Dannii Minogue Has A Message For Aussie Teen Who Faced Homophobic Bullying At School
Image: Abbie Kelly and Dannii Minogue. Images: Instagram/Facebook
Australian pop singer and gay icon Dannii Minogue never hesitates to show her love and support for the LGBTQI community.
Dannii sent out a message of solidarity to Abbie Kelly, the 13-year-old founder of the Rainbow Shoelace Project, who recently spoke about being bullied and harassed by students in her school after she raised a Pride flag on IDAHOBIT.
In a TikTok video, Abbie revealed that after she raised the flag on IDAHOBIT on May 17, around 20 to 30 students at her school in Broken Hill verbally abused her and asked her to take the flag down.
Abbie started a campaign in March 2022 to encourage people to wear rainbow shoelaces to start conversations around bullying and harassment.
‘Dannii Loves Our Project’
Abbie’s post on Instagram caught the attention of Dannii. “Congratulations on being fearless. You are brave. I hope we are moving towards an anti-discrimination day, where we are not seeing/feeling or warding off discrimination,” Dannii posted.
Abbie, who took a short break from social media after experiencing homophobia from her classmates, in a new post earlier this month thanked the singer.
“Have recently found out that Dannii Minogue love(s) our project!!! So exciting!” Abbie posted on social media while discussing her plans for Pride Month.
“June is Pride month, which is my favourite month. It’s the month that us as queer people get to really celebrate who we are and have a month of basically being able to show the world that we’re here and we always have been here,” Abbie said in a video message.
The teenager said that her mum Sophie had made a poster for Pride month and added that she wanted to send out a message for all those who are experiencing anti-LGBTQI bullying and harassment.
“I just hope you know that I understand how difficult it is, but you can never let another person’s opinion on you stop you from being who you are. And I know that sounds really difficult and I know it’s hard to be who you are when there are people who are quite loud and are always telling you how much they don’t like who you are,” said Abbie, adding that LGBTQI people and allies can make our voices louder than the homophobes.
‘Your Negative Comments Don’t Affect Me Anymore’
“Please check in with those who are struggling with homophobia or bullying and if you know anyone that is spreading homophobia and bullying, maybe have a chat with them and educate them on the harm that they can be causing.”
Abbie also had a message for the boys in her school who subjected her to homophobic bullying last month. “Just a quick message to the boys at my school that I know will be tagging each other and laughing at me. You guys are assholes and your negative comments don’t really affect me anymore.”
Meanwhile, Dannii Minogue, who won praise for hosting the gay dating show I Kissed A Boy, released the show’s theme song, We Could Be The One, as a single. Danni also teased a second season of the reality dating show, but this time with gay girls.
“After showing love truly is for everyone with I Kissed A Boy, I am thrilled to have the chance to be Cupid for girls in the second series. I’m so excited to see if we can find more connections, chemistry and hopefully love sealed with a kiss – here come the girls,” said Dannii.
