It Get's Better

Bullied to death.

Give 'Em Hope It Gets Better youtube campaign tells Gay, Lesbian, Bi, Transgender ( GLBT ) youth not to choose suicide.

Suicide rates for GLBT youth is four times greater and they are also 190 percent more likely to use drugs and alcohol then straight kids. Could the cause be the kids are bullied, tortured, murdered, and ostracized around the world, in schools, in religions, the workplace and at home?

Share this page and give hope. Even if you prevent just one suicide or raise awareness for tolerance and kindness you have done a great thing!

Tell them it get's better!



Dan Savage, popular syndicated advice columnist of "Savage Love" from Seattle, Washington starts a youtube channel to help prevent teen suicide.

Dan gets the inspiration for the idea after yet another gay teen commits suicide after being bullied to death in school.

The project calls on people to upload their own video messages of hope!

http://www.youtube.com/itgetsbetterproject

If you're gay or lesbian or bi or trans, and you've ever read about a kid like Billy Lucas and thought, "Fuck, I wish I could've told him that it gets better," this is your chance. We can't help Billy, but there are lots of other Billys out there—other despairing LGBT kids who are being bullied and harassed, kids who don't think they have a future—and we can help them....



It Get's Better Canada
http://www.youtube.com/user/ItGetsBetterCanada

LGBT Canadians share their stories for the It Gets Better Project, including Rick Mercer, Rex Harrington, Diane Flacks, Tommy Smythe, Enza Anderson, the cast of MTV's 1g5g, Joeffer Caoc, David Dixon, Deb Pearce, Peter Fallico and many more.




Videos Posted by The Ellen DeGeneres Show
Ellen speaks out about the bullying crisis on her facebook fan page
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=592846987806
"Over 50,000 people have shared my video about bullying. How can I thank you? This is important to me and I hope you will continue to share it."



Rapper 50 Cent encourages gay men to commit suicide
http://www.examiner.com/celebrity-headlines-in-houston/rapper-50-cent-encourages-gay-men-to-commit-suicide


Dan announced his youtube channel campaign in his popular syndicated advice column called Savage Love. Here is the excerpt from the Georgia Straight Magazine in Vancouver, B.C. who publish Dan's column.

It Gets Better
http://www.itgetsbetterproject.com/

SAVAGE LOVE: Give 'Em Hope
Georgia Straight Magazine, September 22, 2010


Dear all LGBT teenagers: It really does get better

I just read about a gay teenager in Indiana—Billy Lucas—who killed himself after being taunted by his classmates. Now his Facebook memorial page is being defaced by people posting homophobic comments. It’s just heartbreaking and sickening. What the hell can we do?

> Gay Bullying Victim Who Survived

Another gay teenager in another small town has killed himself—hope you’re pleased with yourselves, Tony Perkins and all the other “Christians” out there who oppose antibullying programs (and give actual Christians a bad name).

Billy Lucas was just 15 when he hanged himself in a barn on his grandmother’s property. He reportedly endured intense bullying at the hands of his classmates—classmates who called him a fag and told him to kill himself. His mother found his body.

Nine out of 10 gay teenagers experience bullying and harassment at school, and gay teens are four times likelier to attempt suicide. Many LGBT kids who do kill themselves live in rural areas, exurbs, and suburban areas, places with no gay organizations or services for queer kids.

“My heart breaks for the pain and torment you went through, Billy Lucas,” a reader wrote after I posted about Billy Lucas on my blog. “I wish I could have told you that things get better.”

I had the same reaction: I wish I could have talked to this kid for five minutes. I wish I could have told Billy that it gets better. I wish I could have told him that, however bad things were, however isolated and alone he was, it gets better.

But gay adults aren’t allowed to talk to these kids. Schools and churches don’t bring us in to talk to teenagers who are being bullied. Many of these kids have homophobic parents who believe that they can prevent their gay children from growing up to be gay—or from ever coming out—by depriving them of information, resources, and positive role models.

Why are we waiting for permission to talk to these kids? We have the ability to talk directly to them right now. We don’t have to wait for permission to let them know that it gets better. We can reach these kids.

So here’s what you can do, GBVWS: make a video. Tell them it gets better.

I’ve launched a channel on YouTube to host these videos. My normally camera-shy husband and I already posted one. We both went to Christian schools and we were both bullied—he had it a lot worse than I did—and we are living proof that it gets better. We don’t dwell too much on the past. Instead, we talk mostly about all the meaningful things in our lives now—our families, our friends (gay and straight), the places we’ve gone and things we’ve experienced—that we would’ve missed out on if we’d killed ourselves then.


“You gotta give ’em hope,” Harvey Milk said.

Today we have the power to give these kids hope. We have the tools to reach out to them and tell our stories and let them know that it does get better. On-line support groups are great, GLSEN does amazing work, the Trevor Project is invaluable. But many LGBT youth can’t picture what their lives might be like as openly gay adults. They can’t imagine a future for themselves. So let’s show them what our lives are like, let’s show them what the future may hold for them.

The video my husband and I made is up now—all by itself. I’d like to add submissions from other gay and lesbian adults—singles and couples, with kids or without, established in careers or just starting out, urban and rural, of all races and religious backgrounds. (Go to www.youtube.com/itgetsbetterproject to find instructions for submitting your video.) If you’re gay or lesbian or bi or trans and you’ve ever read about a kid like Billy Lucas and thought, “Fuck, I wish I could’ve told him that it gets better,” this is your chance. We can’t help Billy, but there are lots of other Billys out there—other despairing LGBT kids who are being bullied and harassed, kids who don’t think they have a future—and we can help them.

They need to know that it gets better. Submit a video. Give them hope.

Download the Savage Lovecast (my weekly podcast) at http://www.straight.com
E-mail: mail@savagelove.net



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Thanks for reading this far. I created a Pink Shirt Anti-Bullying Day page on facebook for the Sunshine Coast, BC. Pink Shirt Day is an annual Canadian day where people where pink to stand up against bullying and more importantly for tolerance, acceptance and kindness. http://www.pinkshirtday.ca/

I recently wrote an article called Straight With Gay Pride about heterosexual people who are proud of Gay people and like to attend Pride events with their gay, bi, lesbian and transgendered friends.
Check it out http://duaneburnett.blogspot.com/2010/08/straight-with-gay-pride.html

Much appreciate you visiting my blog, sharing the articles and for all your feedback, comments and story ideas. Much appreciated. Duane Burnett

It's Always A Good Day on the Sunshine Coast!

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