Bob CollinsThe Chicago Cubs today became the second Major League Baseball team to endorse the “It Gets Better” campaign aimed at lesbian, gay, bi, trans and other bullied teens. The Cubs join the San Francisco Giants on the record.
That will probably put pressure on the other 28 teams to join the campaign. The Twins reportedly are working on a similar video.
Do they make a difference? It can’t hurt, says Dan Savage, who started the campaign. But it’s not what the original goal of the project was…
But the heart and soul of the project are still the videos created by ordinary LGBT adults–people you haven’t heard of–telling their stories, offering advice, sharing their coping strategies, and, in the comments threads and via their YouTube accounts, offering many LGBT kids something they’ve never had before: the ear of a sympathetic adult who understands exactly what they’re going through.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m thrilled by the participation of the Giants, the Red Sox, and the Cubs. (I’m ecstatic about the participation of the Cubbies!) But I don’t want the excitement about each new high-profile IGB contribution to obscure the real heroes of the IGB movement: the tens of thousands of average, ordinary LGBT people out there–LGBT people of all ages, races, faiths, and backgrounds–who are reaching out and speaking to LGBT kids.
