When Dan Savage and Terry Miller first uploaded a video to YouTube about their own experience with bullying and how life gets better, they likely had no idea how quickly it would take the Internet by storm. Within a week, it was a viral phenomenon even bigger than the cow that drinks from its own udder.
Everyday people submitted videos, as well as celebrities and even President Obama, the Anti-Bully in Chief! Suddenly, making a video was not just the right thing to do, it was the cool thing to do, too.
This week, IT GETS BETTER: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating a Life Worth Living hit bookstores and e-retailers everywhere. And in a rare, non-snarky moment for us (we’ll pause while you collectively gasp), we think this is an absolutely essential read.
Featuring expanded essays from big names like David Sedaris, Hillary Clinton, Tim Gunn, Chaz Bono, Suze Orman and many more, it’s inspirational, often times funny and always motivational.
It’s sure to be a treasured collection of essays for anyone of any age struggling with coming out as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or warlock (you’ll have to read Sedaris’ essay to understand that one!). Dealing with bullies is a struggle with many challenges, but we’re living proof that it really does get better. And even when it isn’t at its best, age and wisdom allow us to shrug off the ignorance of others.
Hot off our super-gay Palm Springs vacation last week, we were welcomed to DFW airport by a group of teens calling us “f*cking queers” (not exactly what you want everyone in Baggage Claim to hear), quickly bringing us back to the reality that there are still plenty of morons on the planet and we have to continue the fight for equality and acceptance.
But until they all come around, at least we know that as gay people we are more fabulous than those who call us names will ever be. And that’s enough to make us hold our head high, puff our chest out and sashay with a vengeance.
$21.95
www.itgetsbetter.org
