She lost her gay son to suicide. Now she’s reaching out to LGBTQ teens.

She lost her gay son to suicide. Now she’s reaching out to LGBTQ teens.

Camika Shelby. Via YouTube

Meet Camika Shelby, a woman bringing the true meaning of Christmas to LGBTQ youth.

Shelby hosted an event at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Birmingham, Alabama over the weekend, which provided queer homeless youth with personal hygiene supplies and plenty of love and hugs for the holiday season. Shelby spearheaded the event in honor of her late son, Nigel, whom she lost to suicide in April.

Nigel had struggled in school as a gay 15-year-old, experiencing a great deal of bullying prior to his death. Camika has used her son’s passing as a call to action.

“I don’t want it to be, ‘the 15-year-old that committed suicide,’” Shelby told Black Magic Project. “I want it to be ‘the 15-year-old whose suicide changed the world.’”

Related: How Chasten Buttigieg overcame homelessness after his family rejected him for being gay

Shelby organized the gathering over the weekend, which presented black LGBTQ teens with gift cards, personal care supplies, and offered LGBTQ mentors to discuss bullying and homelessness.

“Sometimes family can be your own worst enemy. If they don’t love you for who you are, they don’t deserve you,” she said in her remarks. “Don’t let people tear you down for who you are. God knows who you are, and he makes no mistakes.”

The Human Rights Campaign reports that about half of all African-American LGBTQ youth were bullied or cast out of their homes by family members for their queer status. Of those, 90% also report enduring racial discrimination.

“I’m to the point where I’m realizing that my baby had a purpose, regardless of whether it is here on this earth or not,” Shelby told Alabama.com. “So now, I’m his purpose. I am going to continue to speak out. I am going to continue to tell his story.”

www.queerty.com/lost-gay-son-suicide-now-shes-reaching-lgbtq-teens-20191223?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Logan Paul, Ricky Gervais, American Airlines, Doug Jones, Boeing, Jeffree Star, Mike Schmuhl, RuPaul: HOT LINKS

Logan Paul, Ricky Gervais, American Airlines, Doug Jones, Boeing, Jeffree Star, Mike Schmuhl, RuPaul: HOT LINKS

AA. American Airlines offers nonbinary options for travelers. ‘American Airlines passengers can now change to “U” or “X” designations by talking to a customer service agent on the phone. American is also in the process of making the change to its website, too. “U” stands for unspecified or undisclosed and X has become a standard marker for those that don’t identify as male or female.’

RICKY GERVAIS. Golden Globes host spends weekend defending himself on Twitter, claiming transphobic tweets were just joke tweets to spoof accounts.

Those awful biological women can never understand what it must be like for you becoming a lovely lady so late in life. They take their girly privileges for granted. Winning at female sports and having their own toilets. Well, enough is enough.

— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) December 20, 2019

BOEING. CEO Dennis Muilenburg is out: “Mulienburg, whose resignation is effective immediately, will temporarily be succeeded by Boeing chief financial officer Greg Smith. The Chicago-based company’s chairman David Calhoun will permanently replace Muilenburg as president and CEO on Jan. 13. The leadership change — just two days before Christmas — is part of an effort by the Board of Directors to ‘restore confidence in the company,’ Boeing said in a statement Monday.”

CHINA. U.S. Space Force is direct threat: “Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters that China is ‘deeply concerned about it and resolutely opposed to it.’ … ‘The relevant U.S. actions are a serious violation of the international consensus on the peaceful use of outer space, undermine global strategic balance and stability, and pose a direct threat to outer space peace and security,’ Geng said at a regular briefing.”

DOUG JONES. Alabama Senate Democrat says he would be willing to “acquit” Trump. ‘Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) said on ABC’s “This Week” that the allegations that President Trump exploited Ukraine for his political benefit are “serious” and “impeachable,” but added that there are “gaps” in the House’s case and that he is willing to acquit Trump in a Senate trial if “those dots aren’t connected.”‘

“(President Trump) ordered his top people who were in the room, who have first hand knowledge, not to testify. He ordered documents not to be turned over,” Sen. Doug Jones says in response to Sen. Ron Johnson’s claim that charges against Trump are “thin.” t.co/1HAWEUtQuB pic.twitter.com/alfXVUC4Ff

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) December 22, 2019

CHRIS VAN HOLLEN. Senate Democrat asks GAO office on opinion on Trump withholding aid: “The Administration must be held accountable for its violations of the ICA, or we will open the floodgates for this and future Administrations to violate the ICA with impunity.”

MIKE SCHMUHL. How Pete Buttigieg’s childhood friend ended up managing his campaign: ‘Schmuhl — an even-keeled, attention-deflecting 36-year-old prone to telling staffers up and down the org chart that they have “the most critical” job on the campaign — has taken a decidedly unconventional path into presidential campaign management. Schmuhl has never staffed a statewide or national political run, unlike most other presidential campaign managers. The biggest campaign he managed before taking charge of Buttigieg’s presidential bid is a House race. In fact, he’s never worked for a candidate outside of Indiana.’

LOGAN PAUL. YouTuber responds to alleged sex tape leak.

THE 1990s. Here’s what Brad Pitt spent most of his time doing.

MALE MODEL MONDAY. Harry Goodwins, Victor Pinheiro, Stefan Petrov, Enrique Dustin and more.

JEFFREE STAR. On confronting his gender identity as a youth: “I used to have thoughts of ‘I am transgender? Should I transition? Am I supposed to be a woman?’ I had so many thoughts in my head because I’ve always been really feminine, and I didn’t understand that I could be a male and wear makeup and feminine clothes and not be a woman. I was confused.”

BORIS JOHNSON. Trump extends White House invite to new UK prime minister.

UK. Home Office grants gay Malaysian man asylum: “Yew Fook Sam, also known as Sam, faced deportation earlier this year after an immigration judge questioned why he could not prove any past relationships to help prove his sexuality. The Home Office relented and granted him asylum for five years following a campaign by Sam’s friends at Open Table, an ecumenical Christian community for LGBTQ+ people.”

PHILIPPINES. 11 people dead, hundreds sickened by holiday wine.

MONDAY MUSCLE. Alberto Cano.

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Ho ho ho!!

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MUSIC VIDEO OF THE DAY. Mariah Carey – All I Want for Christmas Is You (Make My Wish Come True Edition)

CLIP OF THE DAY. RuPaul from AJ and The Queen.

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Logan Paul, Ricky Gervais, American Airlines, Doug Jones, Boeing, Jeffree Star, Mike Schmuhl, RuPaul: HOT LINKS