Bill Maher, host of HBO's Real Time
with Bill Maher, says he was bullied as a child in an It Gets
Better video.
The It Gets Better Project was founded
by gay activist Dan Savage. The group's website hosts thousands of
videos from everyday folks to elected officials and celebrities
encouraging troubled gay teens considering suicide to hang in there,
because life gets better.
In the clip, the 55-year-old Maher said
he can relate to the bullying some LGBT teens face.
“This is the AA meeting for those who
have been bullied. I have to raise my hand and say, 'Hi, I'm Bill,
and I've been bullied.' I was short as a kid, that's always a good
reason to bully someone. They are smaller and therefore weaker and
more vulnerable, so let's pick on them.”
“Kids are mean,” he said “Human
beings actually have to be taught to be good people and sometimes
that doesn't happen in childhood.”
“That's it, childhood's rough, you'll
get through it,” Maher added. (The video is embedded in the right
panel of this page.)