QAC 51 – #ProudToBe Black Non-Binary Bi Pan AND Asexual

for those who don’t know, YouTube is currently spotlighting videos by LGBTQIA creators expressing their Pride in who they are using the #ProudToBe hashtag. i thought i’d jump on the bandwagon and add some encouraging words and visibility / representation for people like me.

as the video description says, YouTube joined forces with many popular LGBTQIA content creators on its site to release the #ProudToBe spotlight today.

inspired by others’ videos, but also pissed off by the public’s response to the hashtag / spotlight, i decided to make this impromptu video upon getting home from work. it’s not great, but might as well throw my face out there too, eh?

as i mentioned, the public’s response to the hashtag / spotlight has been especially severe… trolls have been out in force like never before, spamming everything from the comments section of YouTube’s spotlight video itself to the comment sections of literally every video in the tag that i’ve seen.

YouTube has been working to monitor and delete hateful spam comments, but of course that’s a futile task. that hasn’t stopped people from taking to Twitter to whine and moan about it, though. in traditional YouTube troll fashion, numerous spoof and parody videos have already be made of #ProudToBe videos and it hasn’t even been 24 hrs since their release.

it’s all too easy to be overwhelmed by all the negativity going on in the hashtag, but it’s important to not loose sight of the positivity too. the number of #ProudToBe videos uploaded within the past 24 hrs is astonishing and there are positive comments on the videos as well, just don’t put yourself at risk looking for them. on Twitter there’s lots of positivity in the #ProudToBe hashtag mixed in with the negativity. people who aren’t making a video have been able to join in that way, and it’s been great. 🙂

my video hasn’t even been up an hour and there’s already spam from random trolls cruising the hashtag, but i couldn’t care less. the video is still reaching its target audience and that’s all that matters. i’m sure everyone else uploading videos feels the same.