June 29, 2011
U.S. Senators Release "It Gets Better" Video
Michael K. Lavers READ TIME: 1 MIN.
Thirteen U.S. senators have appeared in an "It Gets Better" video that was unveiled at a Capitol Hill press conference earlier on Wednesday, June 29.
Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.), Mark Udall (D-Colo.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) appear in the clip.
"Americans ought to be respected for who they are," said Coons.
The senators also pointed to the repeal of 'don't ask, don't tell' late last year as further proof that attitudes towards LGBT Americans continue to change. Gillibrand is among those in the video who once again spoke out in support of marriage equality.
"Every loving couple should have the right and privilege to be married, to be able to celebrate that love-celebrate that commitment with all of their friends and loved ones around," she said.
The senators unveiled the video less than a week after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the Empire State's marriage equality bill into law.
President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton have made their own "It Gets Better" videos since the project began last fall in response to a spate of LGBT teenager suicides.
Based in Washington, D.C., Michael K. Lavers has appeared in the New York Times, BBC, WNYC, Huffington Post, Village Voice, Advocate and other mainstream and LGBT media outlets. He is an unapologetic political junkie who thoroughly enjoys living inside the Beltway.
