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After seeing his son putting on makeup, this dad has the most heartwarming reaction

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Screenshot taken from Youtube

This video went viral back in 2020, but it has recently resurfaced on Reddit: Made Me Smile. And rightfully so. What this father says to his son is so heartwarming that it deserves a second round of publicity. It’s a masterclass on unconditional love.

Daniel Diaz was filming a makeup tutorial when his father walks in (at about 13 minutes into the tutorial). The lights are off and Daniel is trying to hide his fully made up face, complete with false eyelashes and nails.

My Dad Walked In On Me While I Was Doing My Makeup !!😳 | Came Out To My Dad !🏳️🌈 || Daniel Lemuswww.youtube.com

“What are you doing?” The father asks his son.

“I’m recording a video,” Daniel replies shyly.

Though Daniel is nervously laughing, his father takes a more sincere tone.

In a gentle voice, his father starts: “Papa, I’m going to tell you something. Whatever you want to do, papa…”

“Don’t make me cry!” Daniel protests.

“Whatever you want to do,” the father continues, “you’ll be okay. I’ll be okay with you.”

Going in for a hug, he says, “I’m with you. I love you.” Kisses and more “I love yous” can be heard.

Offering some fatherly advice, Daniel’s dad adds, “if this makes you happy, do it. But do it good.”

After dad leaves the room, Daniel turns the lights on and tells the audience, “My dad’s seen me!” which, given the context, takes on a whole new meaning. Daniel might have meant “oh yes, my dad just saw what I was doing,” but underlying that statement, there seems to be a different message: my dad sees ME. The real me. And he loves me.

Acceptance can come from the simplest of gestures, but it makes a world of difference to a young teen trying to form an authentic identity for themselves, especially one that isn’t as commonly accepted by society.

The video received an overwhelming amount of positive comments:

“I’m so happy for him. This is so uncommon in Hispanic households.”

“The way he speaks to you so softly. You have a KING in your house.”

“Yo this one hit different. Your dad is the kind of dad the world needs.“

“Your papá broke every hispanic dad stereotype.”

“‘Do it, but do it good. I’m always with you.’ That’s the part that really got me. This dad is such a role model to young people looking to have children in the future.”

"’You'll be ok.’ There's so much love in that, the reassurance, the assurance that dad will be ok right alongside.”

“That was the part that got me. He doesn’t care if his son is wearing make up or playing football. He wants him be the best he can be at whatever he loves! That is a Dad right there.”

“THIS is how you parent! Unconditional love.”

This story goes to show how big of an impact a supportive parent can have. It not only affects the individual, it changes the community as well. All while breaking stereotypes along the way. Daniel and his dad are showing what’s possible, when we let compassion lead the way.

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3 GoFundMes making school better through small acts of kindness

Images courtesy of Mark Storhaug & Kaiya Bates

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The experiences we have at school tend to stay with us throughout our lives. It's an impactful time where small acts of kindness, encouragement, and inspiration go a long way.

Schools, classrooms, and teachers that are welcoming and inclusive support students' development and help set them up for a positive and engaging path in life.

Here are three of our favorite everyday actions that are spreading kindness on campus in a big way:

Image courtesy of Mark Storhaug

1. Pickleball to Get Fifth Graders Moving

Mark Storhaug is a 5th grade teacher at Kingsley Elementary in Los Angeles, who wants to use pickleball to get his students "moving on the playground again after 15 months of being Zombies learning at home."

Pickleball is a paddle ball sport that mixes elements of badminton, table tennis, and tennis, where two or four players use solid paddles to hit a perforated plastic ball over a net. It's as simple as that.

Kingsley Elementary is in a low-income neighborhood where outdoor spaces where kids can move around are minimal. Mark's goal is to get two or three pickleball courts set up in the schoolyard and have kids join in on what's quickly becoming a national craze. Mark hopes that pickleball will promote movement and teamwork for all his students. He aims to take advantage of the 20-minute physical education time allotted each day to introduce the game to his students.

Help Mark get his students outside, exercising, learning to cooperate, and having fun by donating to his GoFundMe.

Image courtesy of Kaiya Bates

2. Staying C.A.L.M: Regulation Kits for Kids

According to the WHO around 280 million people worldwide suffer from depression. In the US, 1 in 5 adults experience mental illness and 1 in 20 experience severe mental illness, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Kaiya Bates, who was recently crowned Miss Tri-Cities Outstanding Teen for 2022, is one of those people, and has endured severe anxiety, depression, and selective mutism for most of her life.

Through her GoFundMe, Kaiya aims to use her "knowledge to inspire and help others through their mental health journey and to spread positive and factual awareness."

She's put together regulation kits (that she's used herself) for teachers to use with students who are experiencing stress and anxiety. Each "CALM-ing" kit includes a two-minute timer, fidget toolboxes, storage crates, breathing spheres, art supplies and more.

Kaiya's GoFundMe goal is to send a kit to every teacher in every school in the Pasco School District in Washington where she lives.

To help Kaiya achieve her goal, visit Staying C.A.L.M: Regulation Kits for Kids.

Image courtesy of Julie Tarman

3. Library for a high school heritage Spanish class

Julie Tarman is a high school Spanish teacher in Sacramento, California, who hopes to raise enough money to create a Spanish language class library.

The school is in a low-income area, and although her students come from Spanish-speaking homes, they need help building their fluency, confidence, and vocabulary through reading Spanish language books that will actually interest them.

Julie believes that creating a library that affirms her students' cultural heritage will allow them to discover the joy of reading, learn new things about the world, and be supported in their academic futures.

To support Julie's GoFundMe, visit Library for a high school heritage Spanish class.

Do YOU have an idea for a fundraiser that could make a difference? Upworthy and GoFundMe are celebrating ideas that make the world a better, kinder place. Visit upworthy.com/kindness to join the largest collaboration for human kindness in history and start your own GoFundMe.

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Aaron Schlossberg may not lose his license to practice law, but he still has had to face the music.

After being caught on camera in a threatening and racist rant against restaurant employees who were speaking Spanish, critics are calling for the New York attorney to lose his ability to practice law.

While that's unlikely to happen, he's still endured real consequences of losing his office space, generating a ton of one-star Yelp reviews, and facing an avalanche of very public criticism from a united Latinx community and countless allies who are saying "no" to his xenophobic rant.

The public's response sends a powerful message that New Yorkers won't tolerate racism.

That response culminated when a group of local activists organized a community event, highlighted by a mariachi band that played music like "La Cucaracha" outside Schlossberg's Manhattan apartment.

— (@)

New York City residents have loudly responded by saying there's no place for racism and intolerance in their city.

And they're weighing in with their wallets, too. A GoFundMe campaign launched to raise $500 for the mariachi band raised more than twice that amount in just a few hours. In fact, the band reportedly offered to perform for free, and some of the extra funds were used to bring food to the event.

The GoFundMe organizers quickly cut off the donations button and instead asked those who wanted to help to contribute directly to The Immigrant Defense Project, a nonprofit that helps provide legal counsel and representation for undocumented people facing deportation.

The message of unity that arose from the incident is important.

It might be more immediately satisfying to see Schlossberg punished for his outlandish behavior, but sending a powerful message of unity in response is likely to have a greater impact than any professional consequences endured by one bad apple.

This incident is a good reminder that the United States has no official language. While most Americans consider English their primary language, as the saying goes: We are still a nation of immigrants, even if the current administration thinks otherwise.

People are angry, and that's understandable. But a response like this will have a lasting impact.

Schlossberg used his privilege to threaten and demean others without provocation. We still don't even know if the employees were citizens, immigrants, or undocumented. And in the most fundamental way, it does not matter.

They were simply doing their jobs like most of us do on any given day. Everyone has to eat, and most of us have to work.

That's why the overwhelming response to Schlossberg is far more important than his heinous act itself. A message of inclusion, unity, and tolerance is winning out, and it's one that won't be ignored.

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A café got a one-star review for its food but its response was five stars. - Upworthy ›

Her AncestryDNA test had a powerful impact on her, so she asked others to take one, too.

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"I never really understood what it meant to be Peruvian as a child," says Connie Chavez.

Chavez is a self-taught videographer who works at Latina magazine in New York. Growing up in New York, she didn't really have an opportunity to be around other Peruvian people. Her friends dismissed her background, assuming it was the same as any other Latino culture.

"Nobody understood what Peru was," she says. "It made me really feel bad."

Now that she's older, Chavez has had the opportunity to learn about the rich, unique culture that she is a part of. "I'm Peruvian, and I'm proud," she says. Her parents taught her about the history and culture of their Incan ancestors, and that’s what led her to eventually embrace her heritage. "Because of that knowledge, I feel powerful," she says.

Learning about her background boosted Chavez's confidence in who she is — and it made her want to get others involved. Watch her story below:

She wanted to do something about the xenophobia she was seeing in the world, so she started with herself.
Posted by Upworthy on Tuesday, June 13, 2017

It wasn't just as a kid that Chavez faced misunderstandings and mischaracterizations of her culture.

During the 2016 election season, Chavez found herself on the receiving end of xenophobic and racist comments.

"It was last August, and I was feeling really low because I was hearing a lot of xenophobic things, racialized remarks towards me," says Chavez.

She found herself wondering what she could do to start a more productive dialogue around race and culture. Inspired by activist Carmen Perez and her goal of starting "courageous conversations," Chavez wanted to start some courageous conversations of her own.

"It is really hard to talk about race. It's really difficult," she says. "People feel uneasy, but that feeling is what creates progress."

Chavez decided to take an AncestryDNA test as a starting point for these conversations.

As she puts it: "Are you 100% everything? No, you're not, and there's no such thing as a superior race because, essentially, we all have DNA from the entire world."

Chavez's test revealed that she's 59% Native American, 27% European, 2% African, and 3% West Asian.

"After seeing my Ancestry results, I got to admit, I felt really powerful," she says. "I truly felt like a global citizen. It just affirmed what I always believed in, and it really gave me the confidence to reclaim certain parts of myself."

Chavez wanted to share the empowerment she felt with others, so she persuaded her coworkers at Latina to take AncestryDNA tests too.

Chavez worked with AncestryDNA to procure tests for her coworkers, and then the women got together at work to discuss their results. They broadcast the conversation in a Facebook Live video.

Many of Chavez's coworkers felt empowered by their results too.

"I would definitely say I feel a lot more confident in who I am, knowing where I come from," says Barbara Gonzalez, a former staff writer at Latina.

It's not always an easy process; sometimes seeing the results can be emotional and even scary. Chavez says, "It is a deeply profound, sentimental issue for some people, and I understand it. This is a big thing."

But, she says, it's worth it. "It's a beautiful thing to find out who you are."

[rebelmouse-image 19528787 dam="1" original_size="810x544" caption="Latina staffers discussed their results in a Facebook Live video." expand=1]Latina staffers discussed their results in a Facebook Live video.

Chavez's project demonstrates how learning about your ancestry isn't just about the past — it can also help shape the future.

With the help of her coworkers, Chavez used her AncestryDNA results to spark important conversations about race and culture. And she's inspiring others to do the same.

After the Facebook Live broadcast, she says she received numerous emails from people thanking her.

"When I started seeing the responses and the happiness behind every response," says Chavez, "I felt compelled to just continue the work that I'm doing."

"I never really thought of myself as a pioneer for anything, but really, starting this project really made me feel like I had a purpose here."

An alarming number of young black girls are missing in the nation's capital. The whole country should be paying attention.

You've likely read many stories recently pouring out of Washington about health care, Russia, and Supreme Court justices.

You probably haven't, however, read as many about the staggering number of black girls reported missing in D.C. in the past few months.

It'd make sense if you haven't — there's been virtually no news covering it.

— (@)

Just this year, D.C. has 22 unsolved cases of missing youths — most of them involving black and Latinx teens — as of March 22, the Associated Press reported.

Fortunately, alarm bells are beginning to ring far beyond the capital, as people ask the same question many neighborhoods in D.C. have been voicing for a while now: Why doesn't anyone care about this?

Image via iStock.

The news, which is finding viral traction online through the hashtag #MissingDCGirls, was further pushed into the spotlight this week when members of the Congressional Black Caucus called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions and FBI Director James Comey to devote resources to the matter.

"Ten children of color went missing in our nation's capital in a period of two weeks and at first garnered very little media attention," CBC Chairman Cedric Richmond wrote. "That's deeply disturbing."

Emotions boiled over at a March 22 town hall meeting, as one girl asked officials through her tears, "Why?"

“We got to get worried about somebody trying to take us and we can’t even live our life without somebody trying to put their hands on us,” she pled into the microphone, an adult comforting her at her side.

— (@)

The number of young people of color in D.C. vanishing without adequate media coverage is disturbing. But it doesn't quite tell the whole story, according to social justice activist DeRay Mckesson.

“What’s most startling about [the high number of missing black girls] is that this is not a spike," Mckesson explains. "It’s a continued trend.”

D.C. police confirmed Mckesson's assertion. There hasn't been an unusual increase in missing children in Washington in 2017 — what has changed is the police department's new push to publicize information on missing children via social media. Naturally, the move has brought more attention to the issue than in years past.

What's happening in D.C. highlights another disturbing trend happening all over America.

Missing black girls — and missing people of color, in general — are often overlooked by the media.

— (@)

Research shows that a disproportionately high number of black youths go missing, but news coverage devoted to their disappearances is lacking compared to their white peers, Ebony reported. It's even worse when you look solely at black girls and women.

Why the discrepancy? Throughout our society, whiteness has been deemed normal — the standard — while anything non-white becomes the "other" and is therefore seen as less important. Mckesson explains, “That bias exists in the media as well."

In other words, as activist Shaun King wrote for The Daily News, missing people of color "don't get the Elizabeth Smart or Natalee Holloway treatment."

It's just another way institutionalized racism and implicit bias affects our way of life.

Image via iStock.

The fact so many people are suddenly alarmed by what's happening in D.C. reflects, among other things, the persistent lack of awareness around missing black and brown people, Mckesson says. It also points to how many of us are quick to dismiss the realities of human and sex trafficking here in the U.S. (Although D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser reported no evidence linking the missing girls to trafficking, some advocates, including the Black and Missing Foundation, aren't so sure.)

Reversing institutionalized racism in our media is admittedly a daunting task, but you do have the power to make a difference.

Learn more about why missing people of color are marginalized in our media. Speak out if you see this injustice happening in your own community. And make sure to share the names and faces of those who need our help by using platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

Shining a light on this problem and helping those in need is the best way to ensure progress, Mckesson says. “There’s no better answer than visibility."

Personal mementos are being unearthed to celebrate the history of the queer Latinx family.

There's a fair amount of LGBTQ history, but it's predominantly white. Which is why a couple of Latino queer curators got to work building a first-of-its-kind LGBTQ exhibit.

Juliana Delgado Lopera and Ángel Rafael "Ralph" Vázquez-Concepción's new seminal show "Noche de Ambiente" will pay tribute to the Latino LGBTQ movement.

The word "ambiente" means atmosphere or environment in Spanish. It's also a term proudly adopted by the Latino LGBTQ community.

Recently, the term has become a way to celebrate everything that makes the Latino LGBTQ community culturally unique. The word also honors a spirit of resistance against adversity, as Latino culture has traditionally been quite homophobic.

The show shines a spotlight on Latino drag performance and LGBTQ and AIDS activism in San Francisco from the 1970s to the 1990s.

Right now, the exhibit is at the GLBT History Museum in San Francisco. It runs from Oct. 28, 2016, through February 2017. Members of the museum can experience the exhibit for free, while non-members pay $5.

Lopera, a queer woman, decided to launch this show because she wanted to pay tribute to people who played a crucial role in nurturing the queer Latinx community.

"This is my history, my community. The Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Colombians that paved the way for me to exist fully in my queer Latinidad," she says.

Latino queers have not had a place (or a voice) in our history until very recently, and watching that change has been amazing.

The "Ambiente" collection showcases everything from documents to photographs to flyers and certificates. Here are 13 of the most intriguing photographs and documents on display:

1. The exhibit celebrates Cuban transgender activist Adela Vázquez.

Trans performer and activist Adela Vázquez (bottom), Tamara Ching (middle), and a friend in the 1990s. Photo courtesy of Adela Vázquez and Juliana Delgado Lopera.

2. It highlights comedy on the "queer Latino tip" like "Full Frontal Rudity."

Poster for "Full Frontal Rudity" shown at Theatre Rhinoceros in the 1990s. Courtesy of Lito Sandoval.

3. It includes priceless photos like this one taken on New Year's 1994...

New Year's 1994 at Esta Noche by Jim Jess. Courtesy of Augie Robles.

4. ...and a letter from the mayor to gay rights activist George Raya.

A handwritten letter of thanks from San Francisco Mayor-Elect George Moscone to George Raya in 1975. Courtesy of George Raya Papers, GLBT Historical Society.

5. There's also an amazing moment of liberation captured in time.

New Year's 1994 at Esta Noche by Jim Jess. Courtesy of Augie Robles.

6. And "exclusively for Chicana-Latina butches." Why have we never seen these?

A poster from the 1990s of a project to combat AIDS. Courtesy of Adela Vázquez and Juliana Delgado Lopera.

7. This show finally gives queer Latinos a spotlight.

1994 New Year's at Esta Noche. Image by Jim Jess. Courtesy of Augie Robles.

8. You'll also see a flyer for a project to fight AIDS called "Porno, Polaroids & God." Catchy name.

A 1990s poster for "Proyecto Contra SIDA Por Vida's" (Project against AIDS) Porno, Polaroids & God Workshop. Courtesy of Jesse James Johnson.

9. Two words: Simply. Fabulous. This photo is amazing!

Adela Vázquez and Acasio Leon, aka "Tina." Courtesy of Adela Vázquez.

10. This certificate is a hidden gem of inclusivity we're seeing for the first time.

Certificate of Honor given to AGUILAS in 1995 by city Supervisor Susan Leal for the fifth annual Latino Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Visual Arts Show. Courtesy of Juan Alberto Tam.

11. The word "celebration" comes to mind with this photo. And deservedly so, thanks to the "Noche de Ambiente" exhibit.

1994 New Year's at Esta Noche. Image by Jim Jess. Courtesy of Augie Robles.

Most of the items in the exhibit are personal mementos. They were saved in photo albums and boxes by people who played a crucial role in building the LGBTQ community between 1970 and 1990. The curators began collecting them five years ago in preparation for the exhibit.

Lopera says she hopes to shine a light on folks like Adela Vázquez in this exhibit.

Vázquez, a transgender Cuban activist, took Lopera under her wing and introduced her to all things Latinx upon moving to San Francisco.

Lopera says, "Listening to Adela, her friends and people in my chosen family retell their stories of the '70s, '80s, and '90s while, at the same time, seeing no representation of their voices in mainstream queer history, awaken[ed] something in me."

Vázquez-Concepción, the exhibit's other curator, says he is keenly interested in how art exhibitions are apparatuses for brokering identities.

This exhibit helped him find a place in the conversation about queer Latinx visual and performance artists in San Francisco over the last 30 years.

He tells LGBT Weekly he heard the word "ambiente" a lot when he was a kid in the ’80s. "Later I came to understand the shielding effect it has. Like a spell, it turns the space it refers to into Latinx queer domain."

This powerful exhibit is a piece of forgotten history, helping all of us learn about the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans AIDS organizations that paved the way for incredible activism today.

"Latinos are an afterthought in all U.S. history, including queer history," Lopera says. "Here, in this exhibit, we're at the center. Our stories are the focal point. And, really, it's past overdue."

Couldn't have said it better myself.

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After seeing his son putting on makeup, this dad has the most heartwarming reaction ›