The It Gets Better Project was founded by Dan Savage and Terry
Miller, partners, in response to the growing number of suicides of LGBT youths
after being bullied. True to its name, the project aims to tell LGBT kids that
it does get better. It Gets Better started out in September 2010 and in its
first week received more than 200 videos. By its second week, It Gets Better
reached its YouTube channel limit of 650 videos. From a simple YouTube channel,
It Gets Better now has its own website housing over 50,000 entries from people
of all walks of life and sexual orientations. These entries in turn have been
viewed more than 50 million times collectively.
Many of the submissions even come from
politicians and media personalities, including President Barack Obama,
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Anne Hathaway, Matthew
Morrison, Colin Farrell, Joe Jonas, Joel Madden, Sarah Silverman, Ellen
DeGeneres, Adam Lambert, and Tim Gunn. Staff members from Google, The Gap,
Facebook, Pixar, and the Broadway community have also contributed their own
videos of support for the It Gets Better Project, along with many, many more
hoping to change a life.
For creatively, strategically, and powerfully
utilizing media to inspire and educate, the It Gets Better Project received the
Governor’s Award from the 64th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.
Then in 2011, It Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating
a Life Worth Living was released. As a book of essays, It Gets Better
focuses on the same theme as the site it was based on, made up or over 100
essays edited by Dan Savage and Terry Miller. Some of the contributors for It
Gets Better include Michael Cunningham, Gregory Maguire, Jennifer Finney
Boylan, Suze Orman, David Sedaris, and Meshell Ndegeocello.
It Gets Better started out in the US but the
project is gaining momentum in Australia, Canada, Peru, Chile, Finland,
Malaysia, Sweden, the UK, Switzerland, and the European Union.
