Brandon Shire

Author of Contemporary Gay Romance

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Locked in a Basement for Being Gay

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A weekly post about what Lost-n-Found, a Homeless LGBT Youth organization in Atlanta, deals with on a daily basis. Names are removed to protect the youth. 

lgbt youth nonprofitFrom the Hotline for Homeless LGBT Youth:

2:37 PM: The Hotline gets a phone call from a gay youth who states that his mother has locked him in a basement because he’s gay. She left him his phone and a pop-tart.

Further investigation reveals that this 17-year-old has already been to the police. His situation at home was so bad that he ran away. (He is an African American youth and his family is Muslim and will not tolerate his sexuality.) [Read more…] about Locked in a Basement for Being Gay

Hop Against Homophobia

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Hop against HomophobiaInternational Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia

Welcome, today is the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, and to celebrate hundreds of authors, publishers, and individuals have an extraordinary blog hop going on. There are prizes, information, and many personal stories about what homophobia is and what it does. All of this is a concerted effort to bring awareness to the plague of homophobia and hopefully, to one day bring it to an end. You will find links at the bottom of this post to direct you to other posts from blogs around the world. Enjoy, and help us spread the word. Don’t forget to leave a comment for a chance to win an e-book copy of my JUST released new gay romance novel, Cold.

The Hidden Aspect of Homophobia – A Personal Experience

I remember a young man I was dating from a conservative Christian family who lived in a small town in Alabama. Both his mother and sister knew he was gay. They loved him dearly but… [Read more…] about Hop Against Homophobia

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

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Living as homeless

lgbt youth nonprofit

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

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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

Lost n Found

 

 

 

 

 

 

lgbt nonprofitGLBTAYS

Vote for LGBT Youth – They need your help!

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lgbt nonprofitGLBTAYS is one of the organizations that I help raise funds and awareness for. We need your vote to help them secure a grant from Chase Bank. This is one of the  only organizations in the Northern Alabama area serving LGBT youth and is right smack in the middle of hostile central as far as anything LGBT goes.

All it takes is one click to change the lives of many LGBT Youth. Vote by Sept 19th.

Cast your vote for GLBTAYS and one other charity using your Facebook profile.

See the video message from founder James L Robinson below.

Interview with Indie filmmakers Cati and Mike Gonzalez

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Filmmakers Cati and Mike GonzalezToday I’m talking with internationally known Indie filmmakers and photographers Cati and Mike Gonzalez, and you know me, if it’s raw and gritty any media can hook me pretty quick. This team of filmmakers had me hooked in about ten seconds. Not only are they well known in NYC and around the world, but it’s pretty rare that I come across someone that has a project that so closely matches my own concerns with LGBTQ youth.

Let me tell you about their film first. Prince & Ekaj hits on so many levels it’s not even funny. This is not some lame Glee view of what it means to be LGBTQ but a hardcore look at what it is to be growing up Latino, gay, and homeless in the hard city. (You can see the trailer below and a longer clip on their website.) [Read more…] about Interview with Indie filmmakers Cati and Mike Gonzalez