#ProudToBe campaign: The story behind the most hated video on Youtube

YouTube has been a proud supporter of the LGBT pride month since 2013 with large-scale campaigns and has launched a 2016 initiative with the hashtag #ProudToBe. Their video, which shines the spotlight on transgender, agender, gender-queer identities among others, features the coming out stories of famous YouTubers like Gigi Gorgeous and Ingrid Nilsen.

The one and a half minute video also encourages people to share their own coming out story, and post a photo or video with the hashtag #ProudToBe to engage in a larger conversation about what pride means to them. Posted as a tribute to the Orlando shooting, the video has gathered more than 8.8 million views and has garnered more than 185k likes.

[caption id=“attachment_2858682” align=“alignleft” width=“385”]  #ProudToBe Campaign Video. Image Courtesy: YouTube[/caption] But this is also the most disliked video on Youtube, with more than 243k dislikes, thanks to a hate campaign that urged homophobes to spew nonsense in the comments section and vote the video down with dislikes. Though the Youtube comments have now been deleted, they continue to live on in sub-reddit and twitter threads with the same #ProudToBe hashtag. A Youtube user read some of the comments out in this video which are, without a doubt, horrendous. Many more Youtubers have responded with their own coming out story and expressed outrage at the video being most hated. The attack was deemed one of the most vicious terrorist attacks in the USA since the 9-11 twin tower tragedies. But the LGBT community has a long history of hate crimes against its members.  Data points to the LGBT group being the most likely target of hate crime as compared to any other minorities in America. Take the example of Harvey Milk in 1978, Brandon Teena in 1993 and Matthew Shepard in 1998. These murder cases are also an example of human depravity at its worst. India is still struggling to legalise the concept of homosexuality, and of course there is a long time to go for gay marriage to be accepted. But even with the constant put downs, the LGBT community stands united against all the hatred it receives. Overwhelming response of love and positivity poured out from all fronts after the Orlando attacks. Even with this video, though the online trolls have tried their best to discourage people from propagating the message of the video, it had precisely the opposite effect. The cause was dragged more into the spotlight and the many more YouTubers have started hash tagging their video as #ProudToBe to create a dialogue about LGBT awareness. While there is a atmosphere of homophobia within people, the outrage against this being the most hated video on Youtube does make you think that a few good things are left in this world.