Make It Better Now!

I'm a big fan of Dan Savage's wonderful It Gets Better initiative. It's a vital lifeline for so many young people. But why can't we Make It Better Now for LGBT youth?

Wherever I look I find more examples of life being made worse for LGBT youth. I see shockingly disproportionate levels of homeless LGBT teens. I see Don't Say Gay and No Homo Promo policies that isolate LGBT school students and, not only bar them from seeking help, but, unimaginably worse and almost beyond belief, leave them exposed to bullying by their peers and by those who are supposed to help and protect them. I see pathetically low levels of positive representation (0.6%!) of LGBT on youth TV.

What I can't understand, no matter how hard I try, is why we can't Make It Better Now. We need to demand urgent action. Why are hate groups allowed to dictate laws that are sanctioning bullying and criminal neglect of vulnerable children? Governments should be aware of the fact that in an atmosphere of hatred and bigotry, those brave LGBT youth who do dare to come out end up even more vulnerable. There needs to be a safety net for these children. And I refer to them as children because they are children! Schools should be looking out for them and noticing when things go wrong, instead of erasing their existence and bullying them too. This inclusiveness and acceptance should be legislated from above and not left to individual schools or districts/counties to decide. It's called protecting the vulnerable, protecting our children from real and present danger. There's no point crying crocodile tears over those who've faced so many closed doors that they've ended up committing suicide, if you're not going to do anything about it. This is hurting our children and even killing them. Can you imagine  something else hurting children this much and no action being taken? No, neither can I.

LGBT youth deserve to be safe, just like everyone else. We can normalise their existence both for them and for the rest of the world. It's not that complicated. All we need to do is to provide the infrastructure of support they need and the proportion of positive role models that reflects their true proportion in society. There are positive actions going on, but they are not joined up enough to reach everyone who needs help, or to prevent hate actions from hostile elements. LGBT youth are a very vulnerable group and should be a very high priority for policy makers. It's time for action, not words. Make It Better Now!