I just have to get something off my chest.
The "It Gets Better" campaign is great and well-meaning and all, but something about it bugs me. Discussing it with a friend last night, she really zeroed in on the problem. The campaign seems to suggest that gay teens just grin and bear it until they get older and it gets better. Okay, but what about trying to stop the bullying now? The campaign puts the responsibility on the victim, whereas people should clamor for schools and the authorities to clamp down on the offenders, stat. If a kid attacks another kid, you need to take care of the victim and make sure the aggressor is stopped. It's basic discipline and justice.
As my friend put it, right now it's as if we were telling the kids, "It's okay to ride in the back of the bus, because one day in the future you'll get to drive your own rainbow-colored RV!"
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This only makes sense if you view the "It Gets Better Project" as existing in isolation. It's one effort out of many. It doesn't cancel all the other efforts out. This particular one is focused on a very narrow thing-- using the internet to create community between gay teens suffering from bullying, and those who have survived being gay and suffering from bullying.
Of course, but I feel it's getting a lot of media attention to the detriment of immediate, swift action. Part of it, I think, is the celebrity component, whereas pushing legislation is a less glamorous grind.
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