A pair of gay U.S. expats are hoping to use their international travels to inspire a global social media campaign in honor of LGBT Pride month.
David Brown and Auston Matta, who originally hail from Arizona, are the co-founders of Two Bad Tourists, a travel blog which highlights their globetrotting adventures through Europe, Asia, South America and beyond. Brown and Matta, who have been married since 2010, have now partnered though Pink Banana Media, Sitges Gay Pride and Gay Travel for the #MyGayPride campaign, which encourages participants to share their "summer of pride" through photos, videos and other personal experiences on social media.
Their ultimate goal, they say, is to "highlight the importance of gay pride celebrations" in an effort to combat continued homophobia even as international recognition of the LGBT community increases.
"We believe that gay pride is lived every day in the way you express yourself to your neighbors, peers, friends and family," Matta, who is currently based in Madrid, told The Huffington Post. "We’re lucky to have been raised in a country where being gay is OK while so many others in the world don’t have this luxury ... We need to give people a chance to learn about and interact with the LGBT community and staying in our homes or in our little gay bubbles doesn't help our cause."
Added Brown in an email statement: "We want to build a global community across social media for LGBT people and allies to connect and share their pride with each other. This is especially important for those that don’t have local pride celebrations or access to safe outlets in their community or part of the world."
As for their own 2014 Pride experiences, Brown and Matta have attended events in Dresden, Germany and Sitges, Spain, and are gearing up for additional celebrations in Madrid, Stockholm and Reykjavik.
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