It started with one YouTube video four years ago. Partners Dan Savage and Terry Miller had uploaded a video of themselves speaking out to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals and sending the message that “it gets better.” The video is part of the It Gets Better project. The project’s mission is to “communicate to [LGBT] youth around the world that it gets better, and to create and inspire the changes needed to make it better for them” (itgetsbetter.org).
For many LGBT youth who are tormented and bullied, it can be hard to imagine their futures getting better. Teens and kids, especially, may not know who to turn to when times get rough. The It Gets Better project aims to provide a support system of hope for these individuals, to show them the levels of happiness, potential and positivity their lives can reach “if they can just get through their teen years.”
Dan and Terry’s video in September 2010 was intended to reach young people facing harassment in response to student suicides committed after having been bullied in school. They talked about their own, personal lives and journeys through and after high school. In the video Miller said things “instantly” got better the day after he left high school, because he didn’t have to see his bullies every day.
Not long after their video was released, President Barack Obama himself shared a message of hope and support for struggling LGBT youth through the It Gets Better Project. In the video the President ends is messaged by saying, “As a nation we’re founded on the belief that all of us are equal and deserves the freedom to pursue their own version of happiness…but most of all to be true to ourselves…that’s what America is all about and every day it gets better.”
After the President’s video, the project had received video submissions from many politicians, activists, organizations, celebrities and media personalities, including Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Adam Lambert, Anne Hathaway, Colin Farrell, Joe Jonas, Ke$ha, Ellen DeGeneres, Pixar, Facebook, the Broadway community and more. There have been more than 50,000 user-created videos viewed more than 50 million times. To the representatives of the It Gets Better Project, it doesn’t matter who makes a video; “every video changes a life” (itgetsbetter.org). The members of the project want their website, ItGetsBetter.org, to be a safe place for LGBT youth to go and get support.
In 2011, the It Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating a Life Worth Living book was released. It includes essays and content from more than 100 celebrities, politicians, religious leaders, parents, high school graduates and more. The It Gets Better Speakers Bureau is, also, working on bringing It Gets Better representatives to communities where young people can engage, ask questions and learn strategies for overcoming bullies and coming out.
To get involved, supporters of any age or gender can donate, send in their own It Gets Better video or note, or take a pledge on the It Gets Better website.