Activism

Crosspost: The Problem of LGBTQ Youth Homelessness does not Start or End with Daniel Pierce

By now, most of you will have already seen the viral video “How not to react when your child tells you that he’s gay.” The young man is 20 year old Daniel Pierce of Kennesaw, GA. In the video, Daniel’s family claim that his homosexuality is a choice, a choice that dishonors his family. They disown him, and when he tries to defend himself from these claims, they become physically violent. [Side note: When Daniel tries to explain that he was born gay (they all knew he was gay since he was a toddler!) and that biology and psychology support him in that claim, his stepmom counters that the word of God trumps science: that homosexuality is a choice. This is another example of the harm of allowing religious faith to trump evidence based beliefs.] In a later interview, we learn that while Daniel is hurt by the his family’s rejection, he still has supportive people to his life, access to medical care, and thanks to a GoFundMe page set up by his boyfriend, he now has over $90K in donations to pay for his education and living expenses. These are all things that set Daniel apart from thousands of other LGBTQ youth who have been rejected by their families.

To read the rest of this article by Jac, as well as to comment, head over to Queereka.

Will

Will is the admin of Queereka, part of the Skepchick network. They are a cultural/medical anthropologist who works at the intersections of sex/gender, sexuality, health, and education. Their other interests include politics, science studies, popular culture, and public perceptions and understandings of anthropology. Follow them on Twitter at @anthrowill and Facebook at facebook.com/anthrowill.

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