Fagbug is a Volkswagen New Beetle owned by Erin Davies of Syracuse, New York, who, in response to graffiti on her car, embarked on a trans-American road trip to raise awareness of LGBT rights. [1] [2] [3]
Fagbug is a Volkswagen New Beetle owned by Erin Davies of Syracuse, New York, who, in response to graffiti on her car, embarked on a trans-American road trip to raise awareness of LGBT rights. [1] [2] [3]
On April 18, 2007, Davies, an art education graduate student at Sage College of Albany, found the words "fag" and "U R gay" [ sic ] spray-painted on her car. [4] In response, she dropped out of college and started on a 55,000 mi (89,000 km) trip through 41 U.S. states, during which she interviewed 536 people and spoke out against hate crimes. [5] [6] [7] Davies received a sponsorship from Volkswagen Group of America and HD Radio to use for gas money, car expenses, and the film. [8]
Matthew Wayne Shepard was a gay American student at the University of Wyoming who was beaten, tortured, and left to die near Laramie on the night of October 6, 1998. He was taken by rescuers to Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado, where he died six days later from severe head injuries received during the attack.
The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) is an American, unaffiliated Primitive Baptist church in Topeka, Kansas, that was founded in 1955 by pastor Fred Phelps. It is widely considered a hate group, and is known for its public protests against homosexuals and for its usage of the phrases "God hates fags" and "Thank God for dead soldiers". It also engages in hate speech against atheists, Jews, Muslims, transgender people, and other Christian denominations. The WBC's theology and practices are widely condemned by other Christian churches, including the Baptist World Alliance and the Southern Baptist Convention, and by politicians and public figures, including former U.S. President Barack Obama.
The American Family Association (AFA) is a conservative and Christian fundamentalist 501(c)(3) organization based in the United States. It opposes LGBT rights and expression, pornography, and abortion. It also takes a position on a variety of other public policy goals. It was founded in 1977 by Donald Wildmon as the National Federation for Decency and is headquartered in Tupelo, Mississippi.
Faggot, often shortened to fag in American usage, is a term, usually a pejorative, used to refer to gay men. In American youth culture around the turn of the 21st century, its meaning extended as a broader reaching insult more related to masculinity and group power structure.
A gay anthem is a popular song that has become widely popular among, or has become identified with, the gay community. Not all songs labelled as "gay anthems" were written intentionally to become gay anthems, but those that do are often marked by themes of perseverance, inner strength, acceptance, pride, and unity. Research in 2007 suggested that the song most commonly identified as a gay anthem is "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor, and described the song as "a classic emblem of gay culture in the post-Stonewall and AIDS eras".
LGBT culture is a culture shared by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals. It is sometimes referred to as queer culture, while the term gay culture may be used to mean either "LGBT culture" or homosexual culture specifically.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Turkey face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents, though the general climate for LGBT people is considered to be less repressive when compared to most other Muslim-majority countries.
Dustin Lance Black is an American screenwriter, director, producer, and LGBT rights activist. He is known for writing the film Milk, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 2009. He has also subsequently written the screenplays for the film J. Edgar and the 2022 crime miniseries Under the Banner of Heaven.
The Think Before You Speak campaign is a television, radio, and magazine advertising campaign launched in 2008 and developed to raise awareness of the common use of derogatory vocabulary among youth towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning (LGBTQ) people. It also aims to "raise awareness about the prevalence and consequences of anti-LGBTQ bias and behaviour in America's schools." As LGBTQ people have become more accepted in the mainstream culture more studies have confirmed that they are one of the most targeted groups for harassment and bullying. An "analysis of 14 years of hate crime data" by the FBI found that gays and lesbians, or those perceived to be gay, "are far more likely to be victims of a violent hate crime than any other minority group in the United States". "As Americans become more accepting of LGBT people, the most extreme elements of the anti-gay movement are digging in their heels and continuing to defame gays and lesbians with falsehoods that grow more incendiary by the day," said Mark Potok, editor of the Intelligence Report. "The leaders of this movement may deny it, but it seems clear that their demonization of gays and lesbians plays a role in fomenting the violence, hatred and bullying we're seeing." Because of their sexual orientation or gender identity/expression, nearly half of LGBTQ students have been physically assaulted at school. The campaign takes positive steps to counteract hateful and anti-gay speech that LGBTQ students experience in their daily lives in hopes to de-escalate the cycle of hate speech/harassment/bullying/physical threats and violence.
Judy Shepard is the mother of Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old student at University of Wyoming who was murdered in October 1998 in what became one of the most high-profiled cases highlighting hate-crimes against LGBT people. She and her husband, Dennis Shepard, are co-founders of the Matthew Shepard Foundation, and advocate for LGBT rights.
Shawn Hollenbach is an American comedian, writer and actor, based in New York City. He worked at Comedy Central in the programming department. As a comic and actor he has performed around the country and throughout New York. He is an energetic and upbeat performer and self-deprecating humorist focusing on LGBT subjects and a "style that capitalizes on the myriad incidents and accidents that befall us all in the midst of our human existence". He currently works at Logo, Viacom's channel that appeals to the LGBT community and their allies as the social media manager for the channel and its most popular show, RuPaul's Drag Race.
Campus Pride is an American national nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization founded by M. Chad Wilson, Sarah E. Holmes and Shane L. Windmeyer in 2001 which serves lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) and ally student leaders and/or campus organization in the areas of leadership development, support programs and services to create safer, more inclusive LGBT-friendly colleges and universities.
The history of violence against LGBT people in the United States is made up of assaults on gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender individuals (LGBT), legal responses to such violence, and hate crime statistics in the United States of America. The people who are the targets of such violence are believed to violate heteronormative rules and they are also believed to contravene perceived protocols of gender and sexual roles. People who are perceived to be LGBT may also be targeted for violence. Violence can also occur between couples who are of the same sex, with statistics showing that violence among female same-sex couples is more common than it is among couples of the opposite sex, but male same-sex violence is less common.
Sharon Kleinbaum is an American rabbi who serves as spiritual leader of New York City's Congregation Beit Simchat Torah. She has been an active campaigner for human rights and civil marriage for gay couples.
Nathan Phelps is an American-born Canadian author, LGBT rights activist, and public speaker on the topics of religion and child abuse. He is the sixth-born of the 13 children of Fred Phelps, from whom he – along with three of his siblings – had been estranged since his 18th birthday in 1976 until his father's death in 2014. Phelps ran away from his family home when he turned 18, and permanently left the Westboro Baptist Church four years later in 1980. He has since publicly censured the group.
The LGBT community in Liverpool, England is one of the largest in the United Kingdom and has a recorded history since the 18th century. Many historic LGBT firsts and pioneering moments in the LGBT rights movement either took place in Liverpool or were achieved by citizens of the city.
Planting Peace is a nonprofit humanitarian organization founded for the purpose of "spreading peace in a hurting world". The organization specializes in diverse global causes, including orphanages in Haiti and India, international deworming efforts, rainforest preservation, and anti-bullying programs. In 2007 Planting Peace founder Aaron Jackson was honored as a CNN Hero for his relief efforts deworming millions of children in Haiti. In March 2013 Planting Peace gained international attention when they created the Equality House, a rainbow-colored home located directly across the street from Westboro Baptist Church, an anti-LGBT group. In 2016, members of Planting Peace walked across Antarctica with a Pride flag in "a symbolic effort to declare full human rights for all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people living in or visiting Antarctica."
During the lead-up to the 2014 Winter Olympics, protests and campaigns arose surrounding the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Russia.
