0 It Makes Me Want To Cry

Dan Savage is a good man and his heart is in the right place. He's promoting the It Gets Better Project. What's it about? Gay kids are killing themselves.

"Billy Lucas was just 15 when he hanged himself in a barn on his grandmother's property. He reportedly endured intense bullying at the hands of his classmates-classmates who called him a fag and told him to kill himself. His mother found his body.... 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."

Although it was a long time ago now, I pleaded with a friend to keep it together when he was dealing with a traumatic forced outing at a young age. He survived and is doing well now, but for years I worried about him every day. I can't tell you how grateful I am that he survived those first horrible years. It taught me a lot about tolerance and changed my way of thinking. I went from ambivalence and stupid stereotypes to love and eventual acceptance. I've got a couple of gay friends now and I will even be giving away the bride for a young lady who plans to marry her partner soon. They key is always love. Just love people unconditionally. Accept them as they are and help them when they need it.

It always bothered me when Christians talked about love but did not seem to get the message. I saw it with a gay friend who killed himself while still a young man (many years ago now). The church did not love him. They wanted to heal him instead. Dan Savage posted a story about Christians contributing to suicide titled How "Christian" Parents Kill Their Gay Children. It made me want to cry thinking about my old friend Perry. I can barely remember what he looks like now.

"I wanted to share a story with your "It gets better project" but I can't manage to say it without crying so hard that I need to stop. "

"I'm a 22 year old bisexual woman in the happiest relationship of my life with a man and a girlfriend. I have a good job, sweet and wonderful friends. I learned to love myself and not to give two shits about what people thought of me or my lifestyle a long time ago. But I wasn't always this happy. My first girlfriend, Corrine, killed herself in January 2003. She was 15." Technorati Tags: Gay Rights,Love,Suicide