Check out this take on It Gets Better from a baker's dozen of Senate Democrats -- full list after the jump. Maybe it's just me, but this thing equal parts "Hang in there, kids" and "We're pushing on this marriage equality thing, we promise."
The rest of the analysis is yours.
The list of senators, in alphabetical order: Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Maria Cantwell of Washington, Chris Coons of Delaware, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Dianne Feinstein of California, Al Franken of Minnesota, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Chuck Schumer of New York, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Mark Udall of Colorado, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, and Ron Wyden of Oregon.
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With all due respect to these Senators who are really being awesome in putting this together, at 1:18 in, I paused it. I get it. I got it. And the music just wasn't working. But kudos to these Senators for saying SOMETHING.
try the whole thing; the music changes 40 seconds after you stopped it.
Great.
This is one of the reasons we elected Chris Coons in Delaware. He is a bright, progressive and caring public servant.
Oh, yes and his opponent who "was NOT a witch.
It gets way better!
Thank you, senators.
I see the dogs...Where is the pony?
As far as "Hanging in There" goes...In or out you are still "hanging"!
On the good side...With the quality of rope these days, the "Neck per Noose ratio" is way up...Not anywhere near the "Soldier per Barrell ratio" but inching up!
In general, the bullying of any person for any reasons has gone on far to long and the Truth is we have not done a Damn thing!.....I don't wanna see warm and fuzzy videos. When to we get to the part of this field trip that includes Freedom, Liberty and Justice for All?
When do we get to the part where religion stays the f**k out of government and stops legislating their brand of bigoted morality?
Oh, and don't go to your religious leaders for help. They're clueless, stupid and lost, if not downright malevolent.
here here.........
WOW! I am so impressed by these Senators for sending this message. Now, lets hope the right people see it.
Equality means equality for all - no differences - love, life, marriage, gay, straight, transgendered.
As a Canadian, I am thrilled that both Canada and the USA are on the right path towards equality for all.
"I drew a map of Canada, with your face sketched on it twice." Joni Mitchell. Case of you.
The most important people are too young to vote. Spread the word so that they hear it. The issue here isn't so much about changing minds as saving lives.
Read those cue cards guys! Nice gesture, but I'm not impressed (much like everything else you do).
It's very nice. Very touching. Oh so moving. However, what is nicer, more touching and more moving would be legislation to affirm that all Americans are to be treated with fairness and EQUALITY.
How about some laws that affirm the rights of gay Americans to full citizenship. Meanwhile it is meaningless. How can anyone feel comfortable in a country where their government passes laws to strip them of their rights?
President Obama has shown no leadership on this major civil rights issue of our time. He needs an intervention. Maybe he should go talk to Governor Cuomo and find out how it feels to fight for justice and equality.
I think Obama really needs to read this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/nyregion/the-road-to-gay-marriage-in-new-york.html
This is a great example of what it takes from someone in the executive position to get something done in the legislature. And I'm not just talking about gay marriage, but in general.
That is a super article from the NYT, GrrrlRomeo. That is the way politics done right works.
The most important paragraph, to me, is this one:
"The advocates had contributed to the defeat of same-sex marriage in 2009, he told them, with their rampant infighting and disorganization. He had seen it firsthand, as attorney general, when organizers had given him wildly divergent advice about which senators to lobby and when, sometimes in bewildering back-to-back telephone calls. “You can either focus on the goal, or we can spend a lot of time competing and destroying ourselves,” the governor said."
This should be put on the wall in every advocacy organization everywhere in the country whether for gay Rights or the ERA or Decriminalization of Marijuana, or Workers' Rights, or Health Care Reform or whatever. Exactly that has and continues to stop reform and/or redress over and over and over again. I have seen it first hand, but try and get the advocate groups to listen. Thank god Cuomo did get them to listen.
Many of my fellow progressives complain about how there is so little difference between the two parties, but this message is one of the examples that proves them wrong. This is why I will continue to support Democrats, even our President. I doubt that we will ever see a similar message from one, let alone a dozen, GOP Senators.
This was nice of our senators! There are more, presumably, straight supporters of legal equality for the gays than there are gay people. Horray for straight, and horray for equality minded humans!
I love the "It Gets Better" project. Let's not forget that this is the USA, and nothing comes for free:
http://www.itgetsbetter.org/page/contribute/
There are lives on the line.
Not to keep harping the issue, but States-Rights vs. Federal-Equality: Have these senators all signed onto the Stop The Deportations effort?
I would love to see a House version with Tammy Baldwin.
Lockin' up the PFLAG vote.
Parents of queer kids aren't any different than parents of straight kids. They want their kids to get married and get a good job when they grow up. That part of the electorate who have openly queer kids, grandchildren, nieces and nephews is growing exponentially. They want to hear that their kids are going to be okay.
Calling homosexuals "queers" is so gay.
(yes, that's irony...)
Here's an analogy for you:
Queer:Gay as Cracker:Caucasian.
Seriously.
How true. I believe that parents of gays kids worry more. I have worried about my daughters safety from others since she was in elementary school. She is not in a gay friendly state right now and I worry everyday.
Umm queer can be used to refer to heterosexual transgenders, homosexual transgenders, bi-sexuals, gender neutral, gender non-confirmed, curious, etc, etc. It's a neutral term, sort've like sie in German, used to categorize a numerous amount of people w/ various gender and sexual orientations.
I don't care what you call it....this is what matters.
Right on Grrrl.
no, that's not necessarily so. gay kids still get disowned, etc. by parents as the video somewhat acknowledges: "talk to your parents, if you can." [emphasis mine]
and i'm in line with PotKettleBlack; 'queer' seems mildly offensive, like using 'negro': technically accurate, but not particularly positive as it's often used in bitterness and hatred by those who aren't.
The word 'queer' was derogatory in origin, but then it was co-opted. As in "We're here, we're queer, get used to it." That's the way to deal with slurs. Don't get defensive. Don't get offended. Just grab the ball, put your head down, and charge.
Kind of like what's started to happen regarding the word 'slut'.
Queer is what we call people who either have not or do not wish to form a specific identity such as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, but do not identify as straight. Some people identify as queer because they feel that none of the other terms fit them completely.
A kid may not know whether they are gay, bisexual or trans because they haven't sorted it out yet. No one should be forced into a box just to make other people comfortable.
It is commonly used as a catchall term in academia when studying intersectionality of gender and sexual orientation., i.e. Queer Theory.
Melissa Harris-Perry got raked over the coals a few months ago on Twitter for saying "queer" outside an academic setting, which was sad and really necessary.
Really *unnecessary. Ugh. But anyway, I shall now use LGBTQ so as to please no one and everyone at the same time.
And Tomm, I was speaking in general. LGBTQ kids getting kicked out of their houses by their parents is becoming an exception rather than a rule because of how far we've come in the past few decades. And sometimes accepting parents experience discrimination themselves when they try to get help for their LGBTQ kid.
Yes MeddlingMonk the word "slut" originally referred to the lowest female servant in a household, as in kitchen slut. People should read Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors for context.
@MeddlingMonk i believe that there are some words that can never be co-opted in such a manner, but 'queer' isn't entirely one of them; as i said, i find it mildly offensive, but it's certainly not the f-word, which like the n-word, i don't belive can be '(re)claimed' as a positive term.
@GrrrlRomeo might not 'questioning' be a better Q-word in those cases where a person isn't sure? and i simply don't find "Queer Theory" any better in an academic setting than i might "Darkie History."
Tomm, what do you plan on doing about people who identify as queer? Gay men don't own the word. If you find the word queer mildly offensive, then don't identify as queer. But you can't tell other people not to identify as queer.
Really, you're going to have to take it up with the community (world wide) and queer people as there are countless organizations, websites and individuals using the word queer.
Your definition of queer, is just your definition and yours alone. I gleefully identify as dyke, and you probably have a problem with that too. I don't care.
See, Tomm? I told you the word had been co-opted. And pretty successfully, I'd say.
Very inspiring. I can't thank them enough for that. This video was very meaningful. Well done.
Thank you.
We can all talk about the music or the que cards, but these people got up and took a stand FOR our children. Thank you Senators, you are on the right side of history.
i'd have to agree with that. while i get the inference, harping on the use of cue cards is too much like bleating about Obama using a teleprompter (high-tech cue cards, which Ms. Maddow uses, too, ya know). it's a bit like complaining somebody bought you a card or maybe cake to acknowledge your birthday; you're going to bitch that they didn't make it themselves, or it's not a new car?
And he sat down upon the ground crossing his legs and told them this parable: Once there was a small town called Waterloo Iowa. It was hot there in the summer and the people liked to eat ice cream. There was only one tiny shop, run by an elderly Christian lady who tried to run her life and everyone else's by biblical principles. She had read Isaiah 60:16 which she interpreted to require adults to drink human milk, especially that of gentiles (and kings when available). Obviously that included ice cream, she reasoned. The very idea of eating her human breast milk ice cream nauseated some people, so they went without. One day a young man opened a rival ice cream shop, that sold conventional dairy ice cream in vanilla, chocolate, strawberry and mocha java. The old lady who knew everyone on city council, used her influence and knowledge of their skeletons to get it made illegal to sell any ice cream but vanilla, made with human milk. Eating anything else was clearly wicked. She was an expert on the matter as a lifelong Christian and bible study leader. The young man argued that some people did not like vanilla human milk ice cream, and it was just spite to deny them a flavour they did like. Further, what business has a elderly protestant Christian lady dictating morality for Buddhists, Catholics, atheists etc? What has ice cream got to do with morality? Nothing! The old lady countered: "If we allow this, the next thing that will happen is some giant ice cream chain will move in offering 31 decadent flavours like blueberry and mango, yucch. It will be the end of the world as we know it."
Whoever it was started calling the issue "marriage equality" instead of "gay marriage" or "same sex marriage" deserves a medal.
It is very embarrassing to be against equality. It also makes clear we gays want the exact same familiar old thing as straights. We don't want some weird new institution invented.
It would be embarrassing, if the other side had enough self-awareness to be embarrassed. After all, if Chuck Colson can maintain with a straight face that tolerance is tyranny (
www.rightwingwatch.org/content/colson-tolerance-breeds-totalitarianism), I don't see what would prevent any of his sort from being opposed to equality. In fact, they are. That's why they rail against phantoms like 'special rights'.
I have every intention of redefining marriage as an equal partnership that doesn't insist on or imply gender roles. There is no "head of the household" in my household. I totally do not want the type of marriage my parents had where my Mom was saddled with all the cooking and cleaning because she's the woman.
Though gay men in the community don't like to admit it, this is an extension of the Women's Rights Movement. We pick up where they left off paving the road to gender equality.
A union of equal partners as opposed to a union of one dominating the other. How or why the latter ever came into existence is beyond me, but I look forward to the day when the former is the norm rather than the exception.
WELL DONE!
Isn't it a little easy for straight people to say it gets better? How do they know?
EVERYONE, except the cool kids, feels out of place to a certain degree in High School. It DOES get better for everyone, and I don't think it hurts nerds or gawky, pimply faced kids to know they have something in common with a gay person.
EVERYONE, except the cool kids, feels out of place in High School. It DOES get better for everyone, and I don't think it hurts nerds or gawky, pimply faced kids to know they have something in common with a gay person.
Am I the only one who resents straight people telling me it gets better? How do they know? It seems like a way of silencing the LGBT experience in this country.
I think any message that makes people feel included is a good message.
Straight people don't know what it's like growing up gay, but many straight people do know all too well what it's like to be bullied as a kid. Being bullied for being gay isn't the exact same experience as being bullied for being in special ed, for not being able to afford the "cool" clothes, for being a "nerd" or whatever. But there are at least some similarities.
totally agree with you. gee senator, do you know what it's like to get bashed or lose out on a job because of who you love? betcha don't.
Look to how women had to fight for their rights not to be owned by men , to own their own property and to able to vote, not to mention the whole civil rights thing So yes I think the straights know full well the fight ahead as they also fought it.
We have all seen children, who are unmistakeably born gay or lesbian. Sometimes it is just more evident in the physical attributes of some human beings. To deem homosexuality wrong is akin to degrading people because of their skin color, or because of their nose size or because of their hair color. We have all heard the hurtful chants of carrot top, or slave boy or Pinocchio nose, but never had we had the Law, the Government and those in power, stand on the side of the bullies except when it concerned sexual orientation.
As parents we have had the resources - teachers, policemen, government - to help us fight on the side of the victim. Today we have these brave senators, a small minority of those in power, to stand on the side of the oppressed. For this we thank you. But isn't it time we awoke the village and reminded them of their civil duty, their human responsibility to help us ward off those who choose to attack our children because of the way they were born. It is only until the entire world stands up and says enough, that our children will really see it get better.
In memory of all the young children, who took their own lives because it didn't seem likely to ever get better, we thank these Senators that are taking that crucial step forward and holding out their arms to a hurting child.
Thank you, you may have saved a life.
The most badass baseball team on the planet, the World Champion SF Giants, are running PSAs just like these. Matt Cain specifically mentions LBGT persons. Bigots are looking for an easy target. You can't stand by and let anyone get bullied. You might be next.
We're up against powerful forces after an unconscionable decision by a city culturally frozen in time, and the clock is ticking, but nobody has seemed to notice, yet - within 24 hours it's all over but the crying. It seems like this deserves some national attention after what happened in New York. Please get involved... Thursday is literally our last stand on this.
http://www.untilloveisequal.com
Seriously, how much more of a hint does everyone need. When the President says what he did the other day (that his feelings were "evolving") and when he draws out and approves of the trajectory the whole campaign is moving on (as he did today without "making headlines"), it's pretty obvious that he plans on doing it after the general election. I mean, do you really want to spur on the Republicans by giving them an opponent that is making their worst nightmare come true during a bad economy? POTUS can't risk giving them that level of intensity.
Seriously, does he have to stomp his feet, nudge you're arms individually, or wink every time he gives us a hint?
This is a civil rights issue, not a gay issue. This WILL happen. The conservative 'holier-than-thou' dinosaurs are on the wrong side of history. No, I'm not gay, so there is no way for me to know that exact esperience, but as was brought up, bullying for a very short, bookish, not-jock (but I could run fast, and learned to fight quick and dirty) can give one some insight. A lot of us questioned ourselves and the world and if we really had a place in it. I will always fight for equal rights, it obviously the right thing!
Sandra, unfortunately you are wrong in that the "powers that be" stood against almost every civil rights issue that was being fought at the time. Ask blacks about all the support they got from the power structure. The ridicule suffragettes suffered. That's why we have to fight and not just hope things work out.
uhhh...why isn't it a gay issue?