Combine words with action

I've written about the It Gets Better project started by Dan Savage. It was started by Savage and his husband as a way to speak to gay kids in a way that can't be filtered by Fundie authorities. It has been a phenomenal success. I don't know how to find out how many videos have been made for the project. Last I heard it was over 600 and is likely over 1000 now.

Savage originally intended it to be a way the average gay person can tell the next generation that though bullying happens, once you get out of high school live can get pretty good. Here's one made by gay employees of Google. But then celebrities and politicians got into the act. One of the most moving (though I haven't seen it) is from a city politician in Fort Worth, TX who broke down while telling the story of his own bullying.

Some, of course, see another side to the message. Yeah, life will get better after high school. But in the meantime it will really suck.

Some religious leaders are addressing the issue of bullying -- which is good because anti-gay bullying has a strong religious justification. Orthodox Rabbi Steven Burg wrote an essay (for Jewish audiences) saying there is no place for bullying in God's Word.

And even Obama recorded an It Gets Better video. While he isn't gay, he is a parent who would hate to see his daughters feel so hopeless they commit suicide and he knows what it's like to not fit in. Thank you, sir, for the video. Those words are important and desperately needed. However, you, Mr. President, are in a position to actually do something about the reason those videos are needed. You can push harder for anti-bullying laws. You can stop defending laws (DADT and Defense of Marriage) that makes sure we're seen as second-class, which gives bullies permission to beat us up.