Growing up isn’t easy. Many young people face daily tormenting and bullying, leading them to feel like they have nowhere to turn. This is especially true for LGBT kids and teens, who often hide their sexuality for fear of bullying. Without other openly gay adults and mentors in their lives, they can't imagine what their future may hold. In many instances, gay and lesbian adolescents are taunted — even tortured — simply for being themselves.
Justin Aaberg. Billy Lucas. Cody Barker. Asher Brown. Seth Walsh. Raymond Chase. Tyler Clementi. They were tragic examples of youth who could not believe that it does actually get better.
While many of these teens couldn’t see a positive future for themselves, we can. The It Gets Better Project was created to show young LGBT people the levels of happiness, potential, and positivity their lives will reach – if they can just get through their teen years. The It Gets Better Project wants to remind teenagers in the LGBT community that they are not alone — and it WILL get better.
What is the It Gets Better Project?
In September 2010, syndicated columnist and author Dan Savage created a YouTube video with his partner Terry to inspire hope for young people facing harassment. In response to a number of students taking their own lives after being bullied in school, they wanted to create a personal way for supporters everywhere to tell LGBT youth that, yes, it does indeed get better.
Two months later, the It Gets Better Project (TM) has turned into a worldwide movement, inspiring over 10,000 user-created videos viewed over 35 million times. To date, the project has received submissions from celebrities, organizations, activists, politicians and media personalities, including President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Adam Lambert, Anne Hathaway, Colin Farrell, Matthew Morrison of "Glee", Joe Jonas, Joel Madden, Ke$ha, Sarah Silverman, Tim Gunn, Ellen DeGeneres, Suze Orman, the staffs of The Gap, Google, Facebook, Pixar, the Broadway community, and many more. For us, every video changes a life. It doesn’t matter who makes it.
The website www.itgetsbetter.org is a place where young people who are lesbian, gay, bi, or trans can see how love and happiness can be a reality in their future. It’s a place where our straight allies can visit and support their friends and family members. It’s a place where people can share their stories, take the It Gets Better Project pledge, watch videos of love and support, and seek help through the Trevor Project and GLSEN.
On March 22, 2011, six months following the launch of the campaign, the It Gets Better Project book was released. The book , It Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating a Life Worth Living is on-sale wherever books are sold. It includes essays and new material from more than 100 contributors, including celebrities, religious leaders, politicians, parents, educators, youth just out of high school, and many more. All proceeds from the book will be donated to LGBT youth charities. For more detials and to purchase the book, visit HTTP://ITGETSBETTER.ORG/BOOK. />
Who is Dan Savage?
Thanks man...
No person should ever be made to feel that the way they are, whether straight, gay, bi, or trans-gender, makes them any less of a human being. In the UK we focus so much on how we should have race equality, yet, I hear so little about equality based on a persons preferred gender.
I for one, will admit that I used to be pretty ignorant to these things, and in some ways I still am. No one's perfect, but since I started college last year and made friends with people who are gay, I am a hell of a lot more tolerant. I've heard what they've had to put up with and it's just not right. The way people are made to feel that they have nothing to live for is unacceptable. Unfortunately, it's too late for some people, but this message is certainly one which needs to be listened to rather then which celebrity is doing what, which seems to be the world we live in now.
To me it's just the worst hypocrisy ever. Have a governing document saying all men are created equal, and say "Oh, well lets just say only straight people are American then." I thought freedom was unconditional, but I guess not. Regardless of politics though, people who are LGBT talk the same, walk the same, think the same, and feel all the same. They're human.
I'm half expecting someone to type a comment along the lines of "Homosexuality is bad and a sin because the bible says so!" Or some bullshit. Let me cut said person off now. If your holy book says people should burn in hell for being themselves, your religion sucks and has no place in the 21st century.
It's the same holy propaganda that says to love everyone, yet damns a person for not loving your idol. Bigotry is a martyred attempt to exterminate our race, yet call yourself noble.
Homosexuality is a sin. However, so is lying, stealing, cheating, hate, and gluttony. You find me one religious person who says you aren't loved by God because you are homosexual and I will show you a liar. Any religious person living in a house bigger than absolutely needed or driving a car that is expensive, they are practicing gluttony. These same people will have no problem telling you that all sin is the same in the eyes of God. So what they are really telling you, without knowing it, is that they are just as bad(usually worse) as any homosexual they are condemning. Yes, I believe in God. I am not ashamed to admit that. I am also not ashamed to admit that He loves EVERYONE equally. No matter their sexual orientation.
Well, if he loves everyone regardless of orientation, why is homosexuality a sin? It's something you're born with, not a deliberate act. It makes no logical sense to group it with lying and stealing, as it seems you've just done. Then saying that God loves you anyway is a direct contradiction. If that's the case why would the bible mention homosexuality at all? I think your hurting your own cause in some ways with this argument.
Homosexuality itself is not the sin. It's acting on those feelings and having sex with your own gender. We are also born with the urge to have sex, but the real sin is acting on them and fornicating. And God loves the person, not what they do or don't do.
So what your saying is, it's wrong to act on those urges, even though you're born with them and can't help it any more than I can help wanting to have sex with a woman? Yet, if it's two guys, that's somehow an affront to god? Also, how can god blame a person, for acting on the urges that he created them with? It seems completely psychotic to make some people this way, and then say that it's wrong for them to act on those feelings. Especially if he loves them anyway! That's not love, it's borderline torture.
Homosexual acts being sinful makes no sense, surely it doesn't hurt anyone else? Why should it be grouped with other "sins"?
My thoughts? I don't see what that has to do with anything at all. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume his boyfriend was prom king, in which case more schools need to be like yours.
I find that absolutely revolting. Prom QUEEN is for females. Just because a guy is gay doesn't make him a female. He is a still a man no less. Calling a gay man a queen is offensive slang. That should not be tolerated.
You're saying it was unfair to the girls who weren't voted prom queen, when he was voted queen for being gay. I'm saying it's horrible to do that to him if it's only because he's gay and the title is a form of slang, but all you seem to worry about is the girls who were denied prom queen.
nope. im only 15 and have lived in a gay neighborhood my whole life. i go 2 a school where most of my friends are gay or lesbian. so i dont really know wut words are offensive 2 them because no one goes out of their way 2 bother them or call them names. so queen being a form of slang is new 2 me.
I find it absolutely fascinating that i went to an inner city school full of Hispanic and other minorities that came from bad backgrounds and upbringings and in my four years at that high school there was maybe one case of bullying and that was taken care of by the student quickly. However go twenty minuets away to the high class neighborhood school and my brother saw about 5 cases walking down a pretty short hall, so much for them being better than us
It's your #0 visit here. It's about time to stop lurking!
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No person should ever be made to feel that the way they are, whether straight, gay, bi, or trans-gender, makes them any less of a human being. In the UK we focus so much on how we should have race equality, yet, I hear so little about equality based on a persons preferred gender.
I for one, will admit that I used to be pretty ignorant to these things, and in some ways I still am. No one's perfect, but since I started college last year and made friends with people who are gay, I am a hell of a lot more tolerant. I've heard what they've had to put up with and it's just not right. The way people are made to feel that they have nothing to live for is unacceptable. Unfortunately, it's too late for some people, but this message is certainly one which needs to be listened to rather then which celebrity is doing what, which seems to be the world we live in now.
Homosexual acts being sinful makes no sense, surely it doesn't hurt anyone else? Why should it be grouped with other "sins"?