The World Champion San Francisco Giants baseball team announced today that they will become the first professional sports team in the U. S. to produce an "It Gets Better" video. The "It Gets Better" You Tube video campaign was begun by Dan Savage to encourage and support LGBT youth immediately after the nationally reported spate of suicides in the last few months of 2010.To date over 10,000 videos by people and groups in all walks of life here and abroad have been submitted.The effort to request the Giants to do this was a Courage Campaign petition this past week which delivered over 6,000 signatures (including mine) to them.
The story is here.
As other diarists here have noted, professional sports are moving faster than ever to changing their traditional homophobic image. This will be invaluable down the road in providing a more equitable and safe environment for LGBT youth to grow and live in. After winning the World Series last Novemeber, the Giants have gained a great amount of nationaL EXPOSURE (a Showtime reality series featuring them will air in July). The Giants were the first pro sports team to assist in the fight against AIDS with their "Until There's a Cure" Day, begun in the 1990's. Thank You, Giants!