Some Bipartisanship for the "It Gets Better" Project

by Michael Jones · 2010-11-19 14:00:00 UTC
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By now many of us have seen dozens, if not hundreds of "It Gets Better" videos, condemning anti-gay bullying and letting LGBT youth know that there's a better world out there beyond the homophobic hallways of their high schools and middle schools. We've seen politicians like Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and Nancy Pelosi add their voices to the campaign. But so far, we've yet to see an "It Gets Better" message from any prominent politician on the conservative side of the aisle.

That is, until today. But it's not a U.S. conservative politician who is telling LGBT youth that they deserve equality. It's the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron. His message?

"Britain is a place where you can be who you want to be, and we should celebrate that," Cameron said. "So take heart from the kind of country we live in, the values of fairness, responsibility, decency, and what that means for your future."

Cameron goes on to note that it's the job of government to make sure that policies are set in stone so that LGBT people aren't considered second class citizens. Policies like rooting out discrimination in the workplace, or allowing openly LGBT people to serve in the military, or making sure that the government recognizes the dignity and validity of same-sex relationships. You know, kind of the same principles that Cindy McCain talked about last week in a NO H8 video, before backtracking on Twitter.

Dan Savage, the creator of the "It Gets Better" project, noted at The Stranger that Prime Minister Cameron's video caries some extra gravitas, because of Cameron's conservative political leanings.

"Color me shocked, floored, and grateful. And this is the leader of the Conservative Party in the UK. Try to picture a Republican politician making an IGBP video — not one that I'm aware of has — much less the leader of the GOP," Savage wrote. And he's right. Can we picture a message like this coming from Rep. John "No gay troops in my military" Boehner, or Sen. Jim "Gay people shouldn't be public school teachers" DeMint?

Not quite. Check out David Cameron's video below.

Photo credit: YouTube


Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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