WeCant-BackDown

Happy Pride Month everybody!! It doesn't matter where you fall in the community, you are important!  Have a wonderful month!

WeCant-BackDown

No more LGBT+ children should become hashtags.
          No more LGBT+ teens should become hashtags.
          Because when we, the LGBT+ youth of the world, become hashtags, it means we're gone.  
          It means we've been killed, or we've killed ourselves.
          We shouldn't be hashtags.
          We should be living, breathing, human beings.
          We should be smiling and laughing and dancing.
          I never knew Nigel, and I'll never get the pleasure to.
          But my heart goes out to him and his family, who are saying the most wonderful things.
          He's not just a gay kid who killed himself.  He's one of us, a member of our community.  
          'He was sunshine.' His mother had said.  The world had dimmed his light.
          If I was to wish one thing for the world, I would wish to never see a tag saying #restinpower.  I would wish to never see a tag naming a kid.  Not because I don't want to remember them, but because we would no longer be leading them to suicide.
          I look at these names again and again.  Jadin Bell.  Leelah Alcorn.  Zander Mahaffey.   Eric Borges.  Braxton Taylor.  Jamel Myles.  Nigel Shelby.  Melonie Rose.
          People that I will never meet.  All of them so young. 
          And that's just a few.  
          This is the world we live in.

WeCant-BackDown

On a much more positive note, our school is part of the set for a movie set to come out in 2020: Good Joe Bell.  It is about the suicide of Jadin Bell - and his father.  Specifically, the cross-country trip that Joe Bell started to spread awareness of bullying and suicide in LGBTQ+ youth.  
          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_of_Jadin_Bell
          https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/mark-wahlberg-connie-britton-set-good-joe-bell-movie-1201248

WeCant-BackDown

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/transgender-military-ban-trump-administration-ban-on-transgender-troops-goes-into-effect/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab4i
          https://www.cbsnews.com/news/white-house-announces-ban-on-most-transgender-service-members/
          https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/naval-academy-to-ban-transgender-students-starting-in-fall-2020/
          
          Read these articles, understand what's going on here.  We need to be aware if we're going to bring change.

straight-ish

This is a really awesome account! <3
          
          ——-
          
          I live in a place where homophobia is big.
          It hurts to be called a “f*ggot” if I'm honest with myself. 
          
          But it's the little things that I see like a favorite band member waving a pride flag as an ally or an actor subtly wearing a rainbow pin on a jacket that makes me have more hope for me and the LGBT+ community. 
          
          We need more openly queer influencers in the world! 
          
          There will always be someone who doesn't like you for who you are, but what matters is how you respond and push through it!
          
          Maybe 2019 will be different. More people will realize that love, is infact, love! 
          
          Maybe allies or community members can find more ways to show the world that we are proud to be us. 
          We are proud to be, hold hands with, and love whomever we want! 
          
          It's not JUST tolerance or acceptance, it's support! 
          For everyone! 
          
          No matter the gender, preferences, race, heritage, or sexuality love is love! 
          
          Love should be shown and given! Embraced, not cut down or hidden! 
          
          It's people like you, and all the allies, that make the world a better place! 
          
          Me, and my bisexual heart, thank you! 
          
          — Abigail

WeCant-BackDown

@-happinesspending- 
            Thank you so much, Abigail!  While 2019 is not proving to be much better for our community, it is showing so much more support for our cause.  One day, it just won't matter whether you're white or colored, straight or gay, boy or girl, or anything in between.  Everyone will just be themselves.
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johns-not-my-father

i love what you and Cyprus High are doing here! This is amazing! And I really wish more people would talk about what Donald Trump has been doing against the LGBTQAI+ community.  #pride #wontbeerased

WeCant-BackDown

Thank you!  It is difficult for us here in Utah, but we need to make sure that we are out there, sharing who we are, and showing how we're not as different as people think.
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