Words have power. Take it from one rising senior who in their first year at CISD heard another student say, “he would never sit next to a gay person because he believed gay people are gross.”
“As a member of the LGBT+ community, this made me very uncomfortable,” the student says in an online testimony. “And I begged my parents to let me go to a different school because I thought this was the mindset of most students here.”
Those sentiments leave students feeling like they cannot be their true selves.
“I was severely bullied and called names for being openly bi — so much so that I went back into the closet,” a Carroll student who graduates in 2024 says in a testimony shared online. “The sad thing is that people were nice to me when I was ‘straight’ but not when I was being myself.”
This issue reaches past city lines. More than half of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth have been verbally harassed at school compared to 25% of nonLGBTQ+ students, according to the Human Rights Campaign’s “Growing Up LGBT In America” report.
The report, which surveyed more than 10,000 kids ages 13-17 who identify as LGBTQ+, also found only 37% of LGBTQ+ youth say they’re happy. It goes on to list non-accepting families, trouble or bullying at school and fear of being out or open as among their top concerns.
Laura Durant strives to help Southlake LGBTQ+ youth feel cared for. The Carroll ISD mom formed Love Every Dragon (LED) to ensure kids know they have a supportive network they can rely on.
FIGHTING BACK WITH LOVE
After reading these and other student testimonies shared online, Laura connected with other Southlake residents through social media and asked about supporting LGBTQ+ Dragons.
“I reached out over several Facebook groups to just see, ‘Hey, is there anybody who will publicly stand up for these kids because they need a lot of help,’” Laura says. “So it almost started as just a way to tell these kids, ‘Hey there’s people here who care about you.’”
After gauging interest, Laura originally looked into starting a PFLAG chapter in Southlake. PFLAG is the first and largest organization for LGBTQ+ people, their parents and their families, with more than 400 chapters, according to its website. But with a Fort Worth PFLAG chapter already established, she instead created LED to show students they were not alone.
“We’re mostly adults in the community. We do have quite a few younger members but… the beautiful thing is it’s so diverse,” Laura says. “There are teachers; there are school counselors; there are religious leaders in the community; there’s parents of LGBTQ+ kids; there’s a lot of straight allies. It’s really a mix of everyone.”
LED is a visible ally network. Rather than focusing on hosting their own events or initiatives, Love Every Dragon’s main purpose is to serve as a source of support for LGBTQ+ students.
“We’re trying to be like a beacon of hope, just because these kids are facing a lot right now. And they’re very much in the public eye, and it’s really unfortunate in a lot of ways,” Laura says. “But I feel like if we just spread the love, then we can help balance that out a little bit and let them know that there’s nothing wrong with them and there’s a lot of people who care about them.”
Through spearheading LED, Laura says she’s witnessed resistance to her efforts, but her strength ensures detractors won’t stop her from supporting LGBTQ+ Dragons.
“In the beginning, I was really scared. I was getting a lot of warnings that I was making people very unhappy and the idea of having this group here in Southlake was detrimental to the city. And so for a while there, I didn’t really push for it as hard as I should have,” Laura confesses. “...[But] now we’re just going full steam ahead because I have figured out that I’m much more scared to let [LGBTQ+ Dragons] be continued to be treated this way than whatever threats or whatever that people in LED receive.”
Kerin Sullivan Beauchamp, who lives in Westlake and has a son in CISD, learned about LED on Facebook.
“I love the positive, inclusive message of LED,” Kerin says. “And I loved how Laura kept taking up space and speaking up in support of LGBTQ+ youth and families.”
SHOWING UP AND SPREADING LOVE
LED spreads awareness about the resources available to LGBTQ+ kids and parents. Nancy Novak, a board member of the Fort Worth PFLAG chapter, helps by providing relevant materials, data and research — anything else the group may need.
“As members of PFLAG and as an organization, we want to be able to give the right information out to people and get the right education and provide that,” Nancy says. “Plus, if Laura gets a call from a parent who has a kid who’s come out to them, she can say, ‘Hey, check out PFLAG’ because that’s our mission: to provide education, support and advocacy.”
As part of its endeavors to serve as a visible ally network, LED also recently launched its website — LoveEveryDragon.com — to help spread its message of love.
“Our primary audience is LGBTQ+ students, but Love Every Dragon is all about inclusion and building community, so we also have areas for parents, allies and educators,” Laura says. “The site has its own social media component... where anyone can create an account and have a safe outlet to meet friends.”
Through its website and social media pages, LED shares resources for LGBTQ+ students from other organizations like The Trevor Project, the Human Rights Campaign and ACLU.
“I’m not a health care professional, and I would never want to take on something that I’m not fully qualified for. So we will direct them to those resources,” Laura says. “But I’m qualified to love people, which is a good thing, so that’s what I do.”
LED is not affiliated with Carroll ISD, but Laura says several teachers have joined the organization. Like Laura, those interested aspire to spread love and support every student.
“We’ve had a few teachers reach out and ask for materials,” Laura says. “We have some incredibly caring educators here from all walks of life and religions. They all agree this isn’t about politics; this is about improving and saving lives.”
CREATING A LOVING COMMUNITY
Laura and other LED members show their support with the group’s logo: a lightbulb on a rainbow background. The symbol lets students know who is an ally. The group has made stickers, coasters and other merchandise with the logo in order to distribute it to allies around the city.
“The goal is to have people kind of display this little symbol as a beacon of a safe place that LGBTQ+ youth can go to,” Laura says. “When they see that, they know that’s someone they can go to for help if they need it without judgment.”
Those who know to look for the logo see it as an emblem of hope, proving they are not alone.
“Kids need a safe place to be fully themselves and to know people in their community are advocating for them,” Kerin says. “They need to know they can just be [themselves] without judgment or expectation of change.”
LED also has flyers for those who aspire to be allies but don’t know where to start.
“We try to put the website on all our materials because we want people to know where to find resources and be prepared when a gay student, child or loved one comes to them,” Laura says. “The goal is to have as many people as possible hang up this symbol where people can see it. That lightbulb is there for a reason — to shine light in the darkness.”
Above everything, Laura ensures LED's main message is one of love.
“It’s really hard to argue with a message that has love in it. It’s Love Every Dragon,” Laura says. “And so the longer it goes on and the more people who join, I think that people are becoming more aware that we’re not pushing anything. We’re just supporting a group of kids who really need it right now.”