Nice work officers.
Seventeen uniformed Portland police officers shared accounts of their childhoods being gay, lesbian or transgender, their loneliness and depression as teenagers, and the difficulty they had informing their parents or best friends. Alll encouraged youth going through such turmoil now, that their lives will improve as time goes on.
The videos are part of a national project started by Seattle writer and columnist Dan Savage to reassure and support gay and lesbian youth who feel alone and harassed. The 2010 suicide of a 15-year-old Indiana boy who had been bullied in school because he was gay inspired the project. It's become popular worldwide, with 50,000 videos created by celebrities and politicians, including President Barack Obama and Ellen DeGeneres. .
Full story here.
Youtubez here.
These videos are very real, very raw in parts, and very touching. It's a great gesture, following on a similar video from SFPD in February, that will hopefully not only continue to build support for LBGTQ equality, but also continue break down walls between citizens who work in law enforcement and those they are sworn to protect.
After the Department debuted the video featuring seventeen officers at Portland's Q Center, the Center's Executive Director Barbara McCullough-Jones put it best:
"I feel like today the gift you brought to our community is 17 superheros"