Sat 2 & Sun 3 June - Birmingham Pride
Sat 2 & Sun 3 June - Birmingham Pride
Sat 2 & Sun 3 June - Birmingham Pride
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
It Gets Better<br />
This year’s theme for <strong>Birmingham</strong> <strong>Pride</strong> - the UK’s<br />
largest two-day LGBT festival - is It Gets Better.<br />
The It Gets Better Project was created to show young<br />
LGBT people who’ve been victims of abuse and bullying<br />
as a result of their sexuality that life does indeed get<br />
better. Growing up as a young LGBT person isn’t easy,<br />
especially when they don’t have openly gay adults and<br />
mentors in their lives. As a result, they often hide who<br />
they are, for fear of bullying and harassment.<br />
So following a spate of<br />
teenage suicides in<br />
2010, Dan Savage and<br />
his partner Terry Miller<br />
recorded a video to<br />
reassure young LGBT<br />
people that their lives<br />
can and will reach<br />
new levels of happiness<br />
and positivity. They<br />
posted the video on YouTube, and since that<br />
day in September 2010, the It Gets Better Project has<br />
become a worldwide phenomenon, with tens of<br />
thousands more videos being created and viewed well<br />
over 50,000,000 times.<br />
The campaign has been so successful that it’s attracted<br />
the attention of many celebrities. including Matthew<br />
Morrison from Glee, Colin Farrell, Ke$ha, President<br />
Barack Obama and Ellen DeGeneres. There’s even been<br />
submissions from the staff of big-name companies such<br />
as Google, Facebook, Apple and Pixar - even Woody<br />
from Toy Story makes an appearance!<br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong> <strong>Pride</strong> is proud to put its weight behind such<br />
a worthwhile cause, and with the help of everyone who<br />
attends and takes part in this year’s event, we hope to<br />
spread this important message even further, and to help<br />
support Midlands LGBT youth.<br />
At the beginning of the year, a special It Gets Better<br />
video was created by a number of LGBT people from the<br />
<strong>Birmingham</strong> gay scene and was aired at The <strong>Pride</strong> Ball<br />
back in March. To view the video, visit the <strong>Birmingham</strong><br />
<strong>Pride</strong> Facebook page or scan the QR code to the right<br />
with your mobile phone.<br />
Be sure to check out a special tribute to anti-LGBT bullying<br />
on the Nightingale Main Stage on <strong>Sat</strong>urday 2 <strong>June</strong>,<br />
when The L Project will be singing their hugely successful<br />
anthem, It Does Get Better.<br />
We hope you enjoy <strong>Birmingham</strong> <strong>Pride</strong> as much as we<br />
will this year, but please remember to spread this very<br />
important message.<br />
It WILL<br />
get better!<br />
4 www.birminghampride.com - #<strong>Birmingham</strong><strong>Pride</strong><br />
The L Project performing their anti-<br />
LGBT bullying anthem ‘It Does Get<br />
Better’ at The <strong>Pride</strong> Ball in March
Change language