We always say, everything’s better with bacon. And ranch dressing.
But when it comes to bullying, time and patience are the all-powerful ingredients. That’s one of the main messages of encouragement that launched the whole “It Gets Better” campaign, founded by Dan Savage and his partner, Terry Miller (above), designed to keep young people from harming themselves because of bullies.
Taking the series of online videos a step further, tonight’s It Gets Better special delves more deeply into the lives of three young LGBT people who are facing some of the most challenging moments of their journey. The trio of tales includes a lesbian fighting to get parental acceptance; a transgender man about to get married; and a young man struggling to come out to his friends and family.
In between these stories are messages of support from some big stars. Adam Levine, Margaret Cho, Chaz Bono, Sia, Jake Shears, and Zachary Quinto have all filmed “It Gets Better” videos, which is great, because too often in this country it takes the endorsement of a celebrity to sway the public.
But we love them for their support, especially if it impacts the lives of LGBT people— young and old—who are struggling with acceptance in this often-cruel world. We probably each have stories of bullying that could’ve ended with disastrous consequences, yet somehow we found the strength and courage to push forward, knowing that we were better, smarter and more resilient than our tormentors ever dreamed.
In fact, being picked last for every team, getting called “fag” every single day of our public-school lives and being told by the church that there was a “cure” for our affliction, all make our current successes and accomplishments only that much sweeter.
We’re out, extremely proud, and so glad we never did anything that would’ve shown the bullies that they had won. After all, there’s a lot of bacon out there that we haven’t tasted, and a lot of things we’ve never dipped in ranch dressing.
Take that as literally or metaphorically as you like.
“It Gets Better”
Premieres tonight on MTV and LOGO
11:00 p.m. ET/PT
www.mtv.com
www.logotv.com
