{"id":9109,"date":"2012-02-26T13:11:35","date_gmt":"2012-02-26T21:11:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.57.196.122\/~gdatwofo\/theavtimes\/?p=9109"},"modified":"2012-07-01T14:09:50","modified_gmt":"2012-07-01T21:09:50","slug":"everyone-is-gay-tackles-serious-issues-with-humor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2012\/02\/26\/everyone-is-gay-tackles-serious-issues-with-humor\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Everyone is Gay\u2019 tackles serious issues with humor"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Dannielle Owens-Reid (left) and Kristin Russo(right) delivered a humorous, engaging presentation that addressed issues facing the LGBTQ community.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LANCASTER \u2013 The duo behind the advice website \u201cEveryone is Gay<\/a>\u201d dropped by the Antelope Valley College campus Saturday and delivered an engaging performance that combined humor and serious discussion to raise awareness on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer\/Questioning (LGBTQ) issues.<\/p>\n

Bursting out from behind a projection screen, Kristin Russo and Dannielle Owens-Reid launched into a dance routine to the Black Eyed Peas\u2019 \u201cBoom Boom Pow<\/em>,\u201d immediately breaking the ice with the crowd of nearly 100.<\/p>\n

The duo kept the laughter going for most of the hour-long presentation with witty one-liners, back and forth banter, and slides of podcasts featuring their humorous lip syncing performances.<\/p>\n

The presentation tackled some very serious issues as well, like statistics taken from a 2009 National School Climate Survey that revealed 84% of LGBT students reported being verbally harassed, 72% heard homophobic remarks, such as \u201cfa–ot\u201d or \u201cd*ke,\u201d and 29% of LGBT students missed at least one day of school because of safety concerns.<\/p>\n

The presentation also featured the pictures and stories of several students, some as young as 11, who had committed suicide because of relentless bullying due to their sexual orientation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to tell people they have to get out of middle school or get out of high school for things to get better,\u201d Russo said. \u201cWe want things to get better now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cYou don\u2019t have to march in a parade and hold up a sign that says \u2018Adam and Steve totally rule\u2019 to make a difference,\u201d Owens-Reid said.<\/p>\n

They said making a difference was as simple as smiling and being nice to one another, supporting those who are being bullied, and resisting the urge to label people based on your assumptions about their sexuality.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t put yourself in a box and stop obsessing over labels,\u201d said Owens-Reid. \u201cIt would be so much easier if we could just love who we love and that\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The presentation concluded with questions from the audience, some of which were written anonymously.<\/p>\n

An anonymous audience member wanted to know how the two women \u201ccame out\u201d to their parents.<\/p>\n

Russo said she came out to her parents when she was 17. She said her mom found it hard to reconcile being gay with her Catholic faith.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor her it was very, very upsetting,\u201d Russo said. \u201cWe had a lot of fighting then a lot of crying.\u201d She said her dad\u2019s reaction was different. \u201cHe said \u2018if you\u2019re happy, I\u2019m happy,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The audience chuckled as Owens-Reid gave a humorous take on her parents\u2019 reaction to the news that she liked women.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad said \u2018your mom sorta made you hate men, huh?\u2019\u201d said Owens-Reid, adding that her mom said: \u201cThat\u2019s okay, Ellen is gay and I love Ellen!\u201d<\/p>\n

The event, which was hosted by the OUTreach Center, received raved reviews from audience members.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey definitely were funny, enlightening and educational\u2026 this was a good event for the community to come out and have some lighthearted education about LGBT issues,\u201d said Lancaster resident Johnathon Ervin. \u201cI think we need more events like this to spread love, education, acceptance and equality throughout the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lancaster Human Relations Tapestry Commission Chairwoman, Sue Dell, said the event did wonders for the LGBT community in the Antelope Valley.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Russo and Owens-Reid posed with audience members after their performance.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI am always excited when there is a voice for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people and their allies to educate us about the impact of discrimination and bullying and to make it clear that it\u2019s a separate culture with a separate set of issues on top of the issues everyone else has,” Dell said. “And I\u2019m thrilled when it\u2019s a social opportunity for people to look around and see other people who are like them.”<\/p>\n

OUTreach Center Board President Sanie Andres said the crowd of nearly 100 proves that there is growing community awareness and acceptance of the LGBT population in the Antelope Valley.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had people that we haven\u2019t seen at any of our events before show up,\u201d said Andres. \u201cThat means we\u2019re reaching out to more people and drawing in more members of our community, so for me it was a successful event.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we have made so many leaps and bounds in the last few years in the Antelope Valley in terms of having people more accepting of seeing LGBT people in the newspaper or out in public, but I think there is still a lot more that we can do,\u201d Andres continued.<\/p>\n

Russo and Owens-Reid will continue their nationwide tour of college and highschool campuses with an appearance at Urban Highschool in San Francisco on Monday. Learn more about \u201cEveryone is Gay\u201d here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LANCASTER \u2013 The duo behind the advice website \u201cEveryone is Gay\u201d dropped by the Antelope Valley College campus Saturday and delivered an engaging performance that combined humor and serious discussion to raise awareness on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer\/Questioning (LGBTQ) issues. Bursting out from behind a projection screen, Kristin Russo and Dannielle Owens-Reid launched […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9113,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9109"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}