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| Ashley Alberg is organizing the It Gets Better drop-in session. |
On Tuesday, students, faculty and staff have the opportunity to visit the 麻豆传媒 Women鈥檚 Centre and share a simple message with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and queer youth around the world: It gets better.
鈥淚t Gets Better鈥� is a grassroots campaign of solidarity where LGBT adults and allies share video messages of hope. It was started by columnist Dan Savage this September in the wake of several highly-publicized suicides by queer youth.
The goal is to show young people struggling with bullying, abuse or exclusion because of their sexual orientation that there is a world of possibility awaiting them beyond the walls of high school. There have been thousands of videos submitted, from citizens to celebrities and politicians鈥攅ven President Barack Obama has produced a video.
麻豆传媒鈥檚 Gender and Women鈥檚 Studies Student Society (GWSS) wanted to help the university community contribute to the campaign. So they鈥檙e organizing a drop-in session on Tuesday, providing the space and equipment for individuals to film their own testimonials.
鈥淭he whole idea stemmed from my Gender and Women's Studies class with Shirley Tillotson,鈥� explains Alex Hallink, a second-year Dal student and one of the organizers. 鈥淲e were given an optional 鈥榓ctivism assignment,鈥� and I wanted to do something. I had been thinking of doing my own 鈥業t Gets Better鈥� video a while ago, and then I thought, 鈥榃hy not get all my friends involved and make this something big?鈥欌��
The drop-in session will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Women鈥檚 Centre (6286 South Street). Visitors will be able to film their own 鈥淚t Gets Better鈥� video in private using provided video equipment. The GWSS society will then, with permission, upload the videos to the 鈥淚t Gets Better鈥� YouTube channel and put together some of the comments into a compilation video.
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| "Why not get my friends involved and make it big," says Alex Hallink. |
鈥淚 want people to feel like they鈥檙e personally involved,鈥� says Ashley Alberg, a third-year theatre and gender studies major who is organizing the effort with Ms. Hallink. 鈥淥ften with these big campaigns, everyone has so much going on that it鈥檚 hard to get to feel involved. Hopefully by making the setup and equipment easy we can help people contribute.鈥�
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One of the main reasons the 鈥淚t Gets Better鈥� has resonated with so many people is that it combines a hopeful, positive message while also shedding light on the serious issue of suicide amongst queer youth. The campaign鈥檚 website references several powerful statistics, including that LGBT kids are four times as likely to commit suicide than their straight peers.
鈥淕rowing up, I was bullied and picked on for not really fitting in and didn't have many positive queer role models to look to for support,鈥� says Ms. Hallink. 鈥淪o the fact that these videos are getting out there and a kid in a small town wherever, can know that people care and support them.鈥�
鈥淧art of it is just the idea of hope, which sounds corny, I know,鈥� laughs Ms. Alberg. 鈥淚鈥檝e been reading articles about the campaign, weighing the pros and cons, and there鈥檚 no doubt that it鈥檚 not going to help everyone, and some of the participants are operating out of self-interest. But it鈥檚 garnered so much attention and so many contributions that it鈥檚 really bringing attention to an important issue.鈥�
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