Giving Compass' Take:

• Rainbow Railroad is a nonprofit organization spearheading a social media campaign to highlight LGBTQ individuals that are persecuted in countries for their sexual orientation.

• How are LGBTQ individuals treated differently in countries that have harsher laws governing their sexual orientation? What opportunities do they have when they choose to leave? 

• Learn about defending LGBTQI human rights around the world.

To spread awareness around how difficult — and sometimes even dangerous — coming out can be for LGBTQ people around the world, the nonprofit Rainbow Railroad is encouraging people to change their social media profile pictures to an anonymous avatar with the colors of the Pride flag.

Rainbow Railroad is an organization that helps persecuted LGBTQ individuals leave their home countries and settle in safer ones. The social media campaign launched Friday in honor of National Coming Out Day, a day that celebrates the LGBTQ community and their coming out stories.

The avatar doesn't have any facial features. That's deliberate. The organization hopes to symbolize the countless LGBTQ people around the world who cannot come out, according to a press release.

The initiative is part of a larger campaign called #HelpOthersOut, which launched Tuesday and aims to raise awareness around the fact that LGBTQ people in several countries can't come out due to safety concerns.

By the end of 2018, there were almost 71 million forcibly displaced people globally, according a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees report.

"LGBTQI individuals are an extremely vulnerable section of that," said Winnie Luk, Rainbow Railroad's managing director.

In addition to the social media campaign, Rainbow Railroad hopes to raise $100,000, which will be used to help LGBTQ people find a safe haven in another country, Andrea Houston, Rainbow Railroad's communications and development officer, wrote in an email.

Read the full article about protecting LGBTQ individuals by Siobhan Neela-Stock at Mashable.