I am hopeful that America is not going to let this fall’s tragic rush of gay teen suicides just slide into the past without a deeper understanding of the pain and anguish that LGBT teens are facing. All of us need to do something about it, whether or not we have teen children.

Now this past week, we learn of [1] the suicide of 19-year old Corey Jackson. This is becoming a national emergency.

[2]

But I am encouraged by two resources on the web. The one is the “[3] It Gets Better Project“[4] on Youtube, launched by gay columnist Dan Savage, which features the voices of literally hundreds of Americans who offer their stories and their encouragement to LGBT teens. As of this week, even [5] President Obama has posted his offering. The Human Rights Campaign’s Religion & Faith News” contained a link for [6] Susan Russell’s video (on her personal blog). Rev. Canon Russell is the senior associate priest on the staff of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena.

The other is the Make It Better Project, which I just learned about in an e-mail from Robin McGehee, Director of Get Equal, “[7] President Obama, you can make it better,” which was posted yesterday. In it, McGehee shares the letter from Tammy Aaberg, whose son Justin Aaberg took his own life because of bullying. The [8] Make It Better Project is produced by the GSA Network, where you can see young gay/lesbian people offering their experience and encouragement.

[9]

On that site, you can watch several video segments, including a 5:00 minute trailer for a new documentary “It’s Elementary” from [10] Ground Spark there are other excellent-looking resources on their site about gender, bullying, family diversity, etc.

Personally, I was moved by the amateur videos on It Gets Better to write my own script, with a little bit of my personal story, but as yet I don’t have the camera to go visual. Work with me, people, and I may wind up on Youtube.

— Pastor Dan Hooper