The Trevor Project is encouraging lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) youth across America to “be proud and speak out” by sharing stories about experiences and issues they encountered living openly and proudly as LGBTQ young people. As the leading national organization focused on crisis and suicide prevention efforts among LGBTQ youth, The Trevor Project launched the “Rated Q” video initiative on National Coming Out Day, Oct. 11, 2009. The initiative is designed to empower young people to listen to and support one another in an interactive and dynamic forum.

“The ‘Rated Q’ video initiative is really about celebrating bravery, encouraging empathy and harnessing the power of creativity and community in self-expression,” said Charles Robbins, executive director and CEO, The Trevor Project. “Since LGBTQ youth remain up to four times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers, it is important to think outside the box and provide fresh, ingenious outlets for them to share their feelings and experiences in a safe, supportive environment.”

Every day, counselors on The Trevor Helpline, the only nationwide, around-the-clock crisis and suicide prevention helpline for LGBTQ youth, talk to young people across the country struggling with issues surrounding sexual orientation, gender identity, family/peer rejection and feelings of despair and hopelessness. For every youth in crisis, there are many more who find acceptance from a friend, teacher or loved one. The Trevor Project is challenging LGBTQ youth to express their life experiences about topics including feeling harassed, bullied or singled out, finding support from others, and coming out to family and friends.

From our friends at GayInAthens.com

Students in University of Georgia instructor Jamie Landau’s “Visual Mediated Rhetoric of Gender and Sexuality” class recently created projects that visually display LGBT life in Athens, Georgia. I had the opportunity to speak to Landau’s SPCM 3310 class earlier this summer about what it means to be a gay blogger. The students were well educated on issues of communication within the LGBT community and offered up a number of thought-provoking questions and suggestions for this Web site. (Like, “How do you decide what to put on the Web site?” and “When do you step in and moderate user interaction?”)

Two of the students groups submitted their projects to GayInAthens.com. Below are the results. The first group filmed “a transformation from ‘man’ to ‘woman.’” The second group created a rendition of Charles Ebbet’s world-famous “Lunch Atop A Skyscraper” photograph.