I wrote a post yesterday about Scott Wooledge's efforts to raise money for an organization in Little Rock, Arkansas, that serves homeless LGBT kids. Wooledge was inspired to raise the money after the Duggar family, which lives and breeds in Arkansas, donated $10,000 to an effort to block an LGBT civil rights bill in the city of Fayetteville.

"A petition isn’t going to get their show canceled," said Wooledge. "So I looked around online trying to find something tangible that we could do with this anger."

Wooledge found Lucie's Place, a small charity founded two years ago in Little Rock, Arkansas, to assist homeless LGBT youth. Queer kids are at much greater risk of becoming homeless, particularly in Bible Belt states like Arkansas.... "Lucie's Place's entire operating budget last year was $7,500," said Wooledge. "They’re in Little Rock, which is the most urban setting in the state, so that's the city queer kids kicked out in Fayetteville most likely wind up fleeing to."

Wooledge challenged his followers on Twitter to raise $10,000 for Lucie's Place.

"If the Duggars are going to do 10K worth of damage to LGBT people in Arkansas, let's do 10K worth of repair," Wooledge said. "I'm only asking people to contribute $5 or $20 each. It isn’t much. That’s something you can do. Lucie's Place helps LGBT homeless kids with counseling, they help them with prepaid cell phones, they give them bus passes, job training. So you can sign an online petition or you can donate $10 and literally put a bus pass in the hands of a homeless gay kid."

Just under $4,500 had been raised when I wrote the post. And less than 24 hours later...


You know what I'm thankful for today? All the awesome Slog readers who donated to Lucie's Place, shared my post on Facebook and Twitter, and helped turn something ugly and destructive—the Duggars and their hate—into something beautiful and constructive. Thanks, gang!