Rebecca Drysdale, comedian and performer, created this incredible music video in support of the It Gets Better Project. Warning, the language is definitely not safe for work.
Thank you to Dan Savage for sharing this video and to Rebecca Drysdale & crew for making it! The song will be available on iTunes 1/7/11. Yes, that’s day after tomorrow.
Tagged dan savage, it gets better, lbgt, music video, Rebecca Drysdale, trans, youth
My Thanksgiving started early when I listened to this week’s Savage Love podcast.
Dan Savage reported that the It Gets Better Project, which moved off YouTube to its own website, now has 6,000 video contributions which have been viewed an amazing 20 million times. According to Dan, everyone from “the president… to Buck Angel… to drag queens and lesbian dairy farmers in Vermont” have contributed.
The latest touching contribution is from the kind, caring, and creative folks at Pixar:
Visit the It Gets Better Project website and watch some of the videos. Then consider making a donation in the spirit of the holiday. Donations are directed to the Trevor Project and/or GLSEN, two organization working to make the world a better place for queer kids. After all, if just one kid didn’t die as a result of this project, that’s something for which to give thanks.
Note: Check out this blog post about the making of the Pixar video by Pixar staffer and video participant Kate Ranson-Walsh.
Tagged dan savage, GLSEN, it gets better project, kids, pixar, teens, trevor project, youth
This sweet note was in my flurry of email this morning, from another lesbian mommy:
Hi friends,
This is something on a personal note that I wanted to share. Today will mark a national youth movement in the LGBT community as a Day of Silence. The idea is to raise awareness about the silence that members of this community have had to face in order to avoid anti-LGBT bullying, name calling, and harassment – and too often leading to death through suicide or murder.
My 12-year-old daughter, Kirsten, found out about this, and – yes, all on her own – decided that she was going to participate. She is doing this at her middle school in Sonoma, California. Today she wore a white T-shirt to school on which she had written, in big bold letters across the front, “BREAK THE SILENCE,” and across the back, “WHAT WILL YOU DO?” She had also prepared a flyer to explain to people, if they ask, why she is not speaking today.
Yesterday, she approached the principal of her school and asked if she can express the constitutional right of freedom of speech in her classes today by not talking. She was told “no”.
So, she is hoping that when she approaches her teachers with her written information at the beginning of class, that they will understand and not expect her to talk. I am hoping that I don’t get a phone call today saying that she is in the principal’s office for being insubordinate to her teachers.
Kirsten had attempted to get support from other students to do this with her, and although many of her friends thought it sounded like a “cool” idea, when it came down to it, they were just a little too afraid to do it too. However, she was able to get one other student to commit to this project. So, a good friend, with whom she grew up, will be doing the same.
I am very proud of her for standing up for what she believes in – even though it may prove to be quite a pivotal moment for her, in the delicate social balance of a middle school environment. I fervently hope that this does what she hopes it will do, and does not end up creating the very thing she is protesting – harassment, name calling, and bullying towards her.
When we talked about that possibility, her response was, “It’s worse not to do anything, because that’s what they want you to do”.
(Yay, brave Kirsten! The world needs more kids like you!)
Tagged day of silence, teenagers, trans, transgender, youth
A Canadian study has produced some surprising results.
The study which was initially published in the Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality and reported in this morning’s Vancouver Sun say that lesbian and bisexual youth are up to seven times more likely to become pregnant than their heterosexual peers.
The study’s authors attempt to determine possible heightened risk factors, including experimentation, closeted kids trying to establish themselves as straight to avoid harassment, and attempts to build a new, accepting family for themselves.
Gay male teens showed an increased risk of fathering children.
Read the story in the Sun.
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