Janet Jackson As Gay Icon - LGBT Social Movements

LGBT Social Movements

LGBT social movements, which include the Gay and Lesbian Rights Movement, Gay Liberation, lesbian feminism, and transgender activism, have often garnered celebrity endorsement from many entertainers including Jackson. She has often voiced her support for same-sex marriage, advocating all people have the right to fall in love. In 2008, Jackson appeared in a public service announcement sponsored by the Logo television network and the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) in response to the E.O. Green School shooting. The announcement discusses the murder of fifteen-year-old Lawrence "Larry" King and the safety of LGBT youth in public schools. Jackson states that "none of us are safe, until all of us are safe". On April 26, 2008, fellow gay icon Ellen DeGeneres presented Jackson with the Vanguard Award at the 19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles.

We are delighted to honor Janet Jackson at the 19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles as such a visible, welcoming and inclusive ally of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. Ms. Jackson has a tremendous following inside the LGBT community and out, and having her stand with us against the defamation that LGBT people still face in our country is extremely significant. —GLAAD President Neil G. Giuliano

Jackson spoke with Larry King on CNN, supporting the It Gets Better Project and The Trevor Project, a non-profit organization providing crisis and suicide prevention for LGBT youth, in light of the high profile suicides committed in Fall, 2010. She stated: "(I was) one of those kids... holding everything inside... internalizing everything. And that really can affect you, and feeling helpless and hopeless, and finding that person that you can trust, that adult, like I did later on in life, that I felt comfortable and safe to tell my issues, my worries, my pains, my aches to. This is what the Trevor Project is really all about. And they have a 24-hour hotline... There's someone there that you can speak with 24 hours that will be there for you." She made an official It Gets Better video which was released on December 1, 2010.

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