The Prom stars Ariana DeBose and Jo Ellen Pellman have teamed up to launch the Unruly Hearts Initiative, an effort to direct the film’s audience to various organizations that support LGBTQ+ youth, in addition to providing resources to those in need. Among the groups highlighted are the Point Foundation, Covenant House, and the Human Rights Campaign scholarship database.
The movie musical, which debuted on Netflix December 11, follows two high school students as they struggle with coming out and homophobia in a small Indiana town—issues that are a reality for many queer youth living across America today. Pellman and DeBose play the central lesbian couple Emma Nolan and Alyssa Greene, respectively.
“Helping young people find resources in the face of adversity and directing families towards tools for acceptance and understanding is something I’m extremely passionate about,” says Tony nominee DeBose (Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, the upcoming West Side Story film adaptation).
“I spent much of my youth unaware that these organizations even existed, and that's one of the reasons why we wanted to create the Unruly Hearts Initiative: to connect people to valuable resources at the time when they might need them the most,” adds Pellman.
Click here to visit the Unruly Hearts Initiative.
