YouTube star
calls for pride on the Web

Gay YouTube regular William Sledd urged followers of his video column, Ask a Gay Man, to "just come out" to celebrate Pride Month. The video, posted June 1, has received more than 800,000 views and more than 26,000 text comments as of press time.

Nearly 300 video responses have been posted, several of which feature displays of pride and support.

QueerSighted.com's Kenneth Hill called Sledd's project an online pride parade.

"Delivered with a range of emotion and creativity by people from all walks of life--including a ton of straight supporters--the sum of these is nothing less than a tapestry of humanity uploaded to the Web to connect all of us together," Hill wrote Sunday in a blog post. "What's most inspiring is the number of young people posting, young straight people standing up for their gay friends, as well as brave gay youth who at early ages are able to embrace who they are."

Watch Sledd's video on YouTube.com. (The Advocate)