I came across the Trevor Project while cross-referencing "Purple Against Homophobia" with one of my favorite actors. The Trevor Project is an American non-profit organization that operates the only nationwide, around-the-clock crisis and suicide prevention helpline for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth, also known as "LGBTQ".
It was founded by the creators of the 1994 Academy Award-Winning short film, "Trevor", which was about a 13-year old, homosexual boy who tried to take his own life after being rejected by his friends, solely because of his sexual orientation. The Trevor Project came into life when the creators of this film discovered there was no other support line for individuals encountering the same problems as Trevor.
If all this note does is make people aware of the Trevor Project, then it will have done its job, but the teeny tiny optimist in me hopes that it will do more than that. I could say it until I'm blue in the face - and have done - but homophobia is wrong. It is no different than racism, sexism, ageism, or any other kind of prejudism out there.
You simply can not help who you love. You don't get to decide that your body, mind, and soul is attracted to men or women - or both.
I have grown up around homophobia my entire life, with a Christian-homophobe for a brother, and a mother who might be diplomatic about it, but is still obviously disgusted by the idea of two people of the same gender being in love. Luckily for me, I have always been a very vocal person when it comes to my values and beliefs, and so I never had to succumb to their views.
Unfortunately, there are people out there who don't/can't/won't speak up for themselves. In 2009 alone, suicide was one of the top-three killers of young people, and people who were homosexual were four times more likely to kill themselves than their heterosexual peers. This is unacceptable.
People say that the world is changing. One of the main slogans for the Trevor Project is "It Gets Better". Well, I say the world is not changing nearly fast enough. If everyone in the world stopped hating people for being gay in just one week from now, it would still be too late, because hundreds of innocent victims of bullying and hate-crimes alike would have died in that short time.
I was never bullied in school, so I can't say that I know what these individuals are feeling. Not even my extremely overactive imagination could describe the sheer terror, abandonment, separation, fear, and animosity that these young people must be feeling.
I wish that I could take away all the pain and sadness and frustration that these people are so completely bogged down with. I wish that they didn't have to suffer at the hands of ignorant, self-righteous fools. I wish that I could just shake the whole world, and make people realize that it's not a crime to be gay.
We've stood up for women's rights, we've stood up for animal's rights, we've stood up for equality ... why should sexual orientation be any different?
If you are at all disgusted by homophobia, and feel remorse and sadness for the poor souls who could do nothing but take their own lives to escape their tormentors, then please, I implore you, SPEAK UP. Make some noise. Tell the world that you know it's okay for people to love freely, and that you are tired of small-minded people torturing others for not conforming to their beliefs.
