It Gets Better Project

{{Infobox organization

| name = It Gets Better

| formation = 2010

| logo = File:Stacked-IGB-RGB-01 (1).png

| logo_size = 200px

| caption = Screen capture of the It Gets Better website

| type = 501(c)(3)

| founded_date = {{Start date and age|2010|09|21}}

| tax_id =

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| founders = Dan Savage and Terry Miller

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| area_served = Worldwide

| product =

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| headquarters = Los Angeles, CA

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| leader_title = CEO and Executive Director

| leader_name = Brian Wenke

| former name = It Gets Better Project

| homepage = {{Official URL}}

| dissolved =

| website = http://itgetsbetter.org

| footnotes =

}}

It Gets Better is an Internet-based 501(c)3 nonprofit with a mission to uplift, empower, and connect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) youth around the globe.{{Cite web |title=It Gets Better |url=https://itgetsbetter.org/ |access-date=April 4, 2022 |website=It Gets Better |language=en-US}} It was founded in the United States by gay activist, author, media pundit, and journalist Dan Savage and his husband Terry Miller on September 21, 2010,{{cite news|url=https://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/2005-10-21/entertainment/17395581_1_same-sex-marriage-lesbians-dan-savage/2 |title=Marriage can be right for us all, says Dan Savage. But let's not get carried away with monogamy |date=October 21, 2005 |access-date=April 30, 2011 |author=Wyatt Buchanan |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120106164705/http://articles.sfgate.com/2005-10-21/entertainment/17395581_1_same-sex-marriage-lesbians-dan-savage/2 |archive-date=January 6, 2012 }} in response to the suicides of teenagers who were bullied because they were gay or because their peers suspected that they were gay. Its goal is to prevent suicide by having gay adults convey the message that these teens' lives will improve.{{cite news |url=http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/22/showing-gay-teens-a-happy-future/ |title=Showing Gay Teens a Happy Future |newspaper=The New York Times |last=Parker-Pope |first=Tara |date=September 22, 2010}}{{cite news | first = Peter | last = Hartlaub | title = Dan Savage overwhelmed by gay outreach's response | date = 2010-10-08 | url = http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/10/07/MNVJ1FP6E1.DTL | work = San Francisco Chronicle | access-date = 2010-10-09}} The project includes more than 50,000 entries from people of all sexual orientations,{{cite news|title=Dan Savage talks teens, straight people and It Gets Better|url=http://www.xtra.ca/public/Ottawa/Dan_Savage_talks_teens_straight_people_and_It_Gets_Better-9737.aspx|access-date=15 February 2011|newspaper=Xtra!|date=8 February 2011|author=Noreen Fagan|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110814044517/http://www.xtra.ca/public/Ottawa/Dan_Savage_talks_teens_straight_people_and_It_Gets_Better-9737.aspx|archive-date=14 August 2011|url-status=dead}} including many celebrities;{{cite web|url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geyAFbSDPVk|title = President Obama: It Gets Better| website=YouTube |date = October 21, 2010}}

{{cite news|last=Albanesius |first=Chloe |url=https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2371306,00.asp |title=Obama, Google Make Anti-Gay Bullying 'It Gets Better' Videos |publisher=PCMag.com |date=22 October 2010 |access-date=2010-10-22}}
{{cite news|last=Meckler |first=Laura |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/10/22/obama-joins-it-gets-better-campaign-dan-savage-says-make-it-better |title=Obama Joins "It Gets Better" Campaign. |publisher=Washington Wire – WSJ |date=22 October 2010 |access-date=2004-09-16}} the videos have received over 50 million views.

A book of essays from the project was released in March 2011.{{cite web|last=Furlan|first=Julia|title=The 'It Gets Better Project' Turns the Spotlight on Anti-Gay Bullying|url=http://culture.wnyc.org/articles/features/2011/mar/22/it-gets-better-project-page-and-nyc/|access-date=March 30, 2011|publisher=WNYC|date=March 22, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725224452/http://culture.wnyc.org/articles/features/2011/mar/22/it-gets-better-project-page-and-nyc/|archive-date=July 25, 2011}} The project was given the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Governor's Award at the 64th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards for "strategically, creatively and powerfully utilizing the media to educate and inspire," according to the academy's chairman and CEO Bruce Rosenblum.{{cite web |url=http://www.emmys.com/articles/it-gets-better-gets-governors-award-nod |title="It Gets Better" to Get Governors Award |publisher=Television Academy |date=2012-08-22 |access-date=2012-09-15}}

Project history

File:President Obama - It Gets Better.webm Barack Obama's video contribution to the It Gets Better Project (2010).]]

The It Gets Better Project was founded by Savage in response to the suicide of Billy Lucas and other teenagers who were bullied because they were gay or perceived to be, such as with Raymond Chase, Tyler Clementi, Ryan Halligan, Asher Brown, and Seth Walsh.{{cite web|url=http://www.gaytimes.co.uk/Magazine/InThisIssue-articleid-7574-sectionid-742.html |title=GT Investigates – In This Issue |publisher=GayTimes |access-date=2010-11-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101114141911/http://www.gaytimes.co.uk/Magazine/InThisIssue-articleid-7574-sectionid-742.html |archive-date=2010-11-14 }}{{cite web |url=http://www.tampabay.com/incoming/in-suicides-wake-a-message-to-gay-teens-hang-on-you-are-not-alone/1125546 |title=In suicide's wake, a message to gay teens: Hang on; you are not alone |publisher=St. Petersburg Times; Tampabay.com |date=2 October 2010 |access-date=2010-10-16 |archive-date=October 5, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101005040340/http://www.tampabay.com/incoming/in-suicides-wake-a-message-to-gay-teens-hang-on-you-are-not-alone/1125546 |url-status=dead }} Reflecting on Lucas' suicide in his Savage Love column, Savage wrote, "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."{{cite news |url=http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/SavageLove?oid=4940874 |title=Give 'Em Hope |last=Savage |first=Dan |author-link=Dan Savage |date=September 23, 2010 |newspaper=The Stranger |access-date=October 6, 2010 |archive-date=October 6, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101006121716/http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/SavageLove?oid=4940874 |url-status=dead }}

Former U.S. President Barack Obama lent his voice to the project and its anti-bullying message during its infancy. On October 21, 2010, Obama contributed his own video saying in part, "We've got to dispel this myth that bullying is just a normal rite of passage; that it's just some inevitable part of growing up. It's not. We have an obligation to ensure that our schools are safe for all of our kids. And for every young person out there you need to know that if you're in trouble, there are caring adults who can help." President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama would later host an anti-bullying conference in March 2011.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/11/us/politics/11obama.html|title=Obamas Focus on Antibullying Efforts|date=11 March 2011|work=The New York Times}} Google Chrome backed the project as well, promoting its YouTube channel and airing a video ad for the project on television; that ad's first appearance came during a May 3, 2011 episode of Glee.{{cite news |last1=Parr | first1=Ben |date=May 4, 2011 |title=Google Chrome Commercial Lets Gay Teens Know "It Gets Better" |url=https://mashable.com/2011/05/04/google-chrome-it-gets-better/ |work=Mashable |access-date=February 3, 2021}}

Today, It Gets Better is the world's largest storytelling effort to empower LGBTQ+ youth.{{Cite web |title=The It Gets Better Project: Empowering LGBTQ+ Youth Around the Globe |url=https://grounds4cause.com/blogs/rise-above-coffee/the-it-gets-better-project-empowering-lgbtq-youth-around-the-globe |access-date=2024-08-06 |website=Grounds4Cause |language=en}} Since 2022, It Gets Better has distributed more than $1 million to middle and high schools throughout the United States to fund projects that uplift and empower LGBTQ+ students.{{Cite web |date=2024-02-01 |title=It Gets Better Announces Year Three of Major Grants Initiative to Empower LGBTQ+ Students |url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gets-better-announces-three-major-150000114.html |access-date=2024-08-06 |website=Yahoo Finance |language=en-US}} In 2023, It Gets Better was the first of several LGBTQ+ nonprofits to leave Twitter/X, citing a surge of hate speech and misinformation targeting queer and trans youth.{{Cite web |title=It Gets Better Steps Back From Twitter/X Over Hate Speech Concerns |url=https://www.advocate.com/business/it-gets-better-stops-twitter |access-date=2024-08-06 |website=www.advocate.com |language=en}} In 2024, the organization dropped the Project from its name to reflect its "growth from a viral movement to a more comprehensive support system for queer youth." It is now known as It Gets Better.{{Cite web |title=It Gets Better Project changes its name |url=https://www.advocate.com/news/it-gets-better-project-name |access-date=2024-08-06 |website=www.advocate.com |language=en}}

Book and television

{{Further|It Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating a Life Worth Living}}

In March 2011, E. P. Dutton published It Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating a Life Worth Living, a book of essays edited by Dan Savage and Terry Miller that reflect the same theme as the web video project. The book contains more than 100 essays,{{Cite news |publisher=NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/2011/03/23/134628750/dan-savage-for-gay-teens-life-gets-better |date=March 23, 2011 |title=Dan Savage: For Gay Teens, Life 'Gets Better'}} either transcribed or expanded from the videos or original writings. Contributors include Jennifer Finney Boylan, Gregory Maguire, Meshell Ndegeocello, Michael Cunningham, Suze Orman, and David Sedaris. The book made the New York Times Best Seller list.{{Cite news |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/2011-04-10/hardcover-nonfiction/list.html |date=April 10, 2011 |title=Hardcover Nonfiction |first=Jennifer |last=Schuessler}}

Two 1-hour It Gets Better TV specials, which focused on the project's mission and conveyed messages of support, aired in 2012. Broadcast on MTV and simulcast on LGBT-oriented sister network Logo, the specials had premiere airings on February 21 and October 9, 2012.[https://web.archive.org/web/20150310231800/http://www.mtv.com/news/1678324/it-gets-better-special-premiere-dan-savage/ "It Gets Better Special To Premiere On MTV, Logo,"] from MTV.com, 2/1/2012 (accessed 2/9/2021){{Cite web|url=http://www.itgetsbetter.org/pages/second-it-gets-better-special-to-air-on-mtv-october-9th|title=Second It Gets Better Special Full Episode|website=It Gets Better|language=en|access-date=2017-09-23|archive-date=September 23, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170923144800/http://www.itgetsbetter.org/pages/second-it-gets-better-special-to-air-on-mtv-october-9th|url-status=dead}}