Apple has joined the "It Gets Better" campaign with a video that features words of encouragement from its gay, lesbian, and transgendered employees.
"To finally be open and honest with who I am and what I want out of life. To my surprise, it was probably one of the best things that I had ever done," one man says.
"You feel every sense of freedom and every sense of 'this is what life is all about,'" says another.
The "It Gets Better Campaign" got started last year after college student Tyler Clementi jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge after his roommate used a Webcam to broadcast Clementi's sexual encounter with another man. Unfortunately, Clementi was just one of several teens who took their own lives recently after being bullied for their sexual orientation.
In the wake of these deaths, "Savage Love" columnist Dan Savage started the "It Gets Better Project," a YouTube video archive of testimonials from celebrities, politicians, and everyday people telling their own stories or offering to support those who are suffering. Savage won a $500 award from the Sidney Hillman Foundation for his efforts, which he donated to the Trevor Project, which has also supported the "It Gets Better" project on its Web site.
"The bullies seem like the powerful people, but the secret of the real world is they're at the peak of their power at 15 and 16, and there will come a time when the bullies are not successful and the people they bullied are, and you just have to out-survive them," another Apple employee said in the video.
"And sometimes I still shake my head, think I'm dreaming, because it got so much better than I ever thought it would be possible," said another.
"There's no way anyone can really, really explain it to you until you really feel it, but if you're not around, you won't," a woman concludes.
Apple is not the only tech company to join the effort. Google, which is also a corporate sponsor of the Trevor Project, along with AT&T, Levi Strauss & Co., and Wells Fargo, released a similar video of its employees in October. President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have also made videos.
No comments:
Post a Comment