When not depicting us as sexual predators and pedophiles the Christofascist like to promote the myth that gays are effeminate "Nellie boys" and other less than flattering things. The truth never means anything to these people. Enter 20 year old Carson Crane (pictured above) who is out to conquer the so-called "Seven Summits" - the highest mountain on each of Earths seven continents. Besides changing the image of gays, Crane is also using his endeavor as a fundraiser for the Trevor Project. So far he has successfully climber five of the seven highest peaks and will so be taking on Mt. Everest. After that, he plans to climb Mt. McKinley in Alaska. I wish him great success. Here are highlights from the South China Morning Post:
An American student who once attended school in Hong Kong is well on his way to becoming the first openly gay mountaineer to conquer the highest peak on each continent - known as the "Seven Summits".
Cason Crane, 20, already has five of those mountains under his belt and was yesterday due to begin his quest to scale the highest of them all, Mount Everest. That will be followed by his final target, Mount McKinley in Alaska, which will make him the fifth-youngest person to achieve the feat.
Crane's seven-summit challenge is also a fund-raising effort for The Trevor Project, an organisation based in the United States that is the country's sole 24-hour suicide lifeline for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning (LGBTQ) youth. Crane calls his LGBTQ awareness-building initiative The Rainbow Summits Project, and he puts a rainbow flag on his tent on each of the mountains.
He was spurred into action following the suicide of New York university student Tyler Clementi, who jumped from a bridge in September 2010 after his roommate and others targeted him through cyber-bullying over his romantic relationships. "I didn't know Tyler at all," Crane said. "But I felt like I knew him." Crane himself has experienced some bullying at school, but that has not stopped him from becoming a successful openly gay athlete since age 15.
The oldest of five children, he showed early signs of mountaineering skills. At just 15 years old, he went with his mother, a mountaineer and ultramarathon athlete, up Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain. He has also reached the summits of Mount Aconcagua in Argentina; Mount Elbrus, a dormant volcano in Russia; the Carstensz Pyramid or Puncak Jaya in Indonesia; and the Vinson Massif, Antarctica's highest peak.
Being out, proud and destroying stereotypes is something that all of us can do. And in the process, we often open minds and change hearts. Kudos to Crane. To learn more about his ambitious effort, check out his web page here.
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