Panic! At the Disco frontman Brendon Urie has pledged $1 million to help improve the education system for LGBTQ youth. Photo: Jimmy Fontaine.
Panic! At the Disco frontman Brendon Urie has pledged $1 million to help improve the education system for LGBTQ youth.
Urie, who has previously said he has experimented with homosexuality and bisexuality, has partnered with GLSEN to create safe and inclusive K-12 schools for LGBTQ youth and student-led GSA (Gender & Sexuality/Gay-Straight Alliance) clubs in every high school across across the United States.
HELPING LGBTQ YOUTH
“For years my fans have inspired me with their determination and creativity as they have created a safe and inclusive community,” Urie said in a statement. “I felt the time had come for me to join them boldly, to bring that energy and power to bear on the huge challenges facing our whole society.”
Urie, who recently came out as pansexual in a Paper Magazine interview, made the announcement about the GLSEN partnership during a recent appearance on NBC’s “Today.”
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$1 MILLION DONATION
The $1 million donation was made through Urie’s Highest Hopes Foundation, which supports non-profit organizations that advocate human rights for people and communities discriminated or abused on the basis of gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
GLSEN is the foundation’s first beneficiary.
According to GLSEN, LGBTQ students who have access to a GSA on campus are less likely to hear anti-LGBTQ remarks, less likely to feel unsafe, less likely to be victimized, and are more likely to report bullying or harassment.
GLSEN supports more than 6,500 registered GSAs with a network of 39 community-led chapters in 26 states.
