CINCINNATI: Community Rallies In Memory Of Ohio Trans Teen Leelah Alcorn

JMG reader Andy writes:

My partner and I live in Northern Kentucky in the greater Cincinnati area and attended Leelah's vigil at the Woodward Theater in Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine neighborhood last night.  There were approximately 600 persons attending the vigil last night in the theater, both on the floor and in the balcony. In attendance were many of the Cincinnati LGBT community, parents and family of area Trans youth, representatives from local organizations supporting Trans persons (both religious and non-religious), City councilman Chris Seelbach and a representative from the Mayor's office, and the LGBT liaison to the Cincinnati Police Department, Angela Vance.

Andy captions the photo above: "MUSE Cincinnati Women's Choir forming a protective circle around the young transgendered persons in attendance during their musical performance, which was one of the most touching moments of the evening."

The event's primary sponsor was Heartland Trans Wellness Group, with co-sponsorship from the Trevor Project, PFLAG, HRC, Diverse City Youth Chorus, GLSEN Greater Cincinnati, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Transgender Clinic, Bound by Truth and Love Ministries, and Trans-Saints Ministry.

Jesse Tyler Ferguson - Shake It Off

Modern Family star Jesse Tyler Ferguson covered Shake It Off at the Trevor Project's benefit concert in Los Angeles on Saturday, much to the delight of Taylor Swift.

MISSOURI: LGBT Groups Stand With Family Of Teen Killed By Cop

A coalition of 17 national LGBT and civil rights groups have issued a joint letter in support of the family of Missouri teenager Michael Brown, whose killing by a police officer has inflamed racial tensions and prompted a national outcry.

Among the groups signing the letter are the ACLU, HRC, GLAD, GLAAD, GMHC, NGLTF, PFLAG, and the Trevor Project.

Esurance: $100K For LGBT Charities

Yesterday Esurance announced a $100,000 giveaway to "three worthy charities" which will get a percentage of the donation based on the votes made on the company's Facebook page.  Right on cue, Bryan Fischer tweeted out a call for a boycott. Expect Esurance's stock value to triple shortly, a la Home Depot.

Collins: I Secretly Chose #98 As A Tribute To Matthew Shepard & Trevor Project

The parents of Matthew Shepard say they are floored at the news that Jason Collins secretly chose 98 as his uniform number as a tribute to Matthew Shepard and the Trevor Project, which was founded in August 1998 two months before Shepard was murdered.

“It made me cry,” Judy Shepard told FOXSports.com during an interview Monday afternoon. “It was really quite a tribute, and I was very honored. And I know Matt would be thrilled.” And the Shepards hope, someday, to be able to thank Collins personally for his bravery in opening himself up to the world and honoring their son’s name in the process.   “I would really love to speak to him, because I know Judy and I would just like to thank him,” Dennis Shepard said. “Because, No. 1, he had the courage to come out, period, and No. 2 that he wore 98 in honor of Matt, the year that he died. “(Collins) couldn’t have been that old (when it happened), so it must have had a tremendous impact on him, the story behind Matt, for him to want to do that. And then to wear it all this time without telling people why until today, that’s incredible.”

The head of the Trevor Project says they plan to reach out to Collins about working together.

Katy Perry: Trevor Project Hero Award

Quote Of The Day - Debra Messing

"I'd be devastated if my son grows up to be a hetero (sexual). As a parent you just envision a certain life for your child. I mean, if he's straight, think of all the fabulous things he's going to miss out on!" - Debra Messing, joking with Will McCormack from the stage at a Trevor Project event. (Via Zack Ford)

Debuted During Last Night's Glee

We Now Loathe Her Slightly Less

Asshat Of The Day - David Caton

"We're challenging Mars-Wrigley to stop advertising and stop supporting this kind of content that is aimed at an immoral behavior that children would embrace. It [MTV's Degrassi] has content that is very extraordinarily explicit towards transgender and homosexual lifestyles. It often has promotions on there that direct teens to organizations that will encourage them to embrace and accept the transgender or homosexual lifestyle, particularly TheTrevorHelpline.org -- a website that describes itself as 'a free and confidential service that's open for gay and questioning youth,' and claims to be 'saving lives' by encouraging confused kids to 'be proud of who you are.'" - David Caton, head of the Florida Family Association.

Emboldened by his success with All-American Muslim, Caton has renewed his call for advertisers to boycott Teen Nick's drama, Degrassi. Caton claims to have convinced Macy's and Target to withdraw from the program.

RELATED: Yesterday a hacker claiming to represent Anonymous temporarily took over the Florida Family Association's website and posted the emails and contribution amounts of some of their supporters. The hacker also claims to have downloaded the credit card numbers of the donors. The FFA has since regained control of their site. Public records show that David Caton is their only paid employee.

Seen At The Trevor Project Gala

This cute bit of animation ran during last night's Trevor Project gala to honor Lady Gaga. Hollywood Reporter has lots of photos and a recap of the celebs who showed up to support suicide prevention for LGBT kids.

AFA's "One Million Moms" Vs Target

The American Family Association has handed off their campaign against Target to their new One Million Moms group. Last week the AFA denounced the retail giant for advertising alongside a Trevor Project PSA on LGBT suicide.

The Trevor Helpline promotion aired during the "Beat It" episode of Teen Nick's Degrassi series when teen Riley, the openly gay football captain and starting quarterback, declined reparative therapy for his homosexuality. Not only is Teen Nick now featuring a show that encourages the nation's youth to embrace alternate lifestyles, but the family retail chain Target Corporation is helping through sponsorship. Upon discovering that Target Corporation is one of the main advertisers during the shameful and inappropriate program Degrassi, OMM is disappointed and the retail chain needs to be held accountable. At least three Target advertisements appeared during each episode of Degrassi this past weekend. They are openly recruiting teens and children to become 'gay' on a program that also promotes the transgender and homosexual lifestyle.

If you register, you can edit the OMM letter to Target.

FLORIDA: Hate Group Complains That Target Wants To Prevent LGBT Suicides

MTV's Teen Nick channel is running a PSA from the Trevor Project. And since God's Gentle People want to see gay kids dead, they are complaining.

Upon discovering that Target Corporation is the main advertiser during Degrassi, the Florida Family Association -- which describes that program as "shameful" -- prepared an e-mail for the public to send to the CEO and other officials of the retail chain. "They are openly recruiting teens and children to become 'gay' on a program that also promotes the transgender and homosexual lifestyle," laments David Caton, executive director of the pro-family group. "We are encouraging people to contact Target to let them know that they don't appreciate Target's ads helping to subsidize this promo on the Teen Nick show, Degrassi," he adds.

Trevor Project: Talk To Me

White House To Honor Trevor Project

Just in via press release:

Tomorrow, Thursday, August 25, 2011, the White House will honor The Trevor Project as a leading innovator in the realm of suicide prevention as part of the “Champions of Change” initiative. The Trevor Project is the leading organization selected for this honor representing youth suicide prevention and crisis intervention among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth, specifically. Accepting the honor and speaking with Administration officials about priorities for improving suicide prevention nationally will be David McFarland, Interim Executive Director and CEO of The Trevor Project. The event occurs ten days prior to National Suicide Prevention Week, (Sept. 4-10, 2011).

It Gets Better - Rutina Wesley

More IGB clips from True Blood cast members are here.

SAN FRANCISCO: Trevor Project Opens New Call Center In Harvey Milk's Store

The Night Of 1000 Gowns

Last night I attended the Imperial Court of New York's 25th annual Night Of 1000 Gowns, which this year benefited the Ali Forney Center and the Trevor Project. Swirling amidst all of the winking pomp and circumstance were empresses, emperors, duchesses, dukes, viscountesses, dowager empresses, and probably a dozen other royalty titles unknown to me. Also in the room were 100% of all the rhinestones and tiaras to be found in North America.

Among the bold-face names in attendance were the evening's honoree, longtime activist David Mixner, the cast of Logo's A-List, the cast of RuPaul's Drag Race, director Chi Chi LaRue, "JMG addict" Wilson Cruz, and actress Ally Sheedy, who cracked up when I asked her to say "No disassemble!" Miss New York 2010 Claire Buffie spoke eloquently about her LGBT rights platform during the Miss America pageant, gay pop star Ari Gold arrived with two slave boys on leashes, Dan Choi walked in on the arm of a statuesque attendee he "met on the escalator," and My Princess Boy author Cheryl Kilodavis worked the room with a handsome man in one hand and a stack of her books in the other.

This was my first Imperial Court event and I found the entire evening simultaneously spectacular and spectacularly silly. But one got the distinct impression that everybody there was totally in on the joke and folks, this group has raised buckets and buckets of money for LGBT causes over the decades. Check out the slideshow at the bottom of this post for many, many photos of the glamor, plus lots of celebs not mentioned above. Full-screen versions of the photos can be found here. You'll also enjoy Matthew Rettenmund's coverage at Boy Culture, where you'll find many red carpet video interviews.

Trevor Project To Honor Daniel Radcliffe

Dan & Terry Plug IGBP Book

The book ships March 22nd. Pre-order yours here.