Last year, the national gay community faced a tragedy as the news of an outbreak of suicides by gay teens came to national attention. On Sept. 21, 2010, columnist Dan Savage and his partner, Terry Miller, recorded a video message to gay teens that later became the It Gets Better Project. Celebrities of all types began lining up to make videos for the project to send a message to gay teens: life does get better and bullying can be weathered, because one day life will not seem so dark.
The main issue with the initiative arose when heterosexual celebrities began making such videos for the It Gets Better Project. The project serves to save the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth as they experience coming out and the subsequent, inevitable fallout from family and peers. Heterosexual celebrities have no idea what it is like to grow up as a gay man or lesbian and should stop pretending they do. While these famous people — such as Anne Hathaway, Stephen Moyer and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — are attempting to use their notoriety to help gay teens, in my view they speak of what they do not know and should refrain from commenting on the issue.
According to a study in the American Journal of Public Health, gay teens are twice as likely to commit suicide as their heterosexual counterparts, due in large part to rampant bullying in schools. What these teens need is to see strong, gay role models, those who have truly risen above homophobia and institutionalized discrimination and now lead healthy and successful lives. There are plenty of successful gay celebrities and even a few gay politicians, so there is no excuse to feature straight stars instead.
Heterosexuals are unable to comprehend the added challenges of growing up gay in today’s world. They cannot fathom the fear that some of us have in our early stages of realization and coming out, fear of familial rejection, fear of being ostracized by friends and, especially, the fear of being attacked or even killed for being open and public about our identities. They cannot understand the sense of hopelessness that bullied and ostracized gay youth feel because of their immutable difference.
Life does get better, but this is a message that needs to come from the older members of our community. We do not need those who cannot understand our troubles and who may not truly accept us telling us that it gets better. It’s time for the gay community to step up and the straight community to stop meddling. Heterosexuals should not address an affair as sensitive as saving the life of a gay teen, as they have never and will never experience what a gay teen must go through.
Joey Macasieb is a political science sophomore. He can be reached at [email protected]
In My Opinion is a weekly column open to any Loyola student. Those interested in contributing can contact [email protected]
