![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
You gotta give them hope (it gets better)
Sep. 22nd, 2010 10:23 pmLast week, a 15-year-old kid killed himself because he was bullied constantly at school. Much of the bullying was homophobic in nature.
I'm not going to rant about the event or why it's tragic that it happens, over and over, to kids on this continent. Why it's tragic that the reason that our kids do this to each other is because we tell them it's OK, even when we don't say it in so many words.
Dan Savage launched a Youtube video project in response: It Gets Better. The idea is that queer people from all over the United States (and presumably, beyond) can talk about how life gets better once you get out of high school, away from bullies (young and old), away from communities that shame you instead of loving you.
It's a beautiful idea. I love the idea of intergenerational solidarity in the queer community (and it can go both ways), and I like that this moment is for queer adults, young and old, because as complex and slippery as boundaries get between gay and straight, all along the continuum - it's not the same to grow up straight than it is to grow up anything else, and I value the moments where we support each other like family. So I would encourage people to share their stories if they can. (Especially if they're women, especially if you're not white, Christian, able-bodied, middle-class, because it's very easy for certain groups to believe they have the authority to speak across difference.)
But most of all, whatever you can do, help make it so that it doesn't have to get better. So that schools stop becoming such hostile places for kids who are queer, or maybe even just soft-spoken. You have to demand it of people around you, including your legislators and your school administrators, and you have to do it constantly.
Believe me - we notice. And then, it gets better.
I'm not going to rant about the event or why it's tragic that it happens, over and over, to kids on this continent. Why it's tragic that the reason that our kids do this to each other is because we tell them it's OK, even when we don't say it in so many words.
Dan Savage launched a Youtube video project in response: It Gets Better. The idea is that queer people from all over the United States (and presumably, beyond) can talk about how life gets better once you get out of high school, away from bullies (young and old), away from communities that shame you instead of loving you.
It's a beautiful idea. I love the idea of intergenerational solidarity in the queer community (and it can go both ways), and I like that this moment is for queer adults, young and old, because as complex and slippery as boundaries get between gay and straight, all along the continuum - it's not the same to grow up straight than it is to grow up anything else, and I value the moments where we support each other like family. So I would encourage people to share their stories if they can. (Especially if they're women, especially if you're not white, Christian, able-bodied, middle-class, because it's very easy for certain groups to believe they have the authority to speak across difference.)
But most of all, whatever you can do, help make it so that it doesn't have to get better. So that schools stop becoming such hostile places for kids who are queer, or maybe even just soft-spoken. You have to demand it of people around you, including your legislators and your school administrators, and you have to do it constantly.
Believe me - we notice. And then, it gets better.
