All children grow up with role models they admire. But that kind of representation is especially important when you’re a child coming into your LGBTQ identity.
A song about the relationship between queer youth and role models has become the unofficial theme for this year’s Spirit Day, thanks to a powerful new video launched by advocacy organization GLAAD and the Curran, a San Francisco-based theater, on Tuesday.
Many LGBTQ people have a story of when they first saw a person they immediately identified with. For some, it’s the first time they see two women holding hands. For others, it’s the time they re-meet someone who now presents as male.
“Fun Home‘s powerful story has moved audiences around the world and embodies what Spirit Day is all about – acceptance.”
For Alison Bechdel, author of the wildly successful graphic novel Fun Home, that moment came in a run-down diner. As a child, Bechdel saw a woman in “dungarees,” sporting short hair and a carabiner clip of keys. She immediately identified with butch women, seeing parts of herself in the woman that she couldn’t yet express.
That moment was the inspiration for “Ring of Keys” — a standout song in the Tony Award-winning musical adaptation of Fun Home. The song is featured in GLAAD’s Spirit Day video, which was created in collaboration with the Curran and students from Oakland School for the Arts in California.
“Fun Home‘s powerful story has moved audiences around the world and embodies what Spirit Day is all about — acceptance,” GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis tells Mashable. “With this strong message of support for LGBTQ youth, the Curran and these brilliant young students are helping to create a world where everyone can live the life they love.”
While GLAAD has previously focused its Spirit Day videos on hard statistics around bullying and discrimination, the organization decided to take a different approach this year, focusing on a message of community and celebration.
Spirit Day was started in 2010 by Canadian teenager Brittany McMillan as a way to support LGBTQ youth after a string of devastating youth suicides, including the death of Tyler Clementi. The day — which falls on the third Thursday in October each year — is promoted extensively by GLAAD, encouraging LGBTQ people and their allies to wear purple as a sign of support, awareness and community.
