Category Archives: MISC

For #TrueColorsDay: A story about Jack, a young LGBTQ man surviving homelessness, and the people he carries with him

For #TrueColorsDay: A story about Jack, a young LGBTQ man surviving homelessness, and the people he carries with him

True Colors Fund

As told by Justin Mendillo, GLAAD Campus Ambassador:

I found Jack with his hands folded together, kneeling, beside a bench in the park. The sun had just begun to set. His eyes were closed as I approached. His often-furrowed brow was unusually relaxed as he mouthed words I could not understand.  It was late October and the cold temperature signaled the start of winter coming. Jack was wearing a worn brown leather jacket. Not one to care for clothing, his jeans had become mudded from the spot where he knelt. I sat down on the bench, waiting silently.

Jack opened his blue eyes and began to get up. I noticed the tattoo on the right side of his neck that said “live,” with a circle of hands around it. The look he gave me could be described as grim, but that was just kind of who Jack was. He was a serious man that was not into flowery speak. To Jack, life was already complex enough without making human conversation more difficult than it already is. Our times together were often me dropping in at a location he picked and talking briefly. I thought I was bothering him, but each time after– he asked when the next time would be.

I decided to ask him about his tattoo and what inspired it.

“It’s to remind me to live.” He said.

“Well yeah, but what does that mean to you exactly? I asked.

“To enjoy life.”

I paused and just stared curiously at him. He took a deep sigh.

“I want to live. Sometimes I need that reminder. The hands are the people that got me here. I can’t forget ’em.”

After all the conversations I had with Jack, I never knew too much about the timeline of his life. I only knew the bits he would tell me off and on: how much he liked anime, his dream to one day see a show on Broadway, and the church he went to twice a week. When he spoke about homelessness, it was a singular aspect of his life that was, at times, connected to him, but never defined him. What I did know about were the other people in his life, like the pastor that took him in on a cold night, the social worker with a heart of gold, and the guy he met at a bar who let him stay overnight at his place and didn’t even ask to hook up. I knew about his mentors and the kindness of strangers. In this context, his tattoo made a lot more sense. In all his deep seriousness, at the heart of it, Jack was never solely defined by his struggles with homelessness. The people who helped him along the way were always a big part of who he was and how he defined himself. He was really only meeting with me to give a kind of thanks to them. Or maybe he was trying to emulate them by helping me out. I’m still not really sure. I do remember that day, I asked him how his time on the street impacted how he makes decisions today and he, like always, side stepped the question to jump into a story about Lisandra, the coffee shop worker who told him how to balance his first budget.

This is just one out of the 26 stories in the book I’ve been working on for the better part of 2 years on LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness. After over 100 conversations with homeless LGBTQ+ youth from around the country, I specifically choose the story of Jack because it holds such power, especially on #TrueColorsDay, True Colors Fund’s international day to raise awareness around this prevalent issue. LGBTQ young people are 120% more likely to experience homelessness than non-LGBTQ youth. Many factors contribute to LGBTQ youth homelessness, but the most common reason is family rejection for being LGBTQ.While many of the stories in my book detail the specific, everyday experiences of LGBTQ+ homeless youth, I want to magnify Jack’s message that the casual decisions we make day to day add up. This day is about all the ways you can take steps, small and large, to end youth homelessness. It doesn’t always mean launching a national campaign, but could mean getting your group of friends together to volunteer. It could mean reading the many studies, books, and articles on LGBTQ+ youth homelessness. Even organizing a fundraiser for the hundreds of local and national LGBTQ+ homeless youth organizations.

When I first started volunteering and researching, it was, honestly, out of rage. I saw my friends experience homelessness and saw firsthand the lack of resources for our community. With all the structural problems that contribute to homelessness, I felt like there was nothing I could do. However, after all my conversations, I found an opportunity to amplify the voices of LGBTQ+ homeless youth. I realized that today, in our time, we have the tools and the ability to not only transform the way we as a society handle homelessness, but to end the epidemic. In the conversation about what we can all do for LGBTQ+ homeless youth, we must take the time to listen to and center the youth, themselves. Only then can we really understand how to use our own power and privileges to sustain long term change. Each of us has a role to play in this movement.

I’m an organizer and together we can end LGBTQ+ youth homelessness.


Featured: Justin Mendillo. Photo credit: GLAAD

Justin Mendillo is a Connecticut College senior studying Government and American Studies. He works for Planned Parenthood and CT Equality, and is a GLAAD Campus ambassador.

April 25, 2018
Issues: 

www.glaad.org/blog/truecolorsday-story-about-jack-young-lgbtq-man-surviving-homelessness-and-people-he-carries-him

William Shatner’s Perfect Date Giveaway

William Shatner’s Perfect Date Giveaway
“Miss Rhode Island, describe your perfect date.” We all remember the iconic Cheryl Frasier quote from Miss Congeniality, where she replies “I’d have to say April 25th, because it’s not too hot, not too cold. All you need is a light jacket”– a response that has become a cultural moment since the film’s release. Now […]

blog.match.com/2018/04/25/william-shatners-perfect-date-giveaway/

Perfect Date Giveaway

Perfect Date Giveaway
The Perfect Date Contest Official Rules THESE OFFICIAL RULES ARE A CONTRACT—READ THEM CAREFULLY BEFORE ENTERING.  WITHOUT LIMITATION, THIS CONTRACT INCLUDES A RELEASE AND LICENSE FROM YOU, AND A LIMITATION OF CERTAIN OF YOUR RIGHTS AND REMEDIES. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY.  PURCHASES DO NOT INCREASE ODDS OF WINNING.  ODDS OF WINNING DEPEND ON NUMBER OF ELIGIBLE […]

blog.match.com/2018/04/25/perfect-date-giveaway/

Survey Reveals Singles Prefer Date Activities That Nurture Quality Conversation

Survey Reveals Singles Prefer Date Activities That Nurture Quality Conversation

You enjoy going on dates, but when it comes to planning the evening yourself, you draw a complete blank on what to do and where to go. What type of dates do singles want to go on these days? Lucky for you, we’ve got the answer. Conversation Nation, the second annual study, released today by […]

The post Survey Reveals Singles Prefer Date Activities That Nurture Quality Conversation appeared first on PlentyOfFish Blog.

Survey Reveals Singles Prefer Date Activities That Nurture Quality Conversation

Hornet Partners with Planned Parenthood and L.A. LGBT Center to Help Build a Culture of Consent

Hornet Partners with Planned Parenthood and L.A. LGBT Center to Help Build a Culture of Consent

New York, NY, April 20, 2018 — Sexual assault is an all-too-frequent occurrence in America, and this is true for LGBTQ people as well. Hornet Gay Social Network is partnering with Planned Parenthood Federation of America as well as the Los Angeles LGBT Center to build a culture of consent and respect within the LGBTQ community. As the largest global LGBT newsroom, Hornet is partnering with the nation’s largest provider of sex education, Planned Parenthood, which is committed to helping people communicate about sex and consent respectfully and confidently, and engage in healthy relationships. In addition, Hornet is working with the Los Angeles LGBT Center to further that support to survivors and provide additional resources online and off.

Together we’ll be creating and sharing social media and editorial content to educate users on why and how to talk about consent. We’ll be highlighting an online videos series designed to explain and model to young people what consent is and what it looks like in different situations.   

“Sex education is where sexual assault prevention begins, for all people — not just LGBTs,” says Sean Howell, President of Hornet. “The public deserves this kind of information. We must work to take care of our community and will continue to provide helpful information that gives the community skills to navigate healthy relationships, sex and consent.  Sex should be fun and consensual.”

The LGBTQ community faces higher rates of marginalization, poverty and stigma. These factors can leave the community vulnerable to sexual violencel. LGBTQ people also face higher rates of hate-motivated violence, which can sometimes take the form of sexual assault. In addition, despite marriage equality, LGBTQ relationships remain stigmatized, and the portrayal of them are often hypersexualized, which can lead to intimate partner violence stemming from internalized homophobia and shame. The stigma that many LGBTQ people face can make it more difficult for survivors to report. (Despite marriage equality, LGBTQ relationships remain stigmatized making it difficult for survivors to report assault and expect to be treated failry and compassionately)

“Education and community support can help LGBTQ people feel more empowered around their sexuality. LGBTQ survivors of sexual assault must be affirmed and together we can highlight their experiences so as to demonstrate it is nothing to be ashamed of and that they are being heard.”

For LGBTQ survivors of sexual assault, their identities — and the discrimination they face surrounding those identities — often make them hesitant to seek help from police, hospitals, shelters or rape crisis centers, the very resources that are meant to help them.

“The impact of sexual assault on the LGBT community is frequently invisible, in part because assaults are under-reported and statistics are not available. Many times, media that caters to gay and bisexual male communities show men as hypersexualized, which further blurs the lines of what is consensual or unwanted,” said Jesse Proia, mental health clinician at the Los Angeles LGBT Center. “At the Center’s Male Sexual Assault Survivors Group, destigmatizing sexual assault is the first step of the healing process. Most survivors blame themselves, when really the perpetrators are solely responsible. At the Center, we try to help survivors heal from their traumatic pasts by helping them set their sights on, and work towards, brighter futures.”

Hornet is pleased to work with partners to make this kind of sex education within reach of people’s phone, on the Hornet app, and with health centers. Hornet supports a variety of educational programs around wellness for the LGBTQ community, including STI testing, HIV prevention medication (PrEP), PEP and mental health. For more information on this evolving space, head here.

###

About Hornet Networks  

Hornet is the world’s premier gay social network. Founded in 2011 with the mission to build the digital home for the gay community, Hornet has grown to 25 million total users by utilizing cutting-edge technology for its dating platform and producing original editorial content to connect a community around common interests. Hornet provides a superior user experience and is number one in the key markets of France, Russia, Brazil, Turkey and Taiwan, and is consistently expanding its sizable user base in the United States. For more information, please visit: hornet.com

love.hornet.com/blog/planned-parenthood-consent

OH SNAP! Lively is Bringing Back the 90s With #Lively90sWeek

OH SNAP! Lively is Bringing Back the 90s With #Lively90sWeek

Put on your flared jeans and brush up on your boy band knowledge because the ’90s are coming to Lively, the fun team trivia app from Zoosk Labs. Starting Tuesday April 24th, Lively players will have the chance to win cool prizes or be on the same trivia team with some totally major ’90s icons

The post OH SNAP! Lively is Bringing Back the 90s With #Lively90sWeek appeared first on Zoosk.

about.zoosk.com/en/blog/announcements-blog/oh-snap-lively-bringing-back-90s-lively90sweek/