What ever happened to sock hops, basketball games of 21, after-school Nintendo, dipping into your parents’ liquor cabinet and filling the bottles with water…. I didn’t really have that kind of teenage experience either, but a girl can dream, right? Even if you aren’t on the overt, fist-in-the-face end of the bullying stick, there are other things that queer kids face. Harassment and taunting in class from teachers for not acting manly enough (Grade 7 for me). I still remember not making the rowing team in Grade 9 or 10, something I think was attributed to me being effeminate and introverted, despite passing the physical and boat requirements in the tryouts.
There are a couple of big-name and LGBT players taking a stand and encouraging queer teens to hang in there so they can make it to the best and rest of their lives.
Dan Savage has launched a massive viral YouTube campaign (thanks Jen Wood for flagging it for me) called the It Gets Better Project and LGBT across North America have responded. Check out his and his partner’s video here.
Gay.com Daily has also launched a letter-writing campaign for National Coming Out Day, asking people to write a letter to themselves a year before they came out. I submitted one last night and will post here when it comes live. You can read the letters to date here.
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