Kate wants to hear from you! The next question of the week, straight from Kate, is: What have you done lately for an LGBT teen? To get your voice heard, simply hit the Comment link and tell her what you think! No registration is necessary, and you can post anonymously if you want.
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K8 Asks
October 5, 2010 @ 1:35 am
I have just started a page on facebook. It is called ‘lgbt support network’ , it might take a while to catch on but I would like to turn it in to a place where people can talk, meet, get advice and such from other lgbt people when they need help. I want the members of the page to form a community, a real alliance and hopefully help get the message through to people in trouble that things can be ok.
It absolutely breaks my heart that these kids are throwing away their lives and they could be saved with the right support around them. Feel free to look at the page. I started it yesterday and it only has 6 fans but it will get somewhere, I know it. It’s at
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lgbtq-Support-Network/151351581569011?ref=ts
Caz
October 5, 2010 @ 1:39 am
Hey Kate!
I’m a stand-up as well and we are doing a It Gets Better project at my next show for gay kids. My partner and I volunteer for the gay youth center and we run Butch Voices (www.butchvoices.com) and include youth in our conference. This weekend we had a conference in Portland, Oregon and had a youth coping workshop, presented by the youth of SMYRC. There’s a ton people can do, and it may save a life.
Belinda
October 5, 2010 @ 2:17 am
We’ve contributed food, clothing, books & school supplies and toiletries to Sylvia’s Place or Ali Forney for several years, and participate in their “Secret Santa.”
And two weekends ago, one of the theater companies I work with presented a reading of Swan Adamson’s new play, “The Dads Try to Get Married” which featured a wonderful portrayal of a transgender kid, played by an amazing young actor (a high school senior) who also played one of the leads in our reading of Doric Wilson’s “Street Theater.”
He’s the youngest member of our company…except for a classmate of his, who also gave a beautiful performance in the reading who’s a freshman.
October 5, 2010 @ 3:37 am
made this little movie in response to recent LGBT teen harassment and subsequent suicide. This Vid is to help jump start a conversation around teasing and anti gay attitudes.
Feel free to share.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQwZfdmbAMM
October 6, 2010 @ 12:24 am
We started a non-profit organization in Columbia County, NY that will raise money for college tuition scholarships for the LBGTQ teens in Columbia County. We also organize & host the annual Hudson Pride Parade & Festival to raise awareness & support – especially for the young folks, that we like to refer to as “Future Pride”!
http://www.hudsonpridefoundation.org
Thanks Kate!!!
-Martha Harvey
October 6, 2010 @ 4:19 am
I told her parents how wonderful I thought it was that their response to her coming out was, Yeah, so…
They then told her they loved her unconditionally – same as always. Lets hope this is a national trend!
October 7, 2010 @ 1:12 pm
I recently attended a vigil commemorating 7 kids who had committed suicide because of bullying. Five of them were gay. One was from the local ex-urban community where the vigil was held, who killed himself last year anti-gay bullying. As the candles were lit and a tribute was read for each child, a car with teens in it drove by and one of them yelled, “I killed him,” referring to the adolescent from the area.
Last night I attended a group whose mission is to help LGBTQ kids who are victims of bullying in the ex-urban, homophobic community in which we live. We have been working for a while, but I am feeling the “fierce urgency of now”. I applaud Dan Savage’s “It Get’s Better” program and deeply hope this provides the solice these young people need. However, I fear that the promise of a better future is insufficient to desperate, isolated, hopeless LGBTQ youth, who need someone to be there for them and stand up with in the here and now.
October 11, 2010 @ 8:18 am
Hi Kate and Urv, I’m hoping you remember me and my partner from PTown this summer…. we suggested you and Urv adopt 8 kids, raise them in PTown and by doing so you would secure a place on Larry King Live as URV AND KATE PLUS 8! We read The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm with you, sequined bra proudly atop our heads, on Commercial Street. If you remember us, great! If not, that’s ok too. I just HAD to write and let you know that on Facebook, your “Question of the Week… What have you done lately for an LGBT teen?” resonated so deeply with me. I want YOU to know that YOU make a difference. I have been meaning to get involved with our local high school’s Gay- Straight Alliance for a long time… but… well, work, kids, etc. always seem to come first. Well…. my bio-rhythms and my hormone cycle must have been at a peak when I thought about your question. But not only did I think, I acted. It has been less than a week and Kristin and I are now helping facilitate a LGBT youth group in Norwalk, CT. And, we made a video for the Dan Savage “It Gets Better Project.” And…. I just saw that we are on the home page of Dan Savage’s brand new dedicated web site http://www.itgetsbetterproject.com. We are in the upper right hand corner!
October 12, 2010 @ 12:47 am
Putting my gay son through college at UC Berkeley. He’s awesome!
October 18, 2010 @ 9:39 am
Hi Kate, I listen and share my story. It makes them smile.
October 20, 2010 @ 1:25 pm
Despite barely knowing the lad, I was the first family member and one of the first people my 16 year old nephew chose to come out to last week. We texted and talked many times in two days before his parents (fervent born again Christians)learned of his being “gay, socialist and not a Christian,” at which point, they have banned him from contact with me. *sigh* I plan on sending Grandma on a secret mission of special love and support for the kid since she will not be refused entry into the inner sanctum of this nuclear family.