charity

Rejecting Your LGBTQ Child by Sue Brown

April 29, 2013 By Brandon 15 Comments

This is a special guest post by my friend and fellow author, Sue Brown. She shares my passion, as you can see below. ~B.

Who am I talking to here? Probably not the people who should be reading this. So let me tell you about me. I grew up just outside of London, England. Nice area, nice parents, nice school. Everything just ‘nice’ and ‘normal’. And that’s it. Aside from my mum dying when I was eighteen there was nothing different about my life.

Scroll forward to today and I live about ten miles away, have two teenagers, and live in a pocket-sized house in a nice area. They go to nice schools and everything is just nice and normal.

What would happen if one day one of my kids told me they were gay or lesbian? What if they were transgender? Would it be nice and normal then? Yes, of course it would be. I don’t give a monkey’s who they are, who they love. It just doesn’t matter. I can’t emphasise that enough. I don’t care, and neither does their dad. [Read more…] about Rejecting Your LGBTQ Child by Sue Brown

Spotlight on an LGBT volunteer and why $12 is important

April 16, 2013 By Brandon 1 Comment

~ From James Robinson, Executive Director of GLBT Advocacy & Youth Services (reposted from Facebook.)

Today’s spotlight is on one of our volunteers … Ashley Ross is completing her Master’s in Social Work degree from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Ashley first met with me about 9 months ago to discuss the possibility of an internship placement with the agency. I knew there was something special about Ashley when she showed up in December, a month early for her internship placement, and began volunteering. Since then I have learned some amazing things about Ashley and her dedication to social work and her support of equality and social justice. Ashley is our first intern from UA and I later found out she had worked for 2 years within her department to secure a placement with our agency. Last week as Ashley received the Margaret S. Odom Social Work Award from the Alabama Gerontological Society I learned that Ashley had based her submission for the award on an encounter she had with a gay man in a Senior Center program where she was working. This gay man shared his life story with Ashley and his story touched her heart. His decades of [Read more…] about Spotlight on an LGBT volunteer and why $12 is important

Special Guest Post from Author Charlie Cochran

February 5, 2013 By Brandon 9 Comments

I’ve always had a soft spot for the Albert Kennedy Trust, although my association with them started off for the daftest of reasons. I mean, as a huge fan of Archie Kennedy (from the Hornblower TV series) that name was always going to catch my eye. When I read about Albert, a runaway from a children’s home who fell to his death from the top of a car park in Manchester, having suffered rejection and abuse from society, I decided I had to support the cause of getting GLBT youngsters off the streets and into supportive families.

You can imagine my delight when I was putting together my Christmas present wish list (which is always book heavy) and found Canal Street Gothic, by David Thame, in support of AKT. It was described as a collection of ten stories set in and around Manchester’s gay village revealing the gothic truths beneath the shiny surfaces of the twenty-first century city. I had high hopes, but I’ve had them dashed before, on the harsh reality of blurbs overselling their books. So I was delighted to find this book lived up to expectations. [Read more…] about Special Guest Post from Author Charlie Cochran

What have you Accomplished?

December 22, 2012 By Brandon 1 Comment

When we started this writing crusade some 18+ months ago one of my first questions was how I could make a difference concerning those issues that are important to me. Making a difference doesn’t always mean a monetary donation as some believe. A difference can be made by the offer of a kind voice, and unbiased ear, a warm heart, or a gentle embrace when it is needed most. I believe too many people shy away from what matters most to them because they fear that what they can offer is inadequate.

But when you have nothing, when there is no one to turn to, what then? What you would label as ‘inadequate’ is a goldmine to some. Knowledge, time, compassion are all commodities that have much, much more value than money. [Read more…] about What have you Accomplished?

48-hour Street Vigil for Atlanta’s homeless LGBT Youth

October 25, 2012 By Brandon Leave a Comment

Living as homeless

November 6-8

Starting November 6, Executive Director of Lost-N-Found , Rick Westbrook, will be living on the roof of a truck parked in Midtown Atlanta with no more than the clothes on his back, his ID and his cell phone—no wallet, no money—for 48 hours. Please join the Lost-n-Found Facebook page for more information and live updates once he’s there.

ALL proceeds go directly to getting LGBT kids off the street.

The truck will also take donations of coats, underwear/socks, canned food, etc., and Rick will post updates to Facebook.

November 7 – Immediately following the annual meeting, we ask the community to join us at the truck around 9:00 pm for a candlelight vigil to show continued support of homeless LGBT youth.Location: Brushstrokes (Parking Lot), 1510 Piedmont Avenue Northeast, Atlanta, GA 30324

Find them on Facebook, Twitter and at the website.

If you can’t make it in person, please consider a donation.

The absence of hope – Homeless LGBT Youth

September 27, 2012 By Brandon Leave a Comment

As many of you know I help raise awareness and funds for two LGBT charities. 10% of the proceeds from the sales of my books go to them. Lost n Found, one of the charities, posted a video about what they find during outreach to homeless LGBT Youth.

This is how 500,000 homeless gay kids live on the street every single day. You can help by donating to either of the groups below, or by finding a local lgbt charity in your area that does the same type of outreach.

lgbt youth nonprofit