Singer and star of the CW’s Vampire Diaries Kat Graham dedicated her performance of “Put Your Graffiti On Me” on Tuesday’s The Ellen DeGeneres Show to Jennifer Tyrrell, a mother of four from Bridgeport, Ohio who was ousted from the Boy Scouts of America last month because she is gay.
Graham also recorded a video (above) backstage directing her fans to sign and share a petition started by Jennifer on Change.org, calling for her to be reinstated as den leader and for the Boy Scouts to end their long-held policy banning gay scouts and gay scout leaders.
“I want to send a message to the Boy Scouts of America, and for any of you guys who are watching this video for Ellen, I hope you guys will go and sign the petition to change the world, starting one scout at a time,” said Graham in her video message. Her message comes the same week that a prominent Eagle Scout, Zach Wahls, whose YouTube video in support of his two gay moms went viral last year, will deliver the 275,000 signatures on Jennifer’s petition to the Boy Scouts of America’s National Annual Meeting in Orlando.
“It’s such an honor to be recognized by Kat Graham and scores of other celebrities,” said Tyrrell. “This petition is drawing support from hundreds of thousands of people around the country who want to see the Boy Scouts end their divisive policy banning gay youth and gay leaders. That includes thousands of scouts, current scouts, and former scouts who want to see the Boy Scouts do the right thing and stop discriminating against gay Americans.”
Celebrities including Julianne Moore, Josh Hutcherson, Ricky Martin, Max Adler and Grant Gustin (Glee), Tamra Barney, Chaz Bono, Tabatha Coffey, Trevor Donovan, Fran Drescher, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Perez Hilton, LZ Granderson, Lisa Lampanelli, Joshua Jackson, Jane Leeves, Sean Maher, Kelly Osbourne, Kyle Richards, Darryl Stephens, Kim Wayans, Rita Wilson, and Lisa VanderPump have also tweeted or showed support for Jennifer’s petition.
“With so many Americans spanning race, political and faith traditions speaking out against the discriminatory policy, how can the Boy Scouts of America continue to ignore our requests to meet and discuss this policy?” said Jennifer Tyrrell. “By keeping this policy, the Boy Scouts of America are hurting young children and teaching them that discrimination is okay.”
