When I first learned of the first gay teen to commit suicide, I was confused. In today's world, it seems like the perfect time to be young, gay and proud! A lot things have changed for us: "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" has been repealed; the Obama administration announced it would no longer defend the constitutionality of DOMA in court cases; and Illinois finally recognizes civil unions, just to name a few. These are a lot of things that have gotten better for us.
While I understand that it's not a perfect world for gays, I feel we're moving in the right directionslowly.
A few months ago, three of my best friends ( Kean Ray, David Dodd and Rannon Harris ) decided to be a part of the "'It Gets Better" movement. We were overjoyed to learn that our YouTube video had gotten more than 60,000 hits in just a few hours; people really enjoyed our message. And, we finally felt like we were doing something to help stop gay Teens from committing suicide. A few days after we posted our video, Dan Savage and his partner, Terry, contacted us and asked us if were interested in being a part of their book, It Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating a Life Worth Living.
Imagine being in a small town where there are no openly gay adultswhere gay teenagers have no one to turn to for advice. This book fills that void. Now they have short YouTube videos to go through for encouragement and survival. President Obama, Secretary Hillary Clinton and even the British Prime Minister David Cameron share a message for gay Teens.
The book retells our 'It Gets Better' YouTube video, and it does something else unique; it shows that African Americans are a part of this gay struggle to survive in America. Kean talked about committing suicide and being discovered by grandmother after swallowing pillshe faced the struggles of being Black and gay in Chicago; David was being bullied and teased in school while living in D.C.; and Rannon and I both strived for our parents' acceptance about being gay. It was really tough for us growing up Black and gay during the early '90s. It wasn't until we got a bit older that we realized our struggles while growing up only helped us to be stronger gay Black men.
What's great about this book is that it's not only a survival guide for gay teens; it's our first gay biblereal stories from real people overcoming their struggles in the real world. While we have many things to do in America to make life for us a bit better, one thing is for sure: It gets betterit just takes some time.
Lenox Magee blogs regularly for ChicagoNow.com, owned by the Chicago Tribune Media Group; is editor-in-chief of 360 Magazine; is the online content manager for the GLO TV Network; and is a freelance writer/columnist for RedEye Newspaper, also owned by the Chicago Tribune Media Group.