Listen to Terry's interesting interview with Jon Stewart.
10/6/10
Dan Savage discusses the "It Gets Better" Project
I admit the "It Gets Better Project" doesn't do the impossible. It doesn't solve the problem of anti-gay bullying, everywhere, all at once, forever. The point of the videos is to give despairing kids in impossible situations a little thing called hope. The point is to let them know that things do get better. For some people things get better once they get out of high school, for others things get better while they're still in high school. And some kids, like the kid above, are helping to make things better for other kids who are in still high school. But things do get better and kids who are thinking about suicide need to hear that.And to those who insist that all the videos are just oldies speaking from a place of adult privilege: have you watched the videos? There are tons from teenagers, many still in high school, many who are already out of the closet. And there are tons of videos from people who came out while they were still in middle or high school talking about their experiences good and bad and unimaginable:
View more "It Gets Better" videos at the It Gets Better Project.
Nothing about letting kids know that it gets better excuses or precludes us from pressing for the Student Non-Discrimination Act, demanding anti-bullying programs, confronting the bigots who are making things worse, or supporting the Trevor Project. But we're not going to get legislation passed this instant or get anti-bullying programs into schools in rural areas—particularly private Christian schools—before classes start tomorrow. Doing all of that is going to take years of hard work and dedicated activism. In the meantime, while we work on all of that, we can get these messages of hope in front of kids who are crisis right now. And we must use the tools we have at our disposal right now—social media and YouTube and digital video—to get these messages of hope to kids who are suffering right now in schools without GSAs and kids who are trapped schools that will never have GSAs and kids whose parents who bully and reject them.
There's nothing about this project—nothing about participating in this project—that prevents people from doing more. Indeed, I would hope that participating in this raises awareness and leaves people feeling obligated to do more.
--Dan Savage from the Slog
10/5/10
The real Republican party: people who don't care about or protect the Constitutional rights of Americans, especially LGBT people
Occasionally, from the GOP, we see some signs of conscience to protect the Constitutional rights of LGBT citizens: for example, the Log Cabin Republicans successfully (for now) sued to overturned DADT. I applaud this and wish for more.But the real problem is that the GOP does really care about this discriminated against segment of the population, even when LGBT people often are the leaders in the Republican party. The GOP is officially supports DADT, Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), and countless other laws and policies that negatively impact the everyday lives of millions of LGBT people.
And the latest example is GOP support for the virulently and dangerously homophobic politicians, including Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina. In a speech last week, here is DeMint's latest broadside against gay people:
If someone is openly homosexual, they shouldn't be teaching in the classroom and he holds the same position on an unmarried woman who's sleeping with her boyfriend -- she shouldn't be in the classroom.
Amazing! In 2010, a U.S. Senator can say something like this and still be embraced by his party. The GOP is not issuing any public statements to distance itself from Senator DeMint. Silence. Crude prejudice and ignorance on display without a peep from the GOP. Imagine if DeMint was talking about unmarried straight men or (even African-Americans). Over time, the party of Lincoln has morphed into the party of DeMint, Rush, and Rove. It is morally bankrupt. It may win big in this election, but in the long run, it is going to lose power (given the country's changing demographics and attitudes) and will be seen for what it is: a bunch of fear-filled people who are selfishly obsessed with cutting taxes more than for anything else, including upholding the U.S. Constitution. Abe would be appalled, and so I am.
10/2/10
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