John Berry, the highest-ranking openly
gay official in the Obama administration, says “God doesn't make
junk” in his It Gets Better video.
The
It Gets Better Project encourages troubled gay teens to hang in
there and not cave in to bullies, because life gets better.
After saying he was fortunate not to be
bullied for his sexual orientation, Berry, the director of the Office
of Personnel, adds that he was afraid of who he was, that God
wouldn't love him and of his parent's rejection.
“Now I know, God does love me. More
than I could have ever imagined. And God made me just the way I am.
And God doesn't make junk.”
“My parents, who I was walling out
from my own fear, loved me all the more,” he says in his
2-minute-19-second message.
Berry adds that his father, a Marine
sergeant who had once asked his son to keep his partner at bay, told
his dying partner that he loved him like a son.
“You can be whatever you want,” he
adds. “You can love whomever you want. But only if you first love
yourself. Trust me, it's worth it, it gets better.” (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.