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Posts tagged as “Dan Savage”

Dan Savage VS GOProud

I’ve never understood the sort of person who would willingly vote for a party or a candidate that upholds policies that directly conflict with the voter’s best interest. It makes no sense. Why would you endorse and back someone who is going to vote against measures that would make your life better? Why would a low-income earner actually fight for the repeal of Obamacare? Why would minorities vote for hard-right goons who want to have them deported and treated like criminals? And, most obviously, why would gays endorse a candidate who is interested in preventing them from gaining rights they deserve? It would be like southern blacks voting for Jim Crow laws. It’s insane.

Dan Savage, perennial (not to be confused with perineal) favorite of mine, got into an online dust-up with a group called GOProud, who Savage describes as a “hard-right gay Republican organization—a rightwing front group that exists to pinkwash the GOP”, after they officially endorsed Mitt Romney for president. He tweeted:

Zing! Of course, Savage didn’t leave it there. Instead he expounded on his tweet in his column Savage Love.

Anyway, mixing it up with GOProud last week got me thinking about why a gay man would endorse—much less “commit significant resources” to help elect—a man who has pledged, if elected, to do as much harm as he possibly can to gay people. I mean, what kind of faggot supports a politician who would do him harm?

Oh, right: the same kind of faggot who would harm himself with drugs or alcohol or sex. The kind of gay men who don’t like themselves or other gay people much. But while most self-loathing, self-destructive gay men are content to abuse booze, drugs, or dick, the self-hating GOProud boys abuse themselves with politics. And just like gay meth addicts who aren’t satisfied harming only themselves, the boys at GOProud aren’t satisfied harming only themselves. They want to harm other gay people—they want to harm all gay people—by getting Mitt Romney elected. And just like your meth-addicted friend who pushed the drug on you, or your drunk friend who mocked you for stopping at four, or your sexually out-of-control friend who insisted that you were a prude if you didn’t play the come dump with him down at the bathhouse, the GOProud boys want you to abuse yourself the same way that they’re abusing themselves. They want you to vote for Mitt Romney for the same reason your meth-addicted pal wanted you to use that stupid drug.

Because they’re damaged.

The article is worth reading. In fact, the article he linked in his tweet is worth reading too. Get ready to be appalled at the willful ignorance displayed by the GOProuders.

Good for Dan Savage. He’s totally correct and I am glad he had the balls to stand up for himself and what he thinks is just in this situation, even after Chris Barron of GOProud got in his (virtual) face about it. It is encouraging to see someone so vocally, so publicly, stand up against the fools trying to prevent people who are different than they are from living their lives to the fullest. He should be an inspiration to those marginalized everywhere to fight to be taken seriously.

Dan Savage and the It Gets Better Project

This is old news. You’ve seen this. I’ve seen it. It’s been around for a couple weeks which, in internet time, might as well be forever.

But, for those of you who have yet to see it, I am glad to have gotten you.

Inspired by a rash of teen suicides, advice-columnist extraordinaire Dan Savage started the It Gets Better Project on youtube. He invited gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people to post videos to help teens understand that one day it will get better for them. But I think he describes it better.

I just read about a gay teenager in Indiana—Billy Lucas—who killed himself after being taunted by his classmates. Now his Facebook memorial page is being defaced by people posting homophobic comments. It’s just heartbreaking and sickening. What the hell can we do?

Gay Bullying Victim Who Survived

Another gay teenager in another small town has killed himself—hope you’re pleased with yourselves, Tony Perkins and all the other “Christians” out there who oppose anti-bullying programs (and give actual Christians a bad name).

Billy Lucas was just 15 when he hanged himself in a barn on his grandmother’s property. He reportedly endured intense bullying at the hands of his classmates—classmates who called him a fag and told him to kill himself. His mother found his body.

Nine out of 10 gay teenagers experience bullying and harassment at school, and gay teens are four times likelier to attempt suicide. Many LGBT kids who do kill themselves live in rural areas, exurbs, and suburban areas, places with no gay organizations or services for queer kids.

“My heart breaks for the pain and torment you went through, Billy Lucas,” a reader wrote after I posted about Billy Lucas to my blog. “I wish I could have told you that things get better.”

I had the same reaction: I wish I could have talked to this kid for five minutes. I wish I could have told Billy that it gets better. I wish I could have told him that, however bad things were, however isolated and alone he was, it gets better.

But gay adults aren’t allowed to talk to these kids. Schools and churches don’t bring us in to talk to teenagers who are being bullied. Many of these kids have homophobic parents who believe that they can prevent their gay children from growing up to be gay—or from ever coming out—by depriving them of information, resources, and positive role models.

Why are we waiting for permission to talk to these kids? We have the ability to talk directly to them right now. We don’t have to wait for permission to let them know that it gets better. We can reach these kids.

So here’s what you can do, GBVWS: Make a video. Tell them it gets better.

I’ve launched a channel on YouTube—www ­.youtube.com/itgetsbetterproject—to host these videos. My normally camera-shy husband and I already posted one. We both went to Christian schools and we were both bullied—he had it a lot worse than I did—and we are living proof that it gets better. We don’t dwell too much on the past. Instead, we talk mostly about all the meaningful things in our lives now—our families, our friends (gay and straight), the places we’ve gone and things we’ve experienced—that we would’ve missed out on if we’d killed ourselves then.

“You gotta give ’em hope,” Harvey Milk said.

Today we have the power to give these kids hope. We have the tools to reach out to them and tell our stories and let them know that it does get better. Online support groups are great, GLSEN does amazing work, the Trevor Project is invaluable. But many LGBT youth can’t picture what their lives might be like as openly gay adults. They can’t imagine a future for themselves. So let’s show them what our lives are like, let’s show them what the future may hold in store for them.

The video my husband and I made is up now—all by itself. I’d like to add submissions from other gay and lesbian adults—singles and couples, with kids or without, established in careers or just starting out, urban and rural, of all races and religious backgrounds. (Go to www.youtube.com/itgetsbetterproject to find instructions for submitting your video.) If you’re gay or lesbian or bi or trans and you’ve ever read about a kid like Billy Lucas and thought, “Fuck, I wish I could’ve told him that it gets better,” this is your chance. We can’t help Billy, but there are lots of other Billys out there—other despairing LGBT kids who are being bullied and harassed, kids who don’t think they have a future—and we can help them.

They need to know that it gets better. Submit a video. Give them hope.

Taken from: Savage Love

There’s no question how positive of an effort this is. If it saves even a single kid from killing himself because of some unfortunate bullying, then it was totally worth it. I don’t usually get all meaningful or political here on The Black Laser, but this is something I’m really behind. Savage ought to be commended for orchestrating this. Truly tremendous. When he posted the above response in his column on September 23rd, there was only the one video. Now there are hundreds and hundreds.

With all the attention the projects gotten, there have been a few celebrity videos posted. My favorite is below.

Oh, Tim Gunn. Will you ever do something that doesn’t make me like you more?

I encourage you to send the link to someone you think might need it or someone you think might appreciate it or to someone you think might not appreciate it.

It Gets Better Project

It’s good advice for anyone, gay or straight.