Stories
40% of youth experiencing homelessness in America are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT). The most frequently cited reason they experience homelessness is family rejection based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.
“My parents did not reject me when I shared who I knew myself to be. Sadly, too many other parents do.”
Posted by Give a Damn Campaign
In the face of controversy surrounding a scheduled reading of the children’s book “I Am Jazz,” the Mount Horeb School Board responded by unanimously passing new measures to protect transgender students.
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Vietnam has taken an important step toward recognizing and meeting the needs of transgender citizens.
BREAKING: Transgender folks win legal rights and recognition in Vietnam!The new law will make it easier to access healthcare and update legal documents and IDs.
Posted by Give a Damn Campaign on Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Carson-Newman University, a private Southern Baptist college in Jefferson County, TN, is now legally allowed to discriminate against gay students. The waiver granted to the school by the Federal Government grants the university exemption from Title IX, a federal law designed to protect students from discrimination.
This exemption gives the school permission to ban not only …
Following the Supreme Court’s decision in favor of marriage equality this summer, Kentucky clerk Kim Davis refused to issue a marriage license to April and Karen. Today, we’re happy to congratulate them on their marriage and thank them for never backing down!
“It’s been an amazing journey and we’d like to thank all the people who stood with us
Transgender lives and stories are garnering more and more media attention – which is great! However, many cisgender (AKA non-transgender) folks might not know the right things to say when talking about transgender identities and experiences. If this is all new to you, don’t worry. We’re here to help.
Words can be tricky. It can be easy to say the wrong thing,
Only 22 states in our country (plus Washington, D.C.) have state-level laws in place to protect employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation. Of those states, only 17 also prohibit discrimination based on gender identity. 28 states in our country have no statewide workplace protections for sexual orientation and gender identity.
That means that in 28 …
Despite a mountain of evidence suggesting the immense damage that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) conversion therapy can have on a young person, it remains legal in all but four states (California, New Jersey, Oregon, and Illinois) and Washington, D.C. Expert groups including the American Psychological Association and American…
Kentucky clerk says she was denying gay couples marriage licenses “under the authority of God” t.co/dnz7vcb0zT pic.twitter.com/vRKHje2aLr
— The New York Times (@nytimes) September 1, 2015
On Tuesday morning, Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis again refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, citing “God’s authority.” By doing so, …
Supreme Court says Kentucky clerk can’t deny same-sex marriage licenses t.co/GgtK2igWWF via @richardjwolf
— USA TODAY Washington (@USATWashington) September 1, 2015
Today, the Supreme Court rejected a Kentucky county clerk’s request to deny marriage licenses to gay couples based on religious objections.
The ruling comes as the first test …
An advocate from Montana, Bentley Burdick is a 2015 True Fellow, a writer, and an advocate for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) community and homeless youth population.
His blog, ‘Caught Under Glass,’ is his community project for the fellowship. Through it, Ben is challenging notions of what it means to be young, rural, and LGBTQ in …
Earlier this week, Raffi Freedman-Gurspan became the first openly transgender White House staffer.
When I read things like, “Why is the first openly transgender White House staffer news?” I want to shake people and yell, “WHY DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND?!” Because transgender success stories are newsworthy. And I’ll explain why. But before we talk about that, let’s…
I’m in the medical field and I’m a crossdresser. I feel that work scrubs are for the most part gender neutral, however my employer did not feel the same way. I do wear makeup, but nothing over the top. I recently was told by an employee that I need to keep my expression at home and that its not for work. However, 90 percent of the folks I worked with were very accepting.
Well, the…
Evan (forth from left) on his first day of college.
There are no pride parades at my university. Few see them necessary; and so we few who would love to have one are – again – at the mercy of the reflexes that queerness causes in others, the echoes I hear in passings of “that wouldn’t work,” or angry social media rantings about the validity of the more diverse parts of our existence.…
Growing up, I always knew my dad was different, but it took me many years to figure out exactly how he was different from all the other dads. I grew up in a small town of about 3,000 people, in Northern Montana. With Glacier National Park 50 miles to the east our town slogan ‘Where the Rockies meet the Plains’ reflected our literal geographic location. It’s the heart of oil, farming,…
I was bullied. When I was a kid, for most of my childhood I was bullied. Kids find something to pick on and if they see they are getting a reaction, that’s all they need. With me they got a reaction. My childhood was a textbook case of knowing who your true friends were because my true friends stood by me and those who were not either joined in or did nothing. Most of the time, emotionally I managed…
In January 2003 my mom and I were forced to move out of our apartment. We ended up moving in with my godmother who then turned around and kicked us out too. After living in a shelter for 5 months we managed to get an apartment. I know what is like to not have a place to live and worry about what is going to happen next. Never knowing if the next day was the day that we were going to have to leave made …
All my life I was raised by a woman and a woman. It always seemed normal to me until I started school. Teachers would ask me about my dad and I didn’t know what to tell them. I always said I had two moms and they give me strange looks, and I was ashamed until I got into high school I realized that being gay is normal and being raised by two women is okay. I’m a senior now at Bryant high …
I first figured out that I wasn’t straight when I was about twelve. We had been shown the health and puberty videos in school and the teacher explained everything my classmates and I really didn’t want to know about our bodies. My teacher had one sentence on gay people: “Some people are attracted to the same sex, and are called homosexual”.
This was the first…
Hi all,
I am a cartoonist, so that is how I best express myself. But let me make my point briefly here, as well as I can, using only type.
Yesterday was the most wonderful day for gay rights in perhaps forever, maybe since Stonewall.
And, as a gay man, I hope that I live to appreciate it.
You see, I am single. So the marriage-thing (as I call it in my mind) — while entirely possible for me …
This might not be a very good story of what happened with me. But its worth a shot at trying to explain and trying to make a change.
I go to a private catholic school, and this is my second year, i thought when i started this school no one would find out my secret. That im bisexual. I came out in the 6th grade. It took my 2 years to tell my parents. My dad sent me to counseling thinking that they could…
Well this is why i give a damn, i give a damn because i believe everyone should be treated equally and not differently. I read stories about how kids, teenagers, and maybe even adults take their own lives. To be honest don’t let someone get to you just because your gay, lesbian, bisexual, or even a transgender. It don’t matter what you are or who you wanna be don’t let …
40% of homeless teens identify as LGBT, and I give a damn about that.
I am a straight Christian ally, but that didn’t happen over night. I grew up being taught that “love the sinner, hate the sin” was a loving approach. As I grew up and experienced life, I learned how hurtful that phrase can be.
My wife and I have three kids in third grade (one biological, two adopted). …