Former Vice President Joe Biden is
encouraging families to accept their LGBT kids.
Biden has joined with singer Cyndi
Lauper, transgender model Geena Rocero and former NFL player Wade
Davis to launch the #AsYouAre campaign.
“We'll use our resources to highlight
the harms of family rejection, and to lift up research, best
practices, and personal stories to show the importance of family
acceptance,” Biden said in a promotional video released Tuesday by
the Biden Foundation.
Biden has been a vocal supporter of
LGBT rights. He has been credited with pushing former President
Barack Obama to support same-sex marriage.
(Related: Joe
Biden pushed Obama on gay marriage, Mike Bloomberg says.)
The campaign is asking LGBT people to
share their stories of acceptance or rejection.
“By sharing your stories – your
stories! – we can work together to change the culture and ensure a
bright future for the LGBTQ young people of American,” Biden said.
The Trevor Project told ABC News that
lesbian, gay and bisexual youth from highly rejecting families are
eight times more likely to attempt suicide than youth from accepting
families. Forty percent of transgender and gender non-conforming
adults report having attempted suicide at some point in their lives,
Rocero said in the video.