09 May Straight teens launch gay support and anti-bullying campaign
Two straight British teens who had enough of seeing their gay friends discriminated against and bullied launched a campaign to support LGBT teenagers.
Nathan and Ross, two 15 year-olds based in Merseyside, England are encouraging people to ‘Take The Pledge’ to support of gay young people and the LGBT community.
The web based campaignurges supporters to download a template which has space for their name and a paragraph on why they support LGBT people.
Participants are then asked to take a photograph of themselves holding the completed ‘pledge’ and upload it to the campaign website, Skelat.com.
The two straight teens, who prefer to be identified only by their first names, say they decided to set up and self-fund the campaign to garner support for the community as they have personally witnessed an increase of homophobia and transphobia.
The campaign includes blogs, useful tips, information sharing sections and various fundraising initiatives supporting different charities.
According to a recent report by Stonewall, a British LGBT charity, over half (55%) of lesbian, gay and bisexual young people have experienced bullying at school.
When asked what inspired him to set up the LGBT project, Nathan from Skelat.com said: ‘People need to say enough is enough when it comes to discrimination, it is something we see all too much.
‘Whether it is in our workplace, our playgrounds or even our social networks, it’s something which needs to stop. People should only be judged by the content of their character.
‘Take The Pledge was born to give people the opportunity to share their opinion and support the community in a very visual and engaging manner and I would ask everyone to log onto the website and Take The Pledge.’
Speaking with Gay Star News, Rob McDowall, chair of the Scottish based LGBT Network charity who took the pledge, said: ‘In 2013 it is unacceptable that homophobic and transphobic bullying still blights the lives of millions of young people world-wide.
‘Young LGBT people are exposed to homophobic and transphobic bullying in schools and increasingly on-line from their bedrooms, the very place they should feel safe and protected.
‘More work needs to be done to highlight this problem and the LGBT Network is thrilled to support this campaign from Skelat.com.
‘The Take the Pledge campaign allows people to affirm their support of the LGBT community in a very personal and visual manner.
‘It is truly inspiring that two 15 year-old heterosexual allies would show their commitment to equality in this way’