Written by:
Candace Moore
Photographer:
Kevin Parry
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this Issue of Curve:
Vol. 17#2
In December, a bevy of stars — openly gay, straight, bisexual and, well, “unlabeled”—smiled and sparkled in the holiday smog outside Los Angeles’ The Wiltern to display their support of The Trevor Project. Named after an Oscar-winning short film Trevor (1994) about a gay teen who attempts suicide, this organization funds a nationwide suicide prevention effort aimed at assisting queer teens in crisis, including a volunteer-run 24-hour helpline (1-866-4-U-TREVOR).
CURVE caught up with founders and filmmakers Peggy Rajski, Randy Stone and James Lecesne on the red carpet at the project’s 9th annual fundraising event, Cracked Xmas. We got the skinny on how the helpline got started and how they’ve rallied celebrity support for the cause.
“When the short we made, Trevor, was going to air on HBO, we realized kids might be watching that were feeling like the characters in the film,” explains Rajski. “We wanted to give them somewhere to turn, and found out quickly that there were no help lines for gay or questioning youth. So we set one up."
The founders agree that getting the word out about the hotline has been a major challenge, and that star-studded events are crucial to the project’s longevity.
“Events like this give us a public face,” says Stone. “We also send out ’Suicide Survival’ kits to teachers and guidance counselors, and have training programs in the schools.” They have also had their hotline number appear on several show on WB, as well as in public service announcements on LOGO and VH1. After Ellen DeGeneres offered the project her support by hosting the project and introducing the film, other celebrities quickly became involved as well.
Once people are aware of the project, Lecesne feels that it’s easy to attract support, regardless of their orientation. “I think also that everybody, regardless of their sexuality or gender orientation connects with this part of being a teenager, with being isolated,” he says. “Gay, straight, transgender — everybody can come together and understand that there’s a real need for people to survive, to get over this critical hump in their lives. We are trying to offer the alternative so that it’s out there.”
Mingling with the Red Carpet Crowd
Among the collection of comedians, singers and actors who performed at the fundraiser was Lucy Lawless, a lesbian icon ever since her role as Xena. Lawless supports the Trevor Project because she is “tired of our children being shamed to death. This is the only nationwide hotline they’ve got that tries to catch kids before they’re at the bottom of a cliff, “ she says.
That evening, Lawless performed the Bonnie Raitt song “Something to Talk About,” and says she plans to make singing and performing a much bigger part of her life in the coming months. “My career’s taking this whole different path and it’s making me so happy,” she says, adding that she’ll be performing at Dinah Shore next March in Palm Spring, Calif. “It’s a whole new world.”
Lucy Lawless isn’t the only Trevor Project supporter who will be up onstage at the annual Palm Springs pilgrimage for lesbians. Carmen Electra, who was co-presenting the evening’s tribute to Rosanne Barr, excitedly invited the crowd to her Dinah dance performance. “Last year I performed at Dinah Shore with the group that I dance with, The Bombshells, and they asked us back this year!” gushed Electra. “I’m so excited to go and perform again. It was such a big hit last year, so much fun, and I met a lot of really cool people.”
Featured in last year’s Joan Jett & the Blackhearts ACDC music video as Jett’s fictional lover who “can’t make up her mind” between men and women, Electra’s admission that she had crushed out on the rocker while growing up circled the news wires early in 2006, while later last year gossip rags reported sightings of Jett and Electra making out backstage at an LA concert. Whether their coupling is just wishful thinking or more, perhaps Jett, who also performed at Dinah Shore last year, was one of those “really cool people” Electra got to know?
Sandra Bernhardt, another Dinah headliner was also at the Cracked Xmas event to present Rosanne Barr with her award. Openly bisexual Bernhardt, who recently rapped the knuckles of The L Word’s second season with her deliciously strict writing teacher character, additionally performed stand-up that night in support of The Trevor Project, which she said she wanted to get more involved with:
“I haven’t done anything actively with the Trevor project before tonight, but I’m sure I’ll start now,” she says. “ I’ve always been very centered and focused in my life and I think it’s important to be an example to kids who are sort of off the beaten path. To offer them inspiration and a little bit of insight and wisdom along the way. The same way that people did when I started off in my career.”
The honoree of the night, Barr cracked to reporters that she “always liked to be honored, especially when it comes with money or free food.” But during her acceptance speech inside the gala, Barr did eventually get serious. She movingly spoke of the discrimination her brother and sister, who are both gay, faced while growing up in Salt Lake City, and made an rousing, eloquent plea to help The Trevor Project provide a support system for LGBT youth.
For more information about the organization or to make a donation, go to: http://www.thetrevorproject.org/.
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