When Miley Cyrus won the Video Music Award for video of the year, she used the moment to advocate for homeless youth. Instead of coming to the stage to accept her award, she sent Jesse, a man who said he had recently been living on the streets of Los Angeles.
Jesse said, “I am accepting this award on behalf of the 1.6 million runaways and homeless youth in the United States who are starving and lost and scared for their lives. I know, because I am one of those people.”
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He then encouraged viewers to visit Cyrus's Facebook page to help raise funds for My Friend's Place, an organization that helps homeless people from the age of 12 to 25.
Members of GLAAD staff were at the LGBT Rally for Homeless Youth earlier this summer, which kicked off the National Campaign for Youth Shelter, a campaign by the Ali Forney Center and the National Coalition for the Homeless to create awareness and get the ball rolling on prioritizing the protection of homeless youth in our country.
During the broadcast of the Video Music Awards, MTV ran ads for its Look Different campaign - which aims to give youth the tools and the forum to discuss hidden racial, gender and LGBT inequality in society. Keep up to date with all new Look Different campaign developments through their Twitter @LookDifferent and on Tumblr.