Legal News

ACLU Staff Sends Hopeful Video Message To Bullied LGBT Youth

By ACLU

Video Submitted As Part Of Dan Savage's "It Gets Better Project"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: (212) 519-7829 or 549-2666; media@aclu.org

NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union released two videos today encouraging lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people who are being bullied about their sexual orientation to have hope, and telling them they have the right to seek help from their schools. The videos were created as part of the "It Gets Better Project," a YouTube campaign started by Seattle writer and activist Dan Savage after a 15-year-old Indiana teenager committed suicide after being bullied by his classmates for being gay. There were five similar suicides across the country in September.

"Many of us know firsthand what it's like to grow up with discrimination or prejudice for LGBT people," says ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero in one of the videos. "We know what it feels like to be sad or alone, to feel isolated in your own families and communities, and from our own lives we can tell you it definitely gets better."

The videos feature ACLU staff at the organization's national headquarters in New York and in the Washington Legislative Office talking about their own experiences growing up as LGBT youth, and telling young people facing harassment that there is help available to them and that life improves as they grow up and become independent.

"If you're encountering difficulty in school, you have rights," Romero says in the video. "And you have a right to demand that your school administrator and your teachers help protect you and make sure that you have a good learning environment."

The videos can be seen at: www.aclu.org/itgetsbetter

The "It Gets Better Project" YouTube Channel can be seen at: www.youtube.com/itgetsbetterproject

Full post as published by ACLU Newsroom on October 01, 2010 (boomark / email).