How It Gets Better for LGBT Youth

It’s always the simplest ideas the turn out to be the most effective, isn’t it?

Dan Savage looked at the rash of suicides among LGBT youth and realized that what these kids needed was to hear from people who had survived what they were going through, who could reassure them, honestly, that “it gets better.” Of course, in this world, most schools and churches wouldn’t let a gay person anywhere near their kids to do this. But in the age of YouTube that’s not necessary.

Dan and his partner Terry recorded and posted the first It Gets Better video on a brand new YouTube channel they set up. Now there are 2,000 videos, and the project has just passed 10 million views. In case you haven’t been keeping up, Hilary Clinton, the cast of Broadway shows Memphis and Wicked, staff members from Google, Tim Gunn, and Glee’s Chris Colfer are only a few of the latest contributors to the It Gets Better collection. They encourage young people, remind them of the support available from The Trevor Project and sometimes even offer personal phone numbers and emails for anyone who needs to talk. (I’m embarrassed to say that my husband and I have been traveling a lot and haven’t managed to record a video during our few days at home — but I have written about it, posted and Tweeted about it, and sent people to it as often as I can find an excuse.)

The impact of this project is enormous. Not only are those 10 million+ views pretty damn impressive, but the immediate participation of actors, political figures, fashion and design leaders and ordinary people indicates a groundswell of real concern and engagement. In other words, this project, which provides a simple, practical response to a heartbreaking, seemingly insoluble tragedy, has energized us all. It has motivated people gay and straight and of all other persuasions to lend their support to LGBT youth — to stand up, speak out, and say publicly that these kids deserve respect and can have hope for a better future.

As an antidote to all the negative messages gays and lesbians get slapped with every day, this is pretty powerful stuff. Anti-equality organizations, churches, and conservative politicians may go on TV and declare that gay and lesbian people are not as good as straight people, that our relationships are inferior or that we don’t have the right to defend our country or have a family or receive the same respect and regard as everybody else, but the thousands of people who have participated in the It Gets Better Project are revealing those messages for the lies they are, and are offering an alternative.

As I said above, I haven’t recorded a video (yet!) but I have worked to publicize and share the work of those who have, and to bring these issues to the forefront. Dan Savage is now asking everyone who cares about gay and lesbian youth to do the same, and to sign a pledge that says so — promising, in part, to help “spread this message among my friends, family, and neighbors… [to] speak up against intolerance whenever I see it…”

And, of course, to let everyone know that it does get better for gay and lesbian youth, starting with signing the pledge and adding as many voices as we can to spread this message. And that is what will truly, finally, make it get better more than anything else.

Photo credit: YouTube