Josh Hutcherson Looks Forward To The Day He Can Close His LGBT Charity

It’s a strange thing about a lot of charities – they’re very much needed, but it’s difficult not to hope for a day when they can close down because the problem has been sorted out. That’s tru for Hunger Games star Hosh Hutcherson, who co-founded Straight But Not Narrow, to help fight against homophobia in schools and to ‘positively influence the perception of and behavior towards LGBTQ peers.’

The organisation has grown massively over the last couple of years, with its work touching thousands of young people, whether they themselves are LGBT or not. However Josh wants one day to be able to shut down the charity, telling eOnline, “There is still so much to do. It’s not only even about legislation. It starts there by making it legally acceptable but socially there is so much prejudice and bias that is integrated into our culture and that’s going to be around for while. I hope one day in my lifetime we get to close the door on this group but there’s a lot more work to do.”

However, he has no doubts about the importance of what Straight But Not Narrow is currently doing, saying “I think one of the moments that was really rewarding was probably about two years ago when we got an email from a young guy in Florida. He was like, ’I’m 14 years old and I go to a very religious middle school and it’s been a really hard thing for me to come out and find support because I was afraid I wouldn’t be accepted in my community. But because of Straight But Not Narrow and the support that you show me from the straight community, it’s made me see a really different side of things and I’m so happy now that I came out to my friends and family and they all love me and support me so much.’”