Call for Videos (on gay experience): It Gets Better

Billy Lucas was a quiet 15-year-old student in Indiana. His peers suspected that he was gay although he never came out and admitted it to anyone. The students at Greensburg High school reported that Billy was called 'fag', told he was a piece of crap, and told that he should kill himself. On Septemebr 9th, Billy was found, by his mother, hanging by the neck in his grandmother's barn. Apparently, Billy could no longer handle the bullying.

Activist and writer Dan Savage created a project called It Gets Better to give other gay teens hope about being gay in America. In his blog post, Savage explains his reaction to hearing the news of Billy's untimely death. "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."

Now you can get involved in this project. The It Gets Better channel on YouTube is looking for contributions. They want video submissions about your experience as a gay teen or adult. The main idea is to give gay teens hope about their sexual orientation. So turn on those cameras and make a statement (and a difference).

More information here/here.

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