Fight OUT Loud

Fight OUT Loud (established in 2007) is a registered national non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to empowering LGBT individuals, and their allies, to fight discrimination and hate. Fight OUT Loud was founded by Waymon Hudson and Anthony Niedwiecki as a result of an incident where a worker at the Fort Lauderdale International Airport played an anti-gay death threat over the intercom quoting the Leviticus Bilble verse saying "men that lie with men as with women should be put to death", which became an international news story[1] The couple pushed the issue, resulting in the firing of the worker.[2]

Fight OUT Loud also led an activist campaign against former Fort Lauderdale mayor Jim Naugle after Naugle made a number of anti-gay statements.[3][4] The protests and campaign led to Mayor Naugle's removal from Broward County's Tourism Board.[5]

The Mission Statement of Fight OUT Loud is:

The mission of Fight OUT Loud is to empower everyday people to stand up for themselves in the fight for their rights. We seek to provide immediate resources, support, education, and assistance for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender individuals who are faced with discrimination and hate. No situation of discrimination should slip through the cracks and go unchallenged.[6]

Fight OUT Loud has numerous online resources and outreach programs. They have been involved in helping to get a Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, FL to change their LGBT policies after denying a lesbian woman the right to visit her dying partner.[7] They also continue to raise awareness around hate crimes as in the case of Lawrence King[8] and Simmie Willams Jr.[9]) and acts of discrimination (such as the publishing of a pro-gay bashing cartoon at Notre Dame[10] and advocating for the passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA)[11]).

References

  1. ^ "Waymon’s World: Why I Became an Activist: Hate, Bigotry, & Death threats Over the intercom in an Airport..". Waymon Hudson. 2007-05-01. http://www.waymonhudson.com/Waymons_World/Why_I_Became_An_Activist.html. Retrieved 2010-05-05. 
  2. ^ "Sky Cab fired for threatening message over airport PA system". WSVN-TV Local News. The Sunbeam Television Corporation. May 8, 2007. http://www1.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/MI47048/. Retrieved July 7, 2011. 
  3. ^ Hudson, Waymon (2008-03-03). "Jim Naugle Uses Tax Dollars to Incite Violence in South Florida". The Bilerico Project. http://www.bilerico.com/2008/03/jim_naugle_uses_tax_dollars_to_incite_vi.php. Retrieved 2010-05-05. 
  4. ^ http://www.americablog.com/2007/08/fort-lauderdale-mayor-jim-naugle.html
  5. ^ http://fightoutloud.org/Fight_OUT_Loud/Action_Alert_Blog/Entries/2009/1/6_Update_Fort_Lauderdale_Mayor_Jim_Naugle_AntiGay_Comments.html
  6. ^ http://www.FightOUTLoud.org
  7. ^ http://fightoutloud.org/Fight_OUT_Loud/Action_Alert_Blog/Entries/2010/4/14_Fight_out_loud_Update__Florida_Hospital_Changes_LGBT_Policies_After_Denying_Lesbian_the_Right_to_Visit_Her_Dying_Partner.html
  8. ^ Bournemouth University Abstract for Pullen, C., 2010. The Murder of Lawrence King and LGBT Online Stimulations of Narrative Copresence. In: Pullen, C. and Cooper, M., eds. LGBT Identity and Online New Media. New York: Routledge, pp. 17-36. ISBN 978-0-415-99867-3
  9. ^ http://fightoutloud.org/Fight_OUT_Loud/Action_Alert_Blog/Entries/2008/2/29_Fight_OUT_Loud_Honors_a_Life_Lost_to_Hate_and_Demands_Change.html
  10. ^ http://fightoutloud.org/Fight_OUT_Loud/Action_Alert_Blog/Entries/2010/1/16_Notre_Dame_Newspaper_Issues_Weak_Apology_Over_Gay_Bashing_Cartoon.html
  11. ^ http://www.waymonhudson.com/Waymons_World/The_Homo_Politico_Blog/Entries/2010/4/21_Fight_OUT_Loud_%26_Hundreds_of_LGBT_and_Allied_Groups_Call_for_ENDAs_Passage_NOW.html

External links