"It Gets Better" in SecondLife

Petr yesterday announced that he is continuing his SecondLife project "It Gets Better" for the Second Pride festival, read more on his blog Confessions of a Digital Daddy Bear: As Pride Season approaches I want to share this again….

Please contact Petr a.s.a.p. and join in his project.

Bock Among Savages

Gay activist and sex advice columnist Dan Savage should need no introduction for most of you, but those of you who need to read up on him can do so here, Wikipedia: Dan Savage.

I have admired Dan for a many years and many reasons. He and his husband Terry Miller co-founded the It Gets Better Project to remind LGBT youth that they are not alone and that it indeed does get better.  Dan also set up the website Spreading santorum in 2003 as a countermeasure against an American gay-hating politician who compared homosexual sex to bestiality and incest. What I most of all admire Dan for is his way of dealing with the bigots and gay haters of the Christian right in America. He is in their faces and comes down on them like a ton of bricks with his intelligent, humorous and no-nonsense responses against their attacks.

 Onward!

Yesterday I encountered this tweet in my Twitter-feed.

Anyone else want to shut @fakedansavage up, here is the Etsy source: https://t.co/nxVcPfiQ2J
— Bill Savage (@RogersParkMan) June 14, 2014

As I perceived it as an attack on Dan Savage, I jumped right in and shared my two bit thoughts. In hindsight I wish I had reacted to the fact that the tweet was from someone with the same last name as Dan and had taken a moment to check it out, but alas in my usual rash and impetuous manner I did not...

I would like to shut @RogersParkMan up, is there a pin for that? @fakedansavage keep up the good work!
— Bock McMillan (@BockMcMillan) June 14, 2014

A kind soul in the Twitter world took pity upon me and informed me that the two Savages are brothers and the correct situation.

@BockMcMillan FYI - Bill Savage ---> @RogersParkMan is ---> @fakedansavage's brother. He's showing the dumb button, not advocating for it.
— libsechumanist (@libsechumanist) June 14, 2014

Which lead to me realize I had jumped to the wrong conclusions. Bill Savage, however, graciously accepted my heartfelt apology.

@libsechumanist @RogersParkMan @fakedansavage Opps, sorry for the misunderstanding Bill
— Bock McMillan (@BockMcMillan) June 15, 2014

@BockMcMillan @libsechumanist @fakedansavage No worries! The Internet is all about misunderstandings.
— Bill Savage (@RogersParkMan) June 15, 2014

At this point my hero made an appearance in the feed...

@BockMcMillan @RogersParkMan @libsechumanist But there should be a "shut up!" pin for Billy too - would come on handy at family reunions.
— Dan Savage (@fakedansavage) June 15, 2014

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All is well that ends well, but hopefully I have - yet again - learned the lesson that I should not charge into things like an elephant into a china shop and that I sometimes need more information to make a better assessment of a situation.

In closing, I would like to thank Bill Savage for accepting my apology and @libsechumanist for seeing my predicament and taking the time to correct it.

The Gallery Assis Party

After a short sleep on the couch in front of the TV, I woke up and logged in again in time for the Gallery Assis party with DJ Cupric.

DJ Cupric is an entirely new acquaintance to me. Before today I can only remember him from his contribution at last years Second Pride to Petr Hastings-Vanbeeck's It gets Better Project in SecondLife  The main reason that I remember him from that is my soft spot for redheads.

 

Although I was pretty tired and feeling a bit low I must say I enjoyed Cupric's set a lot. The crowd seemed to like him too judging from the banter between him and them.

DJ Cupric

There were quite a few familiar faces among the patrons, I will only show you a few that I have selected for different reasons.

The utterly gorgeous Prætor

Second Pride IT-director Baz Ceawlin has until now had a very solid reputation.
I am not at all sure it will survive the publication of him in this revealing outfit.
I must however  say: "Nice ass, Baz, very nice ass indeed!"

The breathtakingly handsome Kere
(I have forgotten his last name)

A sexy Scotsman that I saw at a pool party recently

Uncle Vaan & Uncle Rob I believe these two silver bears called themselves

My Contribution

Please click the image to embiggen

Petr Hastings-Vanbeeck, my friend and the organizer of the It Gets Better Project in SecondLife, has been asking for new contributions to the worthwhile project.

Here you go , Petr, this is my contribution! I am sorry it has to be large, but I didn't want wanted to shorten the poem, which is a masterpiece. If you send me an email at lundamats@gmail.com I will be happy to send it to you that way as I think uploading it to SecondLife and dropping it on your profile may screw up the proportions.

Good News for the It Gets Better Project in SecondLife

My friend Petr Vanbeeck has posted some good news on his blog today about the "It Gets Better" project in SecondLife.

As some of you may remember I reported about it as one of the high-points of Second Pride last year in my post: It Gets Better in SecondLife.

Read all about the great news on Petr's blog Confessions of a Digital Daddy Bear: It Gets Better Project. In the post Petr also seems to say that he is accepting new additions (see Doc Spad's new addition in the illustration to this post), so those of you who are creative enough and have something good to say should start thinking.

"It Gets Better" in SecondLife

 

The It Gets Better Project (url) was created in first life to show young LGBT people the levels of happiness, potential, and positivity their lives will reach – if they can just get through their teen years. The project was initiated by the gay activist, syndicated sex advice columnist and author Dan Savage together with his partner Terry Miller to inspire hope for young people facing harassment.

I was happy to note, during my wanderings at the Second Pride festival sims yesterday, that this worthwhile project has now also spread into SecondLife. Although in a different format, posters instead of videos, the message resounding from them is loud and clear and will hopefully help young people in SecondLife that they are not alone and that things actually will get better.

You will find the It Gets Better booth in the Buenos Aires shopping district.

Here are a few of the individual testimonials.

The Yifus

Ra Deemster

Mirco Dinzeo, fabulous underwear creator (among many other things)

The always delightful Kharissa Indigo (SP2012 board member)

DJ Cupric "The Coop" Router and Jagger Naughton

Last - but not least - my brother in-law Jeb Nicholls, making the family proud

Say It the Country Way

(via J.M.G.)

"Girls and Boys" an It Gets Better Country Song, written and performed by Richard Hefner.

I don´t really like country music that much, but to this song I might even learn the words and singalong sometimes.

TESTIMONY

(via J.M.G.)

"TESTIMONY - Music by Stephen Schwartz

Lyrics taken from and inspired by the It Gets Better Project

http://bit.ly/Testimonysong

In writing TESTIMONY, Stephen Schwartz collaborated with Dan Savage, creator of the groundbreaking "It Gets Better Project." Schwartz has set the heartfelt words from the "It Gets Better" videos to music, weaving them into a breathtaking, emotional new masterpiece that speaks to anyone who has ever felt out of place.

TESTIMONY was recorded and engineered by Leslie Ann Jones, the legendary multi Grammy award-winning Director of Music Recording at Skywalker Sound. Performed by the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus under the direction of Dr. Timothy Seelig."

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Blogger Joe Jervis (Joe.My.God.) is a crybaby - and I mean that in the best way possible. He recommends you have a box of tissues handy.

I was touched but not even close to crying, perhaps because I was lucky and had sensible. unprejudiced and open-minded parents who always showed me they loved me whatever I might be. Even-so I do remember a period in my early teens when I wished I had been born different, if nothing else than to fit-in with the surrounding norm.

Due to an email from my buddy Apmel Goosson, who graciously forwarded some news to me, I am at this time mostly thinking about how organized religion - of any creed - seem to be the longest lasting, most widespread, most powerful and most vicious hate groups in our world. More about this in a later post (hopefully during the weekend).

"It Gets Better" Hijacked in Sweden

The American It Gets Better Project has the following purpose - as stated on it´s website: 

"Growing up isn’t easy. Many young people face daily tormenting and bullying, leading them to feel like they have nowhere to turn. This is especially true for LGBT kids and teens, who often hide their sexuality for fear of bullying. Without other openly gay adults and mentors in their lives, they can't imagine what their future may hold. In many instances, gay and lesbian adolescents are taunted — even tortured — simply for being themselves.

Justin Aaberg. Billy Lucas. Cody Barker. Asher Brown. Seth Walsh. Raymond Chase. Tyler Clementi. They were tragic examples of youth who could not believe that it does actually get better.

While many of these teens couldn’t see a positive future for themselves, we can. The It Gets Better Project was created to show young LGBT people the levels of happiness, potential, and positivity their lives will reach – if they can just get through their teen years. The It Gets Better Project wants to remind teenagers in the LGBT community that they are not alone — and it WILL get better."

There is another American organization with much the same agenda called The Trevor Project. (I must admit that I am not completely clear as to how the two American projects relate to each other beside the common objective.)

Both the projects are directed specifically against the bullying and persecution of LGBT youths.

Yesterday I saw that the Swedish commercial TV-channel TV 3 has decided to start cashing in on the overwhelming attention the American projects had caused by starting to air a program called "Det blir bättre" (which of course means "It Gets Better") on April 17th, 2011. The fact that they are doing this together with the Swedish branch of Save the Children doesn't really help.

According to TV 3 the common denominator of all the participants in the program will be  

"that they have all been through very difficult times and events. They know and can testify that life actually gets better, after a period of time, however difficult that may seem."

I have no objections about TV 3 trying to help anyone who is not feeling well. My objection is that they do not need to hijack the fundamental concept and idea of two non-profit projects directed specifically towards LGBT youth to do so. I am also wondering what the two American organizations will think of this highway robbery of their concepts..