Thought for Thursday. . . It DOES get better!

66% of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) teenagers experience bullying at school.
58% of them never report it, and half of them skip school as a result. 
LGBT teenagers are three times more likely than their "straight" friends to attempt suicide.
(Source = Diversity Role Models)

Something a little different today. A couple of links for you, sharing the recently released single "It does get better" performed by various British lesbian artists in order to raise awareness and funds to help combat homophobic bullying.

Please watch the video , and make sure you watch it right to the end. . . the photos of young people who have committed suicide due to homophobic bullying are just heart-breaking, and they come right at the end of the video. The Wifie, Sonny Jim and I all cried when we watched this for the first time.  If you are a member of any social networks like Facebook, Twitter etc, please share the video in order to spread the message. And think about buying the single or the EP from iTunes. Lyrics and vocal arrangement are here (scroll down a bit.)

The L Project, proudly supporting Stonewall and Diversity Role Models released this single on 11th February 2012 and all money raised will go towards this very worthy cause (which, as you can imagine, is very close to my heart.)

A couple of days later, on Facebook, the L Project team were asking people to send in their "inspiring photos" to be used for a photo-montage video to accompany the song. The link to that video is below:
Sharing the Love. . .

For those of you who know me personally, look out for the photo of the Wifie, Sonny Jim and me on our Civil Union day back in 2008. It totally made our day today, to know that we were featured in this video. The L Project got inundated with photos and apparently have enough to make about another 5 videos, but we made it into the first one, yay :)

Homophobic bullying not only affects those people who identify as LGBT, but all too often it affects their children and sometimes other family members as well. The fact that so many beautiful young people have felt so desperate due to bullying that they have taken their own lives is nothing short of tragic.

However, on a happier note the Wifie and I are just one example of those people who can stand up and say "It DOES get better!" Hopefully as this message spreads and homophobic bullying decreases, we will see more of these amazing LGBT teenagers make it into adulthood, and just imagine what a difference they could make. . . Our diversity is our strength.