The Advocate today revealed that YouTube star Tyler Oakley was the winner of its digital cover contest for the "Forty Under Forty" issue.
We’re thrilled to present our @TylerOakley digital cover photo. Retweet & show the world! pic.twitter.com/AJ1WiSwq7o
— The Advocate (@TheAdvocateMag) August 18, 2014
The Advocate praised Oakley and said, " As LGBT people, the community should be cheering Oakley's success for what it means about the world to come. Because of his videos, in the future, millions of adults could say they grew up with a gay friend."
The Advocate noted the "power of the behemoth that is YouTube," which Oakley uses to tell his story. GLAAD announced earlier that Google and YouTube will be honored at the GLAAD Gala San Francisco: Game Changers on September 13, 2014. YouTube has a long history of support for the LGBT community, including 2013's #ProudToLove campaign, during which the company's logo was changed to be pride themed for the first time in the company's history. This year, YouTube unveiled its #ProudToPlay campaign – a celebration of LGBT equality in sports. The campaign was featured on the YouTube and Google homepages and included the voices of LGBT athletes and YouTubers (including Oakley!).
The Advocate also announced other honorees in "The Networkers" category, and said that honorees in other categories will be rolled out this week. Stay tuned for those honorees!