Seattle Sports Teams Release "It Gets Better" Video

The Seattle Mariners on Aug. 18 became the fifth Major League Baseball team to release an "It Gets Better" video.

The Mariners' video is the first to include professional football, soccer and women's basketball players-Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Mike Williams and Seattle Sounders forwards Mike Fucito and Roger Levesque appear in the clip. Seattle Storm players Lauren Jackson and Swin Cash also participate in the "It Gets Better" video alongside Mariners' relief pitcher Brandon League and infielder Brendan Ryan.

"As far as we can tell, this is the first time a community's professional sports teams have joined together to take a stand on this important issue," said Seattle Mariners President and COO Chuck Armstrong. "We are proud to be part of it."

"We are hearing about too many LGBT teens who feel hopeless and alone," said Jackson in the video. League shared a similar message.

"Well, you're not alone," he said. There are a lot of people in this world who care about you."

The message has particular resonance for Eric Williams, an Iraq War veteran, who started petitions on Change.org asking the teams to make "It Gets Better" videos.

An adoptive Washingtonian and lifelong Mariners fan, Williams, 22, recently completed a contract with the U.S. Army. He is now living as an out gay man for the first time in his life.

"I created this petition because I know that the Puget Sound area is a great place to live in terms of diversity, and I knew that Seattle Sports teams would want to be a part of something that showed just how progressive we really are," Williams told EDGE. "We believe in creating the best environment that we can for our children. No one should have to focus on going to school and being bullied. They need to be focusing on preparing their minds for the future, where regardless of an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity they have an equal chance at success."

Williams described the "It Gets Better" campaign a "tremendous success."

"Not only do we have high profile names like President [Barack] Obama and the Seattle sports professionals which we greatly appreciate, but we have everyday people such as myself who share their experiences," he said.

Williams said he wasn't surprised that one or two of the teams made a video, but admits that he was surprised "that we were in the first ever combination of multiple leagues." He described the support he received for the project as overwhelming.

"We had 3,440 signatures combined," pointed out Williams. "The support from the community was tremendous. It goes to show the power of organizing."

Williams said he is reminded of Obama's quote about change and how it "will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time" when he thinks about the success of his Change.org petition.

"This is an example of what we can do when the community united in a defined purpose," he said.

Williams knows the sting of anti-gay bullying all too well.

He grew up in a small Missouri town where he was called "faggot" and other anti-gay epithets. Williams said he faced more discrimination once he enlisted in the U.S. Army.

"[Discrimination] is not acceptable in any form in 2011 in the United States," he said. "We are so far behind; yet consider our nation the greatest. We have a lot to make up for to truly own that title and we are well on our way and will get further if we continue to utilize or organizing skills."

The San Francisco Giants, the Chicago Cubs, the Boston Rex Sox and the Baltimore Orioles have already made their own "It Gets Better" videos, while the Philadelphia Phillies, the Minnesota Twins, the Washington Nationals and the Tampa Bay Rays have announced that they plan to release their own clips. More than 20,000 "It Gets Better" videos have been produced since syndicated columnist Dan Savage and his partner, Terry Miller, launched the project in Seattle in Sept. 2010 in response to an epidemic of LGBT teenager suicides.

Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and corporations like Apple, Google, Microsoft, Pixar and other major organizations and politicians have released their own "It Gets Better" videos.