However, in the past week, I have been reminded of a slightly different message. In response to the continued (and perceived worsening) occurrences of queer and questioning teen suicide attempts and completions, Dan Savage launched the "It gets better project." This project is a youtube channel where anyone, celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres, people prominent in the queer community like Dan Savage, and anyone else with access to a webcam (most libraries have them if you don't) can record a message of how it got better for that person. IT DOES GET BETTER! If you don't believe me, watch some of the multitude of videos already posted to the site http://www.youtube.com/user/itgetsbetterproject. I especially recommend Kate Bornstein's video. Kate is the author of Hello, Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Suicide For Teens, Freaks, and Other Outlaw.
Let me be clear: THE MESSAGE "IT GETS BETTER" IS NOT ENOUGH! It is true, but it is not enough. We cannot expect queer youth (or anyone, for that matter) to sit on their hands waiting for some magic day when their lives will improve. We need to be supportive of their struggles now, find and work on ways to alleviate their current suffering, not simply assure them that it will lessen over time. Our schools are not safe, let alone welcoming. In many places in this country, including in my home town, discrimination against LGBTQ persons is legal. Furthermore, in addition to working to ease the lives of queer youth, we need to persuade queer, questioning, and straight youth to get involved in improving their own lives. THE STRUGGLE FOR EQUALITY FOR LGBTQ PERSONS IN THIS COUNTRY IS ONGOING.
So many older queer activists have moved beyond activism for physical safety of queer persons into an effort to include legal recognition of same-sex marriage. Many of these activists live in large urban areas where progress is furthest in the struggle for queer existence. They see the effort for legal recognition of their relationships as the final frontier of the fight for gay rights [sic]. Legal recognition of same-sex marriage may be akin to putting a man on the moon, but in so many places in this country, and in the entire world, we have not even been able to start a space program. Why are so many prominent queer activists focused on securing legal recognition of marriage when many queer youth are afraid to go to their schools for fear of being attacked? THE STRUGGLE FOR EQUALITY FOR LGBTQ PERSONS IN THIS COUNTRY MUST FOCUS FIRST AND FOREMOST ON OUR RIGHT TO EXIST. This right - the right to live - a right so famously laid out by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence, a right that our country's founders fought to secure, still eludes LGBTQ persons in this country. I invite, and I urge, everyone to help me secure that right, for you, for me, and for those younger than me including but not limited to those people who identify as or are perceived as members of the queer community.
Be a role model - help make it better.
A FINAL MESSAGE TO ANYONE WHO READS THIS (AND EVERYONE WHO DOESN'T: YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO LIVE! EXERCISE THAT RIGHT!
A link:
The Trevor Project http://www.thetrevorproject.org/
