Why are billboards telling LGBTQ youth they are loved springing up in US cities?

A new billboard has just gone up in Helena, Montana. It features the progress rainbow flag (originally designed by Daniel Quasar) in the background, superimposed with flowers and the simple message, ‘You are loved.’

It’s the work of Wisconsin-based, trans, non-binary artist Rae Senarighi. He told KTVH that it’s there to send a message to LGBTQ youth.

“I want them to know that they’re loved even though they’re going through these awful attacks, that there are people who love them who are fighting for them. This is really just my plea to like hang in there, hang in there as a young child, or a young person.”

The Helena billboard can be found at the corner of Montana Avenue and Orange Avenue. Funding has been collected from supporters to keep it in place until the end of the year.


A ‘You Are Loved’ billboard in Greeneville, North Carolina (Photo: @transpainter/Instagram)

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The above picture is from the home of East Carolina University, a place I worked. Nice to see this type of progress, because it sure as fuck wasn't that welcoming when I lived there!