It Gets Better Project

[Jalapeno Enema]

I didn't see any threads pertaining to this, so I'm starting one now.

In case you're unfamiliar, It Gets Better (http://www.itgetsbetter.org/) is a website created by Dan Savage last September in response to a number of teens who had committed suicide after being bullied for being homosexual or perceived as homosexual.

Many young people are taught by their parents and community that homosexuality is "wrong", and unfortunately, many have nobody to turn to.

IGB allows people to upload videos to convey their messages to young people who feel alone and desperate, ensuring them that it does get better, and that there are other people out there.

Dan Savage wrote in his syndicated column (http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/SavageLove?oid=4940874) "I wish I could have talked to this kid for five minutes. I wish I could have told Billy [Lucas] 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."

as Harvey Milk said "you gotta give 'em hope".

facebook (http://www.facebook.com/itgetsbetterproject)

[Lobotomy]

While I appreciate the efforts made by the people behind "It Gets Better", I disagree with their message. By saying "it gets better", they're telling gay teenagers to basically just put up with the bullshit they have to go through for now and it will somehow be better in the end. I'd rather tell gay kids to not put up with intolerance for a fucking second because they don't deserve to be victims of injustice.

[ZeroNowhere]

While I appreciate the efforts made by the people behind "It Gets Better", I disagree with their message. By saying "it gets better", they're telling gay teenagers to basically just put up with the bullshit they have to go through for now and it will somehow be better in the end. I'd rather tell gay kids to not put up with intolerance for a fucking second because they don't deserve to be victims of injustice.I do think that you have a point as regards the message given. However, what would this telling of gay kids not to put up with it actually translate into in concrete terms? Would it be something which would raise them out of their predicament through some sort of resistance, or simply something which would make them feel more helpless? Ultimately, I'm sure that most gay kids would rather not put up with it, but I'm not sure that most of them have a choice of not putting up with it for a fucking second in concrete terms.

[Il Medico]

While I appreciate the efforts made by the people behind "It Gets Better", I disagree with their message. By saying "it gets better", they're telling gay teenagers to basically just put up with the bullshit they have to go through for now and it will somehow be better in the end. I'd rather tell gay kids to not put up with intolerance for a fucking second because they don't deserve to be victims of injustice.
Queer youth have much higher chance of suicide than their straight peers. No one is telling them to just 'take it', but rather that they are not alone, and despite what they're feeling right now, that being gay isn't the end of world and that life is still worth living.

[synthesis]

While I appreciate the efforts made by the people behind "It Gets Better", I disagree with their message. By saying "it gets better", they're telling gay teenagers to basically just put up with the bullshit they have to go through for now and it will somehow be better in the end. I'd rather tell gay kids to not put up with intolerance for a fucking second because they don't deserve to be victims of injustice.

These kids, the target audience for the project, are already being bullied. If you think more should be done, you could start a self-defense program for them or something.

[Bad Grrrl Agro]

These kids, the target audience for the project, are already being bullied. If you think more should be done, you could start a self-defense program for them or something.
I think you are 100% right on this one.

[Tablo]

Spectrum on my campus contributed video interviews. I know they may not have taken the best approach, but anything that we can do will help a little bit.

[Lobotomy]

Don't get me wrong, I do support any movement or organization that provides support and comfort to those who need it most.

[Jimmie Higgins]

I'm sort of divided in my thoughts on this campaign.

Spectrum on my campus contributed video interviews. I know they may not have taken the best approach, but anything that we can do will help a little bit.

I agree there is an immediacy when it comes to things like this where I can be more forgiving of some solutions that politically fall short.

However I also agree that the message "it gets better" personally sickens me on a level. I want to make a counter-site that says: "It gets worse -- unless you fight back!". I mean the thing about it is that this video project began the same week that the reports of people in NY or New Jersey gay-bashing people in an abandoned warehouse like a fucking horror movie and a New York politician making homophobic campaign remarks. So clearly, just growing up and getting out of high school does not "make it better" in a society where people are beaten by thugs and denounced by politicians.

(Also the way that the mainstream media talk about these cases as examples of "internet bullying" rather than homophobia is cowardly at best.)

I don't blame teachers or school districts or other students for championing the "it gets better" campaign as a way to expose homophobia and for the imediate anti-suicide reasons, but I also don't like that this campaign isn't coming from students and teachers and so on, but from people with money and power who could actually try and organize youth anti-homophobia clubs or organizations.

[synthesis]

Jimmie, have you researched the genesis of this project? It originated specifically as a response to suicides by gay youths in communities where support networks are limited or nonexistent. I could see how someone might find it "personally sickening" if it posited itself as a "moderate alternative" to more militant activity, but it doesn't. It's a piece of the puzzle, not the final product.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Jimmie, have you researched the genesis of this project? It originated specifically as a response to suicides by gay youths in communities where support networks are limited or nonexistent. I could see how someone might find it "personally sickening" if it posited itself as a "moderate alternative" to more militant activity, but it doesn't. It's a piece of the puzzle, not the final product.That's why I'm kind of divided on it.

Dan Savage and other participants (not to mention President "Don't ask me about don't ask don't tell" Obama) could use this platform to highlight homophobia in our society, but instead they are treating this issue like it's dead kid awareness week. Really, does it get better without fighting? Maybe if you become a syndicated columnist or an entertainer or a professional, but not if you go into the military, live in a region where right-wing evangelical ideas dominate, not if you live in many working class areas and not even if you live in some urban enclaves like in Sacramento where there have been violent attacks in the gay neighborhoods there. Hell, when I lived in LA, there were a series of homophobic attacks in West Hollywood.

I support moderate reforms that will help move our struggles forward, but I don't know if this is a the case of a moderate reform like ending DADT or marriage prohibitions. This is a case of liberals essentially telling kids that their only option is to be "the better person" and "wait it out" - thus reducing homophobia to something comparable to being made fun of for having braces or a bad haircut. Compared to the prop 8 protests and the anti-homophobia movement after Matthew Sheppard's murder (which resulted in homophobia being included as a hate-crime under the law) I think this seems like a step back.

If it helps some people feel less alone and maybe gives people confidence to call out homophobia ("bullying") then those are positive individual effects and so that's why I don't outright dismiss this type of thing, but on a political level it's problematic.

[synthesis]

No, you definitely have some good points. I just think you have to distinguish between Dan Savage's intentions in starting the project and what politicians and the media have done with it after it started - i.e., presenting it as some holistic solution to bigotry.


Dan Savage and other participants (not to mention President "Don't ask me about don't ask don't tell" Obama) could use this platform to highlight homophobia in our society, but instead they are treating this issue like it's dead kid awareness week. Really, does it get better without fighting?

Dan Savage is syndicated in my local biweekly (Portland Mercury) and I read the original article where one of his readers suggested the idea. I don't believe that Dan Savage ever intended it to be politicized. It's a support network, and if people are turning it into something more than it is, that's not his fault.

[Jalapeno Enema]

No, you definitely have some good points. I just think you have to distinguish between Dan Savage's intentions in starting the project and what politicians and the media have done with it after it started - i.e., presenting it as some holistic solution to bigotry.

Dan Savage is syndicated in my local biweekly (Portland Mercury) and I read the original article where one of his readers suggested the idea. I don't believe that Dan Savage ever intended it to be politicized. It's a support network, and if people are turning it into something more than it is, that's not his fault.
When I first read the article (River Front Times syndication), I got the same impression.

If you read Dan Savage's articles regularly, it is apparent he is not a passive individual when it comes to politics; he is not a "roll-with-the-punches" type of guy (see Santorum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santorum_(sexual_neologism))). While I don't claim he's a militant revolutionary, he doesn't put up with bull crap.

If Dan wanted to start a political group, he would have.

The issue here, however, isn't what Savage's politics are, or even Dan Savage, but IGB, and what it does for the LGBT community.

From a purely revolutionary viewpoint, perhaps it doesn't really get better.
Does that mean we shouldn't support an organization that exists to prove to teens that life is worth living?

This group is what we've got to work with now, but if somebody/you/we/whatever wanted to start a support group for homosexual teens where the message is "don't kill yourselves, fight back. Make a world that is better.", I'd jump right on board.

In any case, I don't want to see teens, who are going through a tough stage of life, to kill themselves for being targets of discrimination.

The revolution will not be fought with corpses.

[Sasha]

dorky but cute


cTQNwMxqM3E

[Queercommie Girl]

From a purely revolutionary viewpoint, perhaps it doesn't really get better.
Does that mean we shouldn't support an organization that exists to prove to teens that life is worth living?

In any case, I don't want to see teens, who are going through a tough stage of life, to kill themselves for being targets of discrimination.

The revolution will not be fought with corpses.


Actually if you look at this issue from the Trotskyist "transitional programme" point of view, any limited "reform" (with respect to democratic rights in this case) is clearly still positive, only that any gains in this sense can only ever be temporary, without changing the entire system and put an end to class society completely.

I basically agree with what you say here, all I'm saying is that this is not just a matter of what is "right" and "wrong" in the abstract sense, but that any limited "reform" within the system is linked to the ultimate attempt to overthrow the system completely. Just like reformist trade unionism still have an intrinsic positive purpose to some extent.