A Milton, Massachusetts couple, LeeMichael McLean and Bryan Furze, turned some weird homophobic harassment into an opportunity for their Boston suburb community to come out and support them, raise a lot of money for their local public schools’ Gender and Sexuality Alliance, and sell a very cool t-shirt while they were at it.
Reports the Boston Globe:
The harassment began arriving by mail five years ago, a mysterious string of 30 magazine subscriptions ordered under fake, homophobic names that were delivered to a gay married couple in Milton who had never asked for them.
LeeMichael McLean and Bryan Furze had a 2-year-old son, were making a mark in local government, and now faced an unnerving campaign of anonymous bigotry.
“We were scared,” Furze recalled. …
After years of dead ends, police recently were led to a suspect, a neighbor who lives a few doors from the couple and had shared hellos, waves, and casual conversation with them. Now, Milton police are seeking a charge of criminal harassment against the man in Quincy District Court, according to Deputy Chief James O’Neil. …
[T]he latest fake subscription — ordered this spring for “Michelle Fruitzey,” a homophobic play on the couple’s names — has become a rallying cry in this suburban enclave on the Boston line.
The hashtag “iammichellefruitzey” is gaining popularity and building solidarity for the couple, who have received more than 300 messages of support on social media. The slogan also is bolstering the couple’s fund-raising campaign to benefit the Gender and Sexuality Alliance in the Milton public schools, as well as adorning T-shirts being printed for contributors.
So far, more than $12,000 has been collected through Fundly, a fund-raising website, Furze said.
That was on Sunday. A quick check of the guys’ Fundly web page a couple days after their story hit the Boston Globe and they’ve raised almost $20,000 for Milton public school’s GSA, with almost 300 donors pitching in. You can also check out and order one of their cool t-shirts there. Fingers crossed supplies last!
“For us, this is not really about broadcasting the bad. It’s about embracing the good and finding ways to blow it up into something bigger,” Furze told the Globe.
Read the complete Boston Globe story here.
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