It Gets Better.

JOIN OUR MOVEMENT - TAKE THE PLEDGE: Everyone deserves to be respected for who they are. I pledge to spread this message to my friends, family and neighbors. I'll speak up against hate and intolerance whenever I see it, at school and at work. I'll provide hope for lesbian, gay, bi, trans and other bullied teens by letting them know that "It Gets Better."

http://www.itgetsbetter.org/

Take the pledge:

http://www.itgetsbetter.org/page/s/pledge/

My friends:

Make It Stop

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP4clbHc4Xg

take the pledge.

And wonderful video - wonderful friends! :hug:

They're not even the ones who are bullied the most, just because of the numbers of them versus the numbers of obese kids, dorky-types, etc. All the "different" kids get bullied. If bullying is what you're against, shouldn't the pledge be about that?

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Heya, Bluebear my friend.

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:eyes:

dorky or not cool? I'm 57 years old; those kids have been bullied ever since I can remember.

Truth is...if what the OP cared about was bullying, the pledge would be about "it will get better" for ALL kids. Not just one kind of kid.

That is the truth.

A little Irish-immigrant girl committed suicide last year because she was the victim of personal and online bullying. And the year before that, another young girl committed suicide because of bullying, personal and online (another girl's mother actually did the online bullying).

Someone should've told them it would get better. Because it would have.

And you know what? I had my mother standing with me all the way. Thousands of lgbt kids all over this country are actually *hated* by their parents, or fear that they might be rejected by their parents and have no one to tell them that life is worth sticking around for. Please, start a thread about all those other kids. I've never seen you take up this issue before. I guarantee that people gay and straight would recommend it and not *shit* in it like you are doing here.

I'm very familiar with that mentality.

Love you!

Love you too! <3

you seem to think if there are messages to combat one kind of bullying, that it takes away from combating bullying of other kids.

i'd just like to know, how do you know which kind of bullying is more prevalent?

did you do a study?

How does not objecting to this equate to not caring about obese kids being bullied? How does putting a spotlight on a specific kind of bigotry imply not caring about other people who are picked on?

And also, how does "and other bullied teens" not cover the, well, other teens that you mention are picked on?

"Truth is...if what the OP cared about was bullying, the pledge would be about "it will get better" for ALL kids. Not just one kind of kid."

That's not truth. It's just silliness. There's nothing wrong with targeting specific types of bullying in addition to bullying in general.

I deal with bigots every day of my life, but I can call them out, and I do. I'm an adult. I have resources.

LGBTQI teens are alone, afraid, and deserve MY compassion and protection.

And, yes, they are the ones bullied "the most".

Period.

Thank you, Bluebear. You're beautiful, too.

I want to make a video for It Gets Better. Let's face it, I'm a straight, fiftysomething fat chick. I'm not sure I'm going to say anything that hasn't already been said, by those whose experiences in life are much more valuable than mine. At the same time, if there's one thing I'd like to say to any of those who look to It Gets Better for a light at the end of the tunnel, I want someone I'll probably never meet to know millions of people like me think they are irreplaceable, and we will stand up against those who continue to believe their bigotry and hate is a family value.

far fewer than obese and dorky-type or other "different" kids.

I can remember from my earliest school days that the ones singled out for bullying are the "different" ones, and they were usually overweight, or socially awkward, or just didn't fit. None of them were gay, or even seemed gay (none of us knew what "gay" was, really, anyway).

Gay kids are bullied. They should be told it will get better. All I'm saying is, if what the OP is concerned about is bullying of kids, it should include all kids, not just the obese ones, or the socially awkward ones, or brainiacs, or the gay ones.

A young Irish-immigrant girl killed herself last year because of bullying. The year before that, another young girl killed herself because of bullying. No doubt they felt alone, afraid, and were deserving of everyone's compassion and protection. Not only if they were bullied because they were gay.

if what the OP is concerned about is bullying of kids, it should include all kids, not just the obese ones, or the socially awkward ones, or brainiacs, or the gay ones.

So... Did you catch the part about "other bullied teens"?

That's like saying New Orleans is safer than NYC because there are more murders in New York. Incidence rates reveal more than simple counts when one is looking at an issue that may affect some subpopulations more severely than others. If one out of every ten Americans is affected by something, but seven out of every Native Americans, isn't it prudent to note and react to that very different rate rather than dismiss it out of hand because in sheer numbers most of those affected are white?

"It Gets Better" is a campaigned targetted at GLBT+ youth in response to known differences about the experiences of this subgroup, not the least of which is the fact that they have more than twice the rate of adolescent suicide as straight youth.

A national campaign targetting all bullied kids is a great idea, but that still wouldn't eliminate the special power of adults who went through the same experiences as youths standing up and saying it gets better.

First of all, playing oppression Olympics is bullshit. Some of those fat, nerdy kids are gay too, it's not a fucking competition. And they don't get thrown out of their schools, churches or family homes for being fat or nerdy, but it happens every day when people find out they're gay.

Look: I spent all four years of high school doing debate. I did Academic Decathalon. I FAILED PE. There's at least one high school yearbook shot of me in a Star Trek shirt. I know what it's like to be a nerd in high school, and I know that being bullied sucks. But I also know this: I didn't have to come up with a backup plan to support myself by means other than prostitution before my parents found out I was a nerd. I didn't face a future without my full civil rights, demonization from every pulpit, or an entire political party centered around keeping my nerdy ass down. Growing up and being myself was something I looked forward to, not something I feared or couldn't see. And unfortunately for a lot of gay kids, that's not the case, which is the whole idea behind this campaign.

It's not the same thing. It's not even close.

:loveya:

We love you guys back.

Can you believe we still have to explain this shit? I keep looking at the calendar like I missed something.

Thank you for your eloquent words. :hug:

You are the greatest.

Even if you are a nerd. Star Trek shirt...bloody Nora.

Just one in a yearbook photo that I recall. Jesus, the AV Club kid is looking down on me now?

was devoid of Trekkies. Thank the Gods.

And shut up.

:)

:applause:

The fact that you have a problem with the wording here says alot. About YOU.

It's a civil rights issue. Once you start treating GLBT with dignity and respect, who knows where it will end? Your objections make about as much sense as criticizing a speech by MLK because it didn't mention blind people.

Brilliant. thank you!

Every fricking time someone has to start the Oppression Olympics.


When the RRRW wages an organized campaign to vilify and eradicate the rights of obese kids, dorky types, redheads, etc, your whining will have some validity. Until then this is just more bullshit designed to minimize the very real suffering of LGBT youth.

Like fucking clockwork.

All the "different" kids get bullied.

No kidding. :shrug:

If bullying is what you're against, shouldn't the pledge be about that?

Are you implying that the OP isn't really against bullying? Or that they're really against something else? The objection doesn't really make sense.

:thumbsup:

:kick:

I take the pledge!

:hug: It gets better.

than fighting alone. :hi:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersex

:kick:

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we've got to stop the hate.

It really really does get better.

That is the important part. It's not just a slogan, but it's a slogan that hopefully works.

Pledged.
Thank you.


peace~

:kick:

For your post and links.