Gay-Straight Alliance Network launches anti-bullying video project

In response to the rash of LGBT youth suicides, the San Francisco-based Gay-Straight Alliance Network has launched a project aimed at giving young people the necessary tools to combat bullying.

The "Make It Better Project" includes a Web site and YouTube channel where students and adults can upload video messages to share what they are doing to prevent suicide and improve the lives of LGBT students now. The project also has a Twitter and Facebook page.

Seattle-based columnist Dan Savage launched "It Gets Better", a video message to LGBT youth that life gets better after high school. Carolyn Laub, founder and executive director of the Gay-Straight Alliance Network who created "Make It Better", acknowledged any effort to stop teen suicide is admirable, but she said her organization's project takes Savage's message one step further by giving young people the tools they need to immediately make their lives better.

"While inspiring and hopeful, we felt it imperative to let youth know that they do not have to wait until they graduate to be happy and safe at school," said Laub. "We launched the project to focus on how we can all take action to make schools better now, rather than later."

The YouTube channel is full of videos where youth tell the world what they are doing, of have done, to make their schools safe. The Web site, www.MakeItBetterProject.org, includes steps students can take now, including how to start a gay-straight alliance, fight slurs, organize events and educate students and teachers about LGBT issues.

"LGBTQ youth need to know that they have rights," said Laub. "They have the right to attend school free from harassment or discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. They don't have to wait until they graduate to enjoy life or live free from harassment discrimination. They have the power to change their school now and they should know that they are not alone. There are many other organizations like the Gay-Straight Student Alliance that will help to support them."

Laub said LGBT youth need adults to support their efforts to make every school safe for every student.

"Parents, teachers, administrators, politicians and the public can help make it better for LGBTQ youth by advocating that schools adopt and fully implement anti-bullying policies that include sexual orientation and gender identity, and by ensuring that teachers and administrators work to stop anti-LGBTQ bullying, harassment, discrimination, and slurs," she said.

Laub warned that, in order for things to drastically improve for LGBT students nation-wide, the teens need Congress to pass the Safe Schools Improvement Act and the Student Non-Discrimination Act.

"We're urging everyone to call their representative and senator to support both of these bills, which can prevent bullying and discrimination of LGBTQ youth in schools," she said.

Gay-Straight Alliance Network empowers youth to fight homophobia and transphobia in school by training youth activists and supporting student-led Gay-Straight Alliance clubs in California and throughout the country. While anti-LGBT bullying is an epidemic in the United States, with three in five LGBT students reporting that they feel unsafe in school, research shows that students with a GSA club experience less harassment and are more likely to feel safe at school. Since the GSA Network began in 1998, the number of GSA clubs in California has skyrocketed from 40 to over 800, including 33 in middle school.