Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) on
Tuesday delivered an impassioned speech against gay teen bullying on
the Senate floor.
The video was posted on the website of
the It Gets
Better Project, which encourages troubled gay teens to hang in
there and not cave in to bullies, because life gets better.
Brown talked about the need for
legislation to make schools safer for gay teens and about the recent
rash of gay teens bullied to death.
“As a father I can't bear to imagine
the unspeakable pain endured by the parents of those teenagers who
tragically took their own lives,” Brown said. “No parent should
have to bury a child. No child should ever feel so hopeless and so
forgotten and so alone and so isolated that suicide seems like its
only escape.”
“We all have a role to play in
preventing discrimination.”
“That's why the Senate must take
crucial steps … to ensure that schools are safe places for
learning. Safe places for students and not breeding grounds for
bullying,” he added.
Brown goes on to urge senators to pass
a gay-inclusive anti-bullying bill and a measure that would outlaw
discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in
publicly-funded schools. (The video is embedded in the right panel
of this page.)
Other political leaders who have added
their voices to the project include Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton, New
York Governor David Paterson and UK
Prime Minister David Cameron.