Slog
News & ArtsTuesday, October 5, 2010
Homo It Gets Better: Tim Gunn Made It Work...
Posted by Dan Savage on Tue, Oct 5, 2010 at 1:27 PM
...and so can you.
7
Like i didn't already love him like crazy! So fucking awesome to see this project get such great support, well done Dan.
8
I truly hope these most recent suicides and Dan & Terry's "It Gets Better" initiative will prove to be the Stonewall-like watershed for bullied youth. We must no longer tolerate bullying. No More! We don't let kids work 12 hours a day in factories; we don't tolerate other forms of child abuse. We must also stop this ongoing betrayal of our children!
9
Tim Gunn is such a legend. As if I didn't love him enough already!
Dan, this is such an amazing project, and if people are too short-sighted to see it's potential, they are underestimating the incredible imagination and creativity of youth. I am sure young people will be very inspired when they see someone they admire, like Tim Gunn, among others, speaking to them and re-affirming their value!
Dan, this is such an amazing project, and if people are too short-sighted to see it's potential, they are underestimating the incredible imagination and creativity of youth. I am sure young people will be very inspired when they see someone they admire, like Tim Gunn, among others, speaking to them and re-affirming their value!
12
I <3 you Tim Gunn. Dan, can utterly understand why this would make you go squee. Tim Gunn: making it work.
Also, I just read the comment by your dad in this week's Savage Love. I miss my dad as much as you miss your mom: you should be so thrilled that your family supports you & gives you some of the strength with which you are helping these bullied kids.
Also, I just read the comment by your dad in this week's Savage Love. I miss my dad as much as you miss your mom: you should be so thrilled that your family supports you & gives you some of the strength with which you are helping these bullied kids.
15
You guys have to watch this one, it is SOOO cute!
http://www.youtube.com/user/itgetsbetter…
The dark haired one got Jake Shear's phone number at his high school prom in Seattle!
http://www.youtube.com/user/itgetsbetter…
The dark haired one got Jake Shear's phone number at his high school prom in Seattle!
17
Are you aware that sites like PerezHilton (I read this because I am a terrible person) are posting at least 2 new celebrity IGB videos a day?? All kinds of random celebrities... Jewel made one! So did LeAnn Rhimes! (!!??)
18
As a straight man who only catches bits of Project Runway when my wife has it on, let me just say:
Tim Gunn rules.
Tim Gunn rules.
22
I'm so grateful that you are doing this project and that people like Tim Gunn are stepping forward to tell their stories. It makes me sad that we've created schools that kids have to "survive". What is wrong with us?
23
You know, this gives me hope too, and I'm a forty-something heterosexual woman. Thanks to everyone who participates in this program.
25
OMG Tim Gunn!! That makes me as happy as a little girl!!
And now is the time on Slog when we... squeeee!!
And now is the time on Slog when we... squeeee!!
27
I wonder what Tim Gunn said. That is, I and a whole lot of DEAF people, both gay and straight, are wondering what Tim or *any* of these contributors to "It Gets Better" are saying. I found **one** video that someone captioned but the captioning was not intelligible. So MANY people are pointing to these videos right now and they're saying things like:
"Oh, that is so sweet."
or
"Man, that got to me."
What was sweet? What got to you? What are these people saying? I can see their faces sometimes twisted in anguish, or they're reaching deep in their hearts for something and that really registers on me. But I don't know what they're saying.
"Oh, that is so sweet."
or
"Man, that got to me."
What was sweet? What got to you? What are these people saying? I can see their faces sometimes twisted in anguish, or they're reaching deep in their hearts for something and that really registers on me. But I don't know what they're saying.
30
Rayfus: let me help. I can't caption all of YouTube, though somebody sure ought to try, but I can give you a transcript for the Tim Gunn video right here:
Tim Gunn: Hi, I'm Tim Gunn, and I have a very important message for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, and questioning youth -- and that is: it gets better. It really does. And you may be thinking: what does Tim Gunn understand about my anguish, about my despair, about how I'm feeling, about my particular time and place in the world right now? Well I'll share with you. As a seventeen-year-old youth who was in quite a bit of despair, I -- attempted to kill myself. And I'm very happy today that that attempt was unsuccessful, but at the time it was all that I could contemplate. I thought, "I need to end things right now." And I have to tell you, when I woke up the next morning after taking more than hundred pills, I was in a whole other level of despair. I thought, "I shouldn't be here! This isn't what was meant to be!" Um -- I frankly just wanted to start life all over again. (pause) There are people who can help you. You cannot do this alone -- that's another very profound message that I want to give to all of you. It really requires a collaboration between you and the people who love you, the people who you can depend upon, no matter who they are as mentors. In my case, it took a very serious intervention to help me -- and this was a result of the botched suicide attempt, to be blunt. I am a huge advocate for the Trevor Project. The Trevor Project is a suicide prevention hotline for GLBT and questioning youth. And please visit their website, www.trevorproject.org, and seek them out. Your identity will be protected, you don't have to worry about getting your parents involved if you're so inclined . . . Um . . . I understand the desperation, I understand the despair, and I understand how isolated you can feel. And you have a lot of -- get very emotional -- people who really care about you, and I'm included in that group! So, reach out, get help, you're not alone, it will get better! I promise. (blows kiss)
More...
Tim Gunn: Hi, I'm Tim Gunn, and I have a very important message for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, and questioning youth -- and that is: it gets better. It really does. And you may be thinking: what does Tim Gunn understand about my anguish, about my despair, about how I'm feeling, about my particular time and place in the world right now? Well I'll share with you. As a seventeen-year-old youth who was in quite a bit of despair, I -- attempted to kill myself. And I'm very happy today that that attempt was unsuccessful, but at the time it was all that I could contemplate. I thought, "I need to end things right now." And I have to tell you, when I woke up the next morning after taking more than hundred pills, I was in a whole other level of despair. I thought, "I shouldn't be here! This isn't what was meant to be!" Um -- I frankly just wanted to start life all over again. (pause) There are people who can help you. You cannot do this alone -- that's another very profound message that I want to give to all of you. It really requires a collaboration between you and the people who love you, the people who you can depend upon, no matter who they are as mentors. In my case, it took a very serious intervention to help me -- and this was a result of the botched suicide attempt, to be blunt. I am a huge advocate for the Trevor Project. The Trevor Project is a suicide prevention hotline for GLBT and questioning youth. And please visit their website, www.trevorproject.org, and seek them out. Your identity will be protected, you don't have to worry about getting your parents involved if you're so inclined . . . Um . . . I understand the desperation, I understand the despair, and I understand how isolated you can feel. And you have a lot of -- get very emotional -- people who really care about you, and I'm included in that group! So, reach out, get help, you're not alone, it will get better! I promise. (blows kiss)
32
@Rayfus
Ex-secretary here, with no equipment, but Tim's message was pretty short in comparison to most. If I could get ahold of a transcriber, I'd be happy to do more for the cause. I might be able to borrow one over a weekend. Here is this one (can't swear to no typos or mishears):
Hi, I'm Tim Gunn, and I have a very important message for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered and questioning youth. And that is: It gets better. It really does. And you may be thinking, What does Tim Gunn understand about my anguish, about my despair, about how I'm feeling? About my particular time and place in the world right now? Well, I'll share with you. As a 17 year old youth who was in quite a bit of despair, I attempted to kill myself. And I'm very happy today that that attempt was unsuccessful, but at the time it's all that I could contemplate. I thought I need to end things right now. And I have to tell you when I woke up the next morning after taking more than a hundred pills, I was in a whole other level of despair. I thought, "I shouldn't be here! This isn't what was meant to be!" I frankly just wanted to start life all over again. There are people who can help you. You cannot do this alone. That's another very profound message that I want to give to all of you. It really requires a collaboration between you and the people who love you, the people who you can depend upon no matter who they are as mentors. In my case, it took a very serious intervention to help me and it was the result of the botched suicide attempt, to be blunt. I am a huge advocate for the Trevor Project. The Trevor Project is a suicide prevention hotline for GLBT and questioning youth. And please visit their website, trevorproject.org and seek them out. Your identity will be protected. You don't have to worry about getting parents involved if you are so inclined. I understand the desperation. I understand the despair and I understand how isolated you can feel and you have a lot of - I get very emotional - people who really care about you and I'm included in that group! So reach out, get help, you're not alone. It will get better! I promise.
More...
Ex-secretary here, with no equipment, but Tim's message was pretty short in comparison to most. If I could get ahold of a transcriber, I'd be happy to do more for the cause. I might be able to borrow one over a weekend. Here is this one (can't swear to no typos or mishears):
Hi, I'm Tim Gunn, and I have a very important message for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered and questioning youth. And that is: It gets better. It really does. And you may be thinking, What does Tim Gunn understand about my anguish, about my despair, about how I'm feeling? About my particular time and place in the world right now? Well, I'll share with you. As a 17 year old youth who was in quite a bit of despair, I attempted to kill myself. And I'm very happy today that that attempt was unsuccessful, but at the time it's all that I could contemplate. I thought I need to end things right now. And I have to tell you when I woke up the next morning after taking more than a hundred pills, I was in a whole other level of despair. I thought, "I shouldn't be here! This isn't what was meant to be!" I frankly just wanted to start life all over again. There are people who can help you. You cannot do this alone. That's another very profound message that I want to give to all of you. It really requires a collaboration between you and the people who love you, the people who you can depend upon no matter who they are as mentors. In my case, it took a very serious intervention to help me and it was the result of the botched suicide attempt, to be blunt. I am a huge advocate for the Trevor Project. The Trevor Project is a suicide prevention hotline for GLBT and questioning youth. And please visit their website, trevorproject.org and seek them out. Your identity will be protected. You don't have to worry about getting parents involved if you are so inclined. I understand the desperation. I understand the despair and I understand how isolated you can feel and you have a lot of - I get very emotional - people who really care about you and I'm included in that group! So reach out, get help, you're not alone. It will get better! I promise.
34
Tim Gun AND Darren Hayes AND Dan Savage... beautiful words from beautiful men. Tim doing this video is especially touching when you know a bit of his story http://instinctmagazine.com/celebrity-in….
38
Rufus raises a good point about the value of captioning, and not only for deaf people... a lot of kids will be using the internet at school or the library where they can't hear the audio.
Maybe the next step for the project is to recruit volunteers to do transcripts (or to insert captions into the films, for those who know how to do that?). And we'd want to have some kind of plan to avoid duplicating effort, as Alicia and CLDG demonstrated....
Let's say one person "Sam" volunteers to be the organizer. If I especially like the video made by "Betternow", then I write to Sam and offer to transcribe that video. Sam either says "yes, go ahead" or "no, Mary's working on that one."
I'm not very Youtube savvy - would there be a graceful way to make transcripts easily accessible when you choose a video? Is it hard to add captions to a clip somebody else has posted? Perhaps a non-audio version of each transcribed clip, where the person's head is in a still shot while the words appear, a few sentences at a time, on the other half of the screen?
Maybe the next step for the project is to recruit volunteers to do transcripts (or to insert captions into the films, for those who know how to do that?). And we'd want to have some kind of plan to avoid duplicating effort, as Alicia and CLDG demonstrated....
Let's say one person "Sam" volunteers to be the organizer. If I especially like the video made by "Betternow", then I write to Sam and offer to transcribe that video. Sam either says "yes, go ahead" or "no, Mary's working on that one."
I'm not very Youtube savvy - would there be a graceful way to make transcripts easily accessible when you choose a video? Is it hard to add captions to a clip somebody else has posted? Perhaps a non-audio version of each transcribed clip, where the person's head is in a still shot while the words appear, a few sentences at a time, on the other half of the screen?
44
Thank YOU to Alicia, CLDG and Rhymeswithlibrarian. Best cry I've had in months. No. Not the video. It's that someone had the sweetness to just do what they can.
{{{{{{{{{{{{{{hugs}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}
{{{{{{{{{{{{{{hugs}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}
48
I've never watched the show, but I've enjoyed watching and listening to him on Colbert (or was it Daily Show...?) That was really heartfelt and great. I haven't watched all that many of them, but I enjoyed that one the most so far (other than Dan and Terry's)
@15: Though that one is probably my second favorite.
@15: Though that one is probably my second favorite.
49
After hearing a Mormon apostle on Sunday condemn gays and tell them they can and must change their orientation, this video clip made me cry. We need more Tim Gunns and fewer Boyd Packers.
51
Yahoo front page, Dan! If the teenagers weren't listening before, I bet they are now. "It Gets Better" has had so much publicity...let's just hope the message is getting through.
52
Great message Tim Gunn--I'm always one your biggest fans. Tim Gunn is the epitome of class.
@Banna From what I can tell, he has had relationships in the past with men, but considers himself asexual now. I'm not sure if he means asexual as in the orientation-sense (there are gay asexuals), or is just using asexual to mean celibate. Perhaps the latter.
@Banna From what I can tell, he has had relationships in the past with men, but considers himself asexual now. I'm not sure if he means asexual as in the orientation-sense (there are gay asexuals), or is just using asexual to mean celibate. Perhaps the latter.
53
This was the closing story on channel 7 news in New York this afternoon. Thought you'd like to know. Sadly the story didn't mention the IGB project; just said that Gunn had released a YT video saying he attempted suicide as a teenager.
This project is really a fantastic thing.
This project is really a fantastic thing.
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