In a new public service announcement
for The Trevor Project, the California-based non-profit that runs the
nation's only 24-hour, toll free confidential suicide hotline for gay
and questioning youth, singer Janet Jackson says she can relate to
gay teens considering suicide.
The group has received nationwide
attention following the launch of sex advice columnist and activist
Dan Savage's It Gets Better Project, a collection of inspiring videos
that lets troubled gay teens know that it gets better and urges them
to call The Trevor Project.
“I can relate because I was one of
those kids that internalized everything. I held everything inside,
all of my pain. And I didn't release it. I wasn't able to let it go
until I finally met that person that I could trust and who was truly
willing to listen.”
Jackson goes on to urge gay teens who
are being bullied to seek out an adult they can trust.
“And if you're feeling depressed,
lonely or suicidal contact The Trevor Project,” she adds. (The
video is embedded in the right panel of this page.)
Celebrities and high-profile
politicians who have created videos for the It Gets Better Project
include President
Obama, Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton, New
York Governor David Paterson, Fort
Worth Councilman Joel Burns, rocker
Adam Lambert and actor Neil
Patrick Harris.