LGBTQ rights are a crucial subject when we speak of world culture. And the time we live in right now is the most critical time to promote the LGBTQ people’s rights. They need our support, our knowledge, and our awareness now more than ever. Getting an education on this topic, or educating yourself is the only way to ensure the spread of awareness. Celebrity influencer Josh Helfgott agrees with this assessment from personal experience. 

The lack of knowledge about the issues troubling LGBTQ people have been crushing. Despite numerous attempts, even governments of major countries worldwide have discouraged political discourse in the field of LGBTQ studies. Sometimes, libraries are asked to remove books that discuss such themes. Books are also banned outright in some countries.

Nevertheless, for those who still wish to educate themselves, the internet remains an open avenue. Josh Helfgott learned as much as he could from the internet, researching topics, frequenting libraries as and when needed.

Helfgott’s childhood was marked by brutal school bullying because he was different. Even before he felt ready to tell people about his sexual orientation, he was bullied for being gay. Since he grew up with two lesbian mothers, he received a fitting education in the rights of LGBTQ people like himself. He believes this was quite important to him growing up. 

“This is why I learn what I have learned all these years. Studying LGBTQ history and culture helped me advocate LGBTQ rights effectively,” he said. Promoting knowledge on his channel was necessary for those without access to such information. Many families are still not accepting of relations that have a different sexual orientation. Helfgott attempts to be informative primarily to serve the uninformed. 

To support the youths whose parents had abandoned them for being true to themselves, Helfgott expressed his support by posting a video during Pride Month in 2020 saying, “If you have an unsupportive family during Pride Month, Congratulations – I’m your family now. And I am so proud of you.” Later, he received more than 6,000 responses to the video in which individuals thanked him for his love and support.

“The history of LGBTQ rights is as important as its present. Unless we understand the struggle ourselves and help non-LGBTQ people to understand it, things will keep getting difficult for us,” he says. Josh Helfgott now has more than half a million followers on TikTok and over 100,000 followers on Instagram. He regularly posts about the history of LGBTQ culture and history on social media.