Back in the fall, it seemed like a new tragedy was happening every few days as gay teens took their lives after being bullied. The media, for the most part, has gone on to other things – but the issue remains.
Kids are still being bullied every day.
At 365gay, we wanted to do something about it. And we wanted to give our readers – who expressed so much pain during this time – to be able to express themselves. I talked with our sister sites: AfterEllen, AfterElton and NewNowNext. They wanted to do something, too. We decided to hold a video contest for people to create their own Public Service Announcements against bullying.
The folks at Logo, where we make our home, were quick to jump in. The winner of the contest, they said, could air on the channel and be broadcast across the country.
We received entries from high school students and college students (four of the finalist videos below, in fact, are from students), from mothers and fathers, from comedians and graphic designers and ordinary folks, from people gay and straight, from cities like New York and Chicago and from small towns in Ohio and Texas.
We watched each one. They made us laugh. They made us cry. They made us think.
The five below are the entries we thought best represented a diversity of viewpoints, while getting across the message that bullying needs to end.
They are all wonderful.
Now it’s your turn. Which video do you like best? Which do you want to be broadcast on Logo? You may vote on each Logo site once a day. And you can leave your impressions in the comments.
Voting continues until January 25.
Please also share these videos on Facebook, on Twitter, with the people in your office and your classroom. Not just so they can vote – but so the message that bullying hurts, and that it must stop, and that there are alternatives, continues to get out there and move people to change.
Berenice Cruz Marquez
Geoffrey Ciccarelli
Malcolm Lewis
Janet Dowell
Robby Bernstein
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