Government Officials Contribute to Online Video Campaign for LGBT Youth
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D. Calif., Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Tom Perez, and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius have recently contributed short online videos to the “It Gets Better Project,” offering their unique words of support to LGBT youth.
The video project was started by columnist Dan Savage and his partner, Terry, in September 2010 to bring awareness to anti-LGBT school bullying and to inspire LGBT youth who may be struggling. In three months, the video project has received a wide range of support from celebrities, activists, organizations, and politicians, including President Barack Obama. Since the website’s creation, more than 5000 user-created videos have been viewed more than 15 million times.
Recent suicides of LGBT youth have generated a heightened awareness of issues concerning school bullying within the LGBT community. According to the project, LGBT teens are bullied two to three times as much as straight teens and more than one-third of LGBT youth have attempted suicide.
View the videos: