I’m still not sure I agree with the It Gets Better. The message comes across quite bleak as a statement about our community; it feels like it shifts the burden of homophobia/transphobia/queerphobia onto the backs of young people: “it’s gonna be shit for a while but it’ll be ok later on… probably”. Somehow I don’t get how much solace from the message.
That, and it someone told me they were suicidal, the last response I’d want to give would be “Well, my life is great now. So you should just wait it out until things get better for you.” Surely we should be asking “What support do you need?”
I’ve talked with other people about it and they say it works best in conjunction with other causes… like this one, or this, or this, oh and also this.
And I think I agree. It’s great to give hope, and it’s great to visibilise communities, but it’s ALSO important to ask what support people need, to create said support, to advocate for change, to get angry, to get loud, and to create allegiances across communities (’cause homophobia/transphobia/queerphobia is all our problems – just like racism, sexism, ableism, religious bigotry, and all the rest).
But still, as one more voice amongst a myriad of others, and as one person who has a lot more to say than simply “It Gets Better”, here’s mine:
