Gay teen beaten and disowned by family finds amazing support in crowdfunded campaign
A teenager who was beaten and kicked out of his home has found support in a crowdfunding campaign set up to help him keep going after being disowned by his family.
The incident was captured in a video by Daniel Pierce’s boyfriend David, and posted to Reddit. On coming out, he is hit, shouted at and told he must move out. He said he was called a “damned queer” and a “piece of shit”.
While some questioned the authenticity of the video, the Advocate reports that Pierce’s aunt has guaranteed that the incident really took place.
Pierce posted a message to Facebook saying: “What a day…. I thought that waking up at 9:48 and being 15 mins late to work was going to be the biggest problem today. But I didn’t know that my biggest problem was going to be getting disowned and kicked out of my home of almost twenty years. to add insult to injury my step mother punched me in the face repeatedly with my grandmother cheering her along. I am still in complete shock and disbelief. the video I posted a few hours ago will give you a small bit of what I went through. I am sure y’all can guess who is who. Thanks to Teri, Regina and my boyfriend david for coming to rescue me. and thanks to everyone else who is sending their support!”
A GoFundMe page was set up to help Pierce with living costs, and has so far raised almost $50,000 (£30,000).
Piece has since written on Facebook that he is “in a safe place”, and that he will be shutting his page down in order to find privacy.
Tony Kelly, media officer at LGBT youth homeless charity the Albert Kennedy Trust told PinkNews that the charity works hard towards helping young LGBT people avoid homelessness in the UK, and that the charity is also beginning to work with LGBT youth in the US.
“We are trying to prevent this kind of situation from happening to young people in the future,” said Kelly.
The original video of the incident is available to view below.
