Thu. October 11, 2012
Chicago, IL -
On this 24th annual National Coming Out Day, ChicagoPride.com shares the first of a series of short videos to be posted online by film director Elliot London. It's about a 16-year-old boy named Joseph who lives in Tennessee and its very moving.
London (The Wedding Dance) continues a campaign across America to raise awareness about the struggles of growing up as an LGBT young person and the impact of homophobic bullying.
Born in Australia, London moved to Rockford, Illinois as a young boy. Today the up-and-coming Los Angeles-based director is using his talents to share the message against bullying - a story close to his own heart.
London's worst bullying experience was on the school bus when a fellow student called him a faggot and started spitting on him. London believes that these situations need to be talked about and shared through film.
London recently teamed with actor and model Ronnie Kroell to produce the feature film. Both returned to Chicago last Saturday for a special fundraiser.
Kroell, who grew up in Chicago and Morton Grove, Illinois, was a finalist from season one of Bravo's Make Me a Supermodel. The 29-year-old began to realize that he was different in the 6th grade when some of the older kids would knock him to the ground during recess and call him gay, but he didn't really understand what that meant.
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