September 9, 2014
Ga. Teen Disowned for Being Gay Helps Launch LGBT Youth Shelter
Winnie McCroy READ TIME: 2 MIN.
A Georgia teen who was thrown out by his family in a harrowing five-minute video documented on YouTube ended up with $100,000 in crowdsourced donations, which he has used to help open a new shelter for homeless LGBT youth.
Last week, The Washington Post reported on this situation, in which the 20-year-old Georgia boy Daniel Ashley Pierce is berated by his family in a secret recording. Pierce posted the video, which he entitled, "How not to react when your child tells you that he's gay," and it now has nearly 60,000 hits.
"I have known that you were gay since you were a tiny little one," says Ashley's grandmother in the video.
"And then you should know it's not a choice.... From the moment I came out of my mother's uterus I have been that way," he replies.
This sets off a barrage of taunts from his family, including a physical assault. The boy's grandmother then tells him he needs to move out of the house, "because I will not let people believe that I condone what you do." When he agrees to move out, she tells him he's made the right choice.
"That's not what I'm choosing, I'm doing what you're telling me to do, and you're disowning me," said Ashley.
On August 27, Ashley posted the video on a GoFundMe page, to crowdfund money for, "the basic things I need such as a bed, text books, medical stuff and transportation. I do plan on giving a certain percentage to the cause. I want to help kids that are in the same situation as me." He raised nearly $100,000 in a week.
Gay Star News now reports that Ashely has directed future donations to the Atlanta-based Lost-n-Found shelter for homeless LGBT youth.
The home, still under construction and pending city approval, will be fitted with electricity and plumbing to accommodate 18 youths.
"This will become the premier youth shelter in Midtown or Downtown Atlanta," outreach director Art Izzard told the Georgia Voice. "There is no other youth shelter within walking distance of where the majority of these youth are at on the streets."
Winnie McCroy is the Women on the EDGE Editor, HIV/Health Editor, and Assistant Entertainment Editor for EDGE Media Network, handling all women's news, HIV health stories and theater reviews throughout the U.S. She has contributed to other publications, including The Village Voice, Gay City News, Chelsea Now and The Advocate, and lives in Brooklyn, New York.
