A year after going through hell, this gay teen has turned his life around
A year after a video of this gay teen being thrown out of his home by his family went viral, he says he has completely turned things around.
The incident was captured in a video by Daniel Pierce’s boyfriend David, and posted to Reddit.
On coming out, he was hit, shouted at and told he must move out. He said he was called a “damned queer” and a “piece of shit”.
The video was viewed by millions of people, and sparked a crowdfunding campaign raising money to support Pierce.
Now, Pierce says: “I feel like I’m talking about someone else. I feel like I saw this on the news about someone else.”
Speaking of his experiences, Daniel says he got his own apartment using money generously donated through a GoFundMe campaign.
He got himself a job at a law firm in Atlanta, and got his own health insurance, after his family cancelled his.
In addition, he donated thousands to Lost-n-Found Youth, a homeless shelter for LGBT young people of which he is now on the board of directors.
“We got a huge wave of kids because gay marriage got passed, and they had the guts to come out. They told their family,” he said.
“That night I lost five family members. I gained hundreds of thousands of people that are just like ’we love you.’ People I will never meet.”
The original video of the incident is available to view below.
