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http://www.gaycalgary.com/n237 [copy]

Homo Hollywood Comes Out to Support F-Word-Filled Comedic Fundraising Push.

Released: Friday December 17, 2010 (Los Angeles, CA ) - FCKH8.com
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FCKH8.com's humorous T-shirt Video Grabs Support from Ellen, Adam Lambert, Glee's Jane Lynch and Perez Hilton.

FCKH8.com drops "F-Bomb" on Anti-Gay Bullies with New Viral Video to Raise Funds for Suicide Prevention. Website's Previous Video Received 4.8 Million Views, Sold 40,000 T-Shirts & Raised over $200,000 to Fight for Marriage Equality. Web movement recruits over 97,000 Facebook supporters & 18,000 Twitter followers.

Alarmed at the recent spat of LGBTQ youth suicides, gay activists have put a new twist on charity fundraising with a video "F-Bomb-A-Thon" that's raising both eyebrows and funds to support youth counseling and suicide prevention programs like The Trevor Project. The latest F-word-filled viral video from FCKH8.com http://fckh8.com/ features a cross section of people, including a 5-year old child, drag queens and an old woman, Pussycat Doll Jessica Sutta and YouTube sensation "Kelly" (known for her over 40-million-viewed video "Shoes") using the forbidden four-letter word to take "Homo H8ers" to task. The no-holds-barred clip shows people wearing purple and white T-shirts that read "FCKH8", "Don't B H8N on the Homos" and "STR8 AGAINST H8."  The T-shirts are sold on the video’s website starting at $13 each, with $5 going directly to organizations offering vital counseling & suicide prevention programs. The website also sells bumper stickers, hoodies, wristbands and buttons to help spread its message.

The website's message and fundraising T-shirts have found support from some of Hollywoods biggest gay names with Ellen Degeneres and wife Portia deRossi snagging pins and stickers reading "Some Chicks Marry Chicks. Get Over It" and Glee's Jane Lynch posing for photos to promote the fundraising T-shirt with the same slogan. Glam rocker Adam Lambert tweeted the video's link to almost a million fans saying, "It's for a good cause. Sometimes fire w/ fire is a great way to illustrate a point." Celeb blogger Perez Hilton posted the video on his site visited by millions saying of the FCKH8 name, "It's a good motto! Watch the video for some very uplifting commentary on bullies and H8. Love it. Equality for all!"

The controversial but humorous video rails against anti-gay bigots at home, church and school with lines like, "You bully your kids, you bury your kids", "Preaching FCKed up hate has a lot to do with the suicide rate", and a little 4 year-old girl exclaiming, "If I grow up lesbo, do you want me to FCKing get gay bashed?"

Video producer Luke Montgomery hopes to raise at least another $100,000 from T-shirt sales to directly aid the gay youth support programs he calls "the life-saving heroes acting as queer kids' guardian angles." Organizers report that orders have poured in from across the globe with supporters buying T-shirts from over 75 countries around the world including even North Korea.

Montgomery says, "There's a lot of anger out there about how gay kids are treated in schools, homes and churches and as gay people, we've all been subject to homophobic attacks of one form or another. This latest video is about us coming together as a community and circling around our youngest. We hope the bold "FCK you" attitude of the video lets queer kids feel strong in who they are without begging for acceptance. The FCKH8.com video and T-shirts are all about using some negative language to do something positive." He adds, "I got tired of seeing heartbreaking news coverage about yet another after another gay kid killing themselves. It's both therapeutic and funny to see people, including an 4-year old and an old lady, go off in an F-bomb-laced tirade about homo hate. It’s all about using a bad word for a good cause."

While some may find the video’s use of swearing children offensive, Montgomery responds saying "What's truly offensive is not a four-letter word but ballot box bullies, hate preachers and anti-gay parents pushing telling kids they are wrong and worthless for being queer" He adds, "These bullies are not content with just calling us ‘fag’ or ‘dyke’ and driving gay kids to suicide, they are working to destroy our families by going after things like emergency hospital visitation, custody of our children and access to spousal health care benefits."

The video producer is focusing heavily on word of mouth to spread the video from friend to friend and using social media including Twitter and Facebook to build support. "This video really taps into a nerve and says what many people think in a way that our mainstream gay organizations just can’t say it. That’s why millions have watched the video and have shared it with their friends on YouTube. It’s really blown up on Twitter and Facebook. People are pissed off. Gay or straight, this video is uniting people to say ‘FCKH8’."

Montgomery was formerly the headline-making activist know as "Luke Sissyfag" in his youth. Montgomery's recent non-profit work includes co-founding Adopt-a-Pet.com, starting an AIDS orphanage in Haiti and the hands-on Haiti earthquake relief efforts (CauseCommandos.com http://causecommandos.com/ ) for which the Advocate magazine named him to their "top 40 under 40" list. Montgomery's bio and previous charity projects can be seen at GoodIdeasforGoodCauses.com http://goodideasforgoodcauses.com/.

T-shirt sales are benefiting the Trevor Project, the American Foundation for Equal Rights, Equality California, Courage Campaign and Lambda Legal. These organizations did not create and have not endorsed the F-word-filled video in any way.(GC)

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