Bullying is out of fashion

Sultry models filled the space under the sweeping arches of the Cuyahoga County Courthouse�s center concourse at the Human Rights Campaign�s gala Dare2Care: Unite Against Bullying evening of fashion and performance last weekend.

In addition to a runway fashion show, there was singing, drag, poetry, dancing, comedy and speakers, uniting to fight against the bullying of youth, which has led to many high-profile teen suicides over the last few years.

Part of the May 1 soir�e was the presentation of the winners of the Dare2Care Poetry Scholarship, promoted by the Cleveland LGBT Center for the past few months. Mary Kate Krizman�s �This Cinderella Shoe� took first place, followed by Seth Wyckoff�s �Just Like You� in second and Haley Kuhns� �I Was Your Daughter� in third place.

Kuhns is a junior in high school, while Wyckoff is senior. Krizman is a freshman at the University of Akron, and her poem was also printed in the Plain Dealer.

Around 300 people attended the event, which was billed in the program as �our May Day Gay Day.� The event will return next year, spectators were promised.

In addition to the performances, a silent auction filled with lavish goods benefited the Cleveland LGBT Center.

�This event manifested at a time and place that was right: collaboration, integration, and unity was the theme of the evening from an individual to an organizational level.� said event chair Liz O�Donnell. �We wanted to shatter prejudice and open hearts and minds and we want Cleveland to know that this is just the beginning.�

Vice chair Joe Ward concurred.

�There are many more courageous conversations to be had--we would ask everyone to commit to doing something to bring compassion and engagement to the fight for equality,� he said. �Support your local teens by supporting the things that are important to them. Giving them a voice was what they told us they needed. Lending them our ears has to continue.�

O�Donnell interjected, �It didn�t hurt that we had some fun doing it in a venue that is all about justice in a city that the nation likes to poke fun at. Well, who�s laughing now? Viva la Rust Belt!�

--Anthony Glassman

Photo: Brian DeWitt

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