavors its drinks with the “semen of sodomites.” And he’s said that President Obama has “released homo demons on the black man”and that gay athletes are pedophiles.

LGBT Groups to Buy 'Sodomite Semen' Pastor's Church?

LGBT Activists Close to Buying Church of 'Sodomite Semen' Pastor

Nine-year-old Stormi, a transgender Girl Scout in Herrin, Ill., had the best answer to the mean man who told her, “Nobody wants to buy cookies from a boy in a dress.” With the help of her foster mom, Kim, she set up an online store and, according to BuzzFeed, she sold over 3,000 cookies. 

“My troop plans to use the money to help us go on trips,” says Stormi on the welcome page for her colorful online store. “I have my own plans as well. My family will donate boxes to local foster kids like me! Selling cookies is a lot of work. I have learned that even though people can be mean I shouldn’t give up! Selling cookies has helped me with my math as well!” 

People from as far away as Canada and Australia have placed online orders for delicious Samoas, Savannah Smiles, and other flavors from Stormi's Cookie World, as her store is called, for $4 a box plus shipping. Her store is one of the online portals for Digital Cookies run by the Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois.

“It’s just been amazing,” Stormi’s foster mother, Kim, told BuzzFeed.“I have not seen Stormi like this in a really long time. It makes me cry because this is something she’ll never forget.”

“Stormi is so brave and wonderful for standing up for herself and choosing to live as the person she’s always been!” said Elizabeth S. Leet, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Virginia, in one of the many letters of support that Stormi has received.

The outpouring of acceptance for Stormi has helped ameliorate her neighbor’s bullying words. He lives just three blocks away. After Stormi heard his malevolent words on one of her cookie-selling rounds, she cried when she returned home. 

Advocates say that the bullying of trans youth is a national epidemic that puts smart, resourceful children like Stormi at considerable risk. But, as the The Advocate shared last year in its profile of a trans teen named Gabrielle Gladu, acceptance from family, community, and peers helps mitigate the harm that trans youth routinely face.
 
Stormi is a member of Girl Scout Troop #8063, and by all accounts, she has been welcomed by her peers. 

Her neighbor’s verbal attack made Stormi sad because, “I’m a girl,” she told BuzzFeed.

And indeed she is!

The Westboro Baptist Church has targeted the creators of the new LGBT-themed children’s book Square Zair Pair— a story which promotes diversity and acceptance of others who are different.

Members of the antigay church based in Topeka, Kansas, and comprised mostly of family members of the late Rev. Fred Phelps, have threatened to picket the first live reading of the story scheduled to take place Saturday, February 6 at 11 a.m. at Books Inc. in San Francisco’s Castro district, where Square Zair Pair is being debuted as a part of the bookstore’s “First Saturday Storytime.”  

The hate group began tweeting at the book’s author, The Advocate’s own entertainment editor Jase Peeples, on January 22, announcing their intention to picket and labeling the book “fag propaganda.”

We're gonna be in San Fran the day @JasePeeples will have a book signing for fag propaganda! @CastroBooksInc#picketpic.twitter.com/MAeQ64EOp1

— Westboro Baptist (@WBCSaysRepent) January 22, 2016

Westboro has a history of firing off empty threats, but in this case were quick to point out their earlier announced plan to be in the “slop zone of the Sodomite Capitol of the world, San Francosco,” to protest the Super Bowl on Sunday, February 7.

Luck, @JasePeeples? Won't you all be loving & tolerant of our diversity? Isn't that what you pride Castro on being? pic.twitter.com/tJX7pWr6Yb

— Westboro Baptist (@WBCSaysRepent) February 3, 2016

In the days following their initial promise to picket the book’s event, Westboro has continued to harass Peeples through social media, tweeting art from the book that has been manipulated to depict the characters from the story holding the antigay group’s infamous signs.

However, Peeples views the bullying as a teachable moment that proves books like his are still needed.

“Westboro’s hateful actions only highlight the need for diverse books like Square Zair Pair that teach kids about embracing our differences,” Peeples says. “Stories like these not only help youth who feel they are different, they also help forge future allies who celebrate individuality.”

Peeples and the artist of Square Zair Pair, Christine Knopp, say they have planned a counter-protest to “drown out Westboro’s hate with an overwhelming show of love and support.” They’ve created a Facebook invite encouraging others to join them outside Books Inc. on Saturday at 10 a.m.   

“The fact that they would bring their vile rhetoric to a kids’ event that is meant to promote a message of love and togetherness is simply disgusting,” Peeples says. “We’re determined that the only message kids hear who attend the event will be a positive one. Battling messages of hate like this is exactly the reason why we created the book.”

Square Zair Pair is available on Amazon. For more information about the book, check out the official Facebook page. 

Westboro Baptist Church Targets Kids' Book Event

Westboro Baptist Church Targets Kids' Book Event

The former Rutgers student who secretly filmed Tyler Clementi's intimate encounter with another man before his suicide in 2010 wants his record cleared. Dharun Ravi was convicted of 15 criminal counts in 2012, including bias intimidation and invasion of privacy. He was sentenced to and served 30 days in jail. 

Attorneys for Ravi, who was Clementi's roommate in the weeks before the Rutgers freshman took his own life in September 2010, argued in state appeals court Wednesday that their client's convictions must be vacated in light of a recent ruling from the state Supreme Court, according to New Jersey's Star-Ledger. 

While Ravi was not in attendance at Wednesday's hearing before a three-judge panel on the state's court of appeals, his attorneys contend that he is entitled to a new trial after the state Supreme Court invalidated a key section of New Jersey's antibias statute last March. That decision struck down the "section of the statute that focused on the victim's state of mind and said it is the defendant's intent and state of mind that is important, not the victim's," reports the Star-Ledger's Sue Epstein. 

The 2012 case that saw Ravi convicted of 15 criminal counts related to his setup and use of a webcam to view Clementi's intimate encounter focused heavily on Clementi's state of mind, Ravi's attorney told the court, according to the Star-Ledger. Throughout, Ravi's attorneys have maintained that his spying on Clementi was unrelated to the 18-year-old's suicide days after Ravi spied on Clementi's encounter. And in court on Wednesday, Ravi's attorney Steven Altman argued that last year's Supreme Court decision retroactively makes the premise on which Ravi was convicted unconstitutional, and therefore all charges against him should be overturned and Ravi's criminal record  cleared.   

"Even as prosecutors acknowledged that one count would have to be dismissed, the rest could stand — based on violations of Clementi's privacy, argued Joie Piderit, an assistant Middlesex County prosecutor," reports the Star-Ledger."Questioning from appellate judges John Kennedy, Jose Fuentes, and Robert Gilson seemed to reveal some skepticism about the state's position that the convictions could stand on privacy grounds."

Although Clementi's family decided not to file a civil suit against Ravi for their son's death, Clementi's suicide sparked national outrage and a candid discussion of the deadly effect of anti-LGBT bullying. 

Clementi's parents, who after their son's death founded the Tyler Clementi Foundation, an antibullying organization, were in court Wednesday and issued a statement to media after the hearing. The following statement was attributed to Jane Clementi, Tyler's mother:

“We are hopeful that the appellate court will analyze the legal issues it has been asked to review with depth and care so that the law in this important area will be well resonated and clear. [It has been] more than five years since Tyler’s roommate intruded upon Tyler’s privacy and exposed intimate images of our son to students in his dorm in the first days of their freshman year. Since then we and the Tyler Clementi Foundation have been working hard on the issue of bullying. In that five year period, the values of this country have evolved due to the good work and good intentions of many people and organizations. Americans — young and old — are more sensitive today to the enduring harm that bullying can cause, particularly to our most vulnerable young people. And many young people who might otherwise be drawn into bullying others are listening to their peers who see in bullying a sad reflection of the bully. What was perhaps tolerated with mild disapproval then is now seen by many as simply not acceptable. We are grateful for this progress.”

Tyler Clementi's Former Roommate Wants His Record Cleared

A Sarasota, Fla., suburb is waiting for its school board to meet and vote on potentially expanding a new transgender-inclusive bathroom policy, following a packed hearing on the issue. 

Pine View School in Osprey is the first school in its district to allow trans students to use the bathrooms that match their gender identity, reports the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. The policy was adopted January 14.

Nate Quinn, 17, was assigned female at birth but identifies as male. As Fort Myers TV station WFTX notes, “he dresses like a man, refers to himself as a man, and said he feels like a man.”

“I was born male,” Quinn told the station, “and everyone else saw me as female. But I've always known I was male."

Quinn wants the Sarasota County School Board to expand the policy county-wide, but more than 100 opposed to that idea packed a board meeting this week. And to demonstrate their solidarity, the opponents dressed in white. 

Jared Gritton, pastor of First Baptist Church of North Port, told the board their opposition isn’t coming from a place of hate. He said the trans-inclusive policy should never have been adopted. 

“Not only is a transgender policy not required by law ... but what rational father is going to stand by as an 18-year-old biological male follows his 14-year-old daughter into the bathroom?" he said, according to Orlando TV station WFTV."This policy attacks students’ purity, sense of right and wrong ... and is something utterly opposed to God. Students suffering from gender confusion deserve respect ... but others should not endorse what amounts to a harmful delusion."

Quinn made his own plea to the board and addressed those gathered against him. 

"I’m here today to encourage a vote to implement policies countywide that would give transgender students access to the bathroom and locker rooms corresponding with their gender identities," said Quinn. "To those who oppose this supposedly radically liberal policy, do you know what it means to be transgender? I was born a male' my life just requires more effort for me to be seen as the male I am. Please open your hearts to the transgender students of Sarasota."

Quinn is not alone in speaking up for trans rights. Another Pine View transgender student, assigned male at birth, told the board she has been a girl as long as she could remember. Before the policy was adopted, she said, she was harassed by boys just for using the boys' restroom, and all she wanted was to use the bathroom and leave.

"I was very harassed every time I went into the bathroom because the people in there would do horrible things like ask me prove I was a boy," said the student, identifed only by her first name, Alaya, according to WFTX. Her mother also spoke, telling the board that there have been no instances of transgender kids harassing others in their preferred bathrooms.

"But trans kids are in danger if they do use the wrong bathroom," she said.

Board chair Shirley Brown tried to clarify possible misinterpretations of the policy, reports WFTV. "The bathroom is not going to be unisex, and sex is not part of being transgender,” Brown said. “It’s about personal identity, not sexuality."

According to WFTV, Pastor Jay Sheppherd of Port Charlotte said the problem is that those in favor of transgender rights refuse to listen to their side.

"I have gone to public school, and I understand what bullying means," said Sheppherd. "Does 'bullying’ only apply when we disagree? Could this be construed as bullying against area pastors?”

He contended, “The LGBT community is not looking for a solution, but for conservatives like myself to change our thinking, but that’s not going to happen."

The school board meets on February 16 and has promised to discuss the issue. 

Watch the report below from WFTX. 

WATCH: Fla. Trans Teen Faces Down Haters 

Trans Rights Opponents Countered by Students, Supporters

Two as yet unnamed Arizona police officers shot to death a 24-year-old transgender man in his own home on Thursday, according to a report from ABC 15 Arizona.

Kayden Clarke of Mesa, Arizona, is now the second trans person to have been killed this year. Monica Loera was the first. 

Even after discovering that Clarke is a trans man, local news accounts still repeatedly misgender Clarke, identifying him as a “woman,” using his former female name, and referring to him with female pronouns. 

Clarke suffered from Asperger syndrome, a form of autism in which otherwise intelligent people may lack social skills and suffer from a range of atypical behavior. According to videos on YouTube and posts on Facebook from friends that have since been deleted or marked private, Clarke also allegedly suffered a history of physical and sexual abuse as a child that left him with post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidal ideation. 

On Thursday, Heather Allen, the founder of HALO Animal Rescue, an organization in Phoenix where Jacobs had volunteered since the age of 13, called the police, and asked them to perform a wellness check on Clarke. Allen believed that Clarke was in danger of killing himself. When police arrived at Clarke’s home, despite “carrying stun guns,” as ABC 15 reported, officers open fired with their service weapons on Clarke. 

A police spokesperson, Mesa Detective Esteban Flores said that Clarke lunged at the officers with a 12-inch kitchen knife and the officers felt so “threatened” that they chose to shoot Clarke to death instead of subdue him with their stun guns. Police have not disclosed how many shots were fired.

ABC 15 reports that, even though the incident was not diffused in a nonlethal manner, one officer had “training in crisis intervention to deal with such situations.” Both officers have been placed on desk duty pending an investigation. Mesa police did not respond to queries about the incident by press time.

“I’ve got some awesome, awesome news. So my insurance fully pays 100 percent of my gender reassignment surgery. I’m so happy. I’m excited. I’m ecstatic,” said Clarke in a YouTube video that he posted on December 14 last year to his account under his preferred name, Kayden Clarke. In posts on Facebook, friends say that they did not know why Clarke had experienced a setback on Thursday.

Clarke made headlines last year when he was featured on Huffington Post in a viral video with his service dog Samson. Clarke trained Samson to help him when he was suffering from the symptoms of Asperger syndrome. Clarke called these symptoms “melt-downs” and they involved attempts to harm himself by, for example, banging his head on walls or hitting himself.

In 2013, Clarke became known on social media when he posted a harrowing video headlined “I Can’t Fight For My Dreams Any Longer” that described how heartbroken he was to have been rejected from a vocational rehabilitation program in Glendale, Arizona, according to Clarke’s statement to an advocacy group called Everyone Matters. Clarke was at first accepted into the program that would have helped him to attend college, but then rejected for what he described as a form of discrimination based on disability:

"Today, they notified me that VR will be closing my case due to ‘We don't think you will be successful going into this field,’” said Clarke in the statement. “Obviously I had passed. I asked why. She said because of ‘your problems.’ I said, ‘You mean disability regarding years of sexual, physical emotional trauma?’ She said ‘yes, it seems like you still have issues with that.’ So basically I was denied because of my disability. Now my case is closed because of my childhood. Because of my diagnosis, everywhere I get kicked to the curb. I am detailed-oriented, which is an aspie trait. I am NOT being defiant simply because I stand there trying to process and understand your instructions due to auditory processing disorder related to Asperger’s. I'm determined, I'm the hardest worker and won't give up.”

Friends describe Clarke as unusually gifted in the training of animals. While she too misgendered him, his mother told the New York Daily News that Clarke was a generous person who donated Christmas trees to persons in-need despite being on a fixed income.

Arizona Trans Man Shot and Killed By Police in His Own Home

It’s an election year and there’s a lot of talk about what our nation’s priorities need to be for the next four to eight years. What we have to make sure is not forgotten is the epidemic of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth homelessness. Up to 40 percent of homeless youth identify as LGBT, yet fewer than 7 percent of kids nationwide are LGBT. That discrepancy is outrageous, and it’s something we can’t ignore. That’s why, on April 27, 2016, we will raise our voices for #40toNoneDay: a national day organized by the True Colors Fund to raise public awareness about LGBT youth homelessness.

While family rejection is the most commonly cited reason for LGBT youth homelessness, it’s just one piece of the puzzle — a very big puzzle. We need to make sure we’re seeing the whole picture.

People often think that because they don’t work at a homeless shelter, they don’t have a role to play. The reality is: everyone can make a difference! Think of it this way: Kids experiencing homelessness come into contact with more than just the good folks working at shelters. They also go to coffee shops and libraries. They ride the bus. They’re on the Internet. You may interact with them on a regular basis without even realizing it. We all need to put our heads together to make sure these young people can get support wherever they go — and be themselves when they get there.

Right now people all across America are making a difference. A 24-hour diner owner in North Carolina is giving kids a place to stay when they have nowhere else to go. A library in Indiana is letting kids without a permanent address use computers to access lifesaving resources. In Minnesota police officers are using an app developed by the community to help kids find shelters with available beds. There are many more possibilities that have yet to be explored. That’s why we need to keep the conversation going.

Youth are our future, but they’re also our present. We need to make these kids our priority now. If we don’t, where will they be in five, 10, 20 years? Where will our country be? Even if we all agree that ending LGBT youth homelessness needs to be a priority, how can we rise above the noise and make our message heard? Our voices are stronger when we say something together. Last year, #40toNoneDay reached more than 17 million people. How many more can we reach this year?

CYNDI LAUPER is a Tony-, Emmy-, and Grammy-winning writer, actor, and musician. She is also the cofounder of the True Colors Fund, which combats LGBT youth homelessness.

Cyndi Lauper: We Need to End LGBT Youth Homelessness