Today is the one-year anniversary of gay Fort Worth City Councilman Joel Burns’ “It Gets Better” speech. It’s also Bullying Awareness Day in the city of Fort Worth. To mark the occasion, below is video of Burns speaking at the University of North Texas last week, reflecting on how the speech has changed his life.
WATCH: Joel Burns 1 year later
WATCH: Joel Burns, Fort Worth City Council proclaim Bullying Awareness Day
The other day we told you the city of Fort Worth was set to proclaim Bullying Awareness Day on Oct. 12, which will mark the one-year anniversary of gay Councilman Joel Burns’ “It Gets Better” speech. Courtesy of the city’s YouTube channel, below is video of Burns addressing the council on Tuesday morning and reading the proclamation. A press release from Burns’ office, along with the full text of the proclamation, is after the jump.
FW to proclaim Bullying Awareness Day
Joel Burns
Oct. 12 is the one-year anniversary of openly gay Fort Worth City Councilman Joel Burns’ legendary “It Gets Better” speech. (In case you’re wondering, as of this posting, the video had 2,664,269 views on YouTube.) To mark the occasion, the Fort Worth City Council on Tuesday will proclaim Oct. 12 as Bullying Awareness Day, according to a press release from Burns’ office:
On October 12, 2010, Councilman Burns used his personal time at a city council meeting to speak to citizens, parents and educators about their responsibility as adults to end bullying. His message also included a personal plea to those youth who were considering suicide to stick around for a life that will get better and a message of hope to empower youth to speak out and stand up for anyone who might be experiencing bullying. Subsequently, the video of Councilman Burn’s speech went viral and garnered international attention. To continue the conversation about bullying and the effects it has on children, and ultimately the city as a whole, the City of Fort Worth is proclaiming October 12, 2011 Bullying Awareness Day to encourage its citizens to do their part in ensuring that all children have a safe, caring and respectful place to feel safe, learn and socialize.
Rangers spokesman says team won’t consider making ‘It Gets Better’ video until after playoffs
On Thursday I came across this excellent piece by Karen Ocamb, news editor at the LGBT magazine Frontiers, about what the Los Angeles Dodgers’ “It Gets Better” video means to her. Ocamb recalls how she once met the gay son of iconic former Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, who later refused to acknowledge that his son was gay and had died from AIDS. Ocamb said she’s harbored ill feelings toward the Dodgers ever since — and almost didn’t post the teams’ “It Gets Better” video on her blog, LGBT POV.
“Then I watched it,” Ocamb writes. “Since I don’t watch Dodgers baseball, I don’t know who these guys are. The HuffPo identifies them as coach Don Mattingly, James Loney, Matt Guerrier, Jamey Carroll, A.J. Ellis, Rod Barajas and Hiroki Kuroda saying, ‘you are worthy,’ and ‘you’re not alone, we’re on your side’ in English, Spanish and Japanese.
“I suspect they know about the legendary Tommy Lasorda and may know that Tommy Lasorda Jr. was gay and died of AIDS,” Ocamb writes of the Dodgers who appear in the video. “But whether they do or not doesn’t matter. I was moved by their sincerity – and dare I say – it got better for me seeing how the Dodgers had changed.”
Ocamb’s moving piece prompted me to again reach out to John Blake, executive vice president of communications for the Texas Rangers, to find out whether the team has made a decision about filming an “It Gets Better” video. If you’ll recall, when asked about an “It Gets Better” video last month, Blake told Instant Tea the team was “considering our options and the timing of any initiatives.”
The Rangers begin the playoffs this afternoon against the Tampa Bay Rays in Arlington.
“I really have nothing new to report,” Blake said in an email Thursday evening. “We plan to look at what the best approach may be once the playoffs conclude.”
Watch the Dodgers’ “It Gets Better” video below.
Queer Music News: R.E.M. announces breakup; Brandon Hilton releases new video
The big music news of the day is R.E.M.’s announcement that they are “calling it a day.” On their website, the band posted this note followed by comments from band members:
“To our Fans and Friends: As R.E.M., and as lifelong friends and co-conspirators, we have decided to call it a day as a band. We walk away with a great sense of gratitude, of finality, and of astonishment at all we have accomplished. To anyone who ever felt touched by our music, our deepest thanks for listening.”
Queer frontman Michael Stipe had this to add:
“A wise man once said–’the skill in attending a party is knowing when it’s time to leave.’ We built something extraordinary together. We did this thing. And now we’re going to walk away from it.
“I hope our fans realize this wasn’t an easy decision; but all things must end, and we wanted to do it right, to do it our way.
“We have to thank all the people who helped us be R.E.M. for these 31 years; our deepest gratitude to those who allowed us to do this. It’s been amazing.”
Interestingly enough, the band had released their last album, Collapse Into Now, just this past March. The album was a smart collection of tracks that both showed outstanding maturity for the band as well as a renewed raucous energy that reminded of their early days.
Now, after 30 years, the band is no longer.
More on Out@NBCUniversal
In last week’s cover story, I talked with members of the Dallas chapter of the affinity group Out@NBCUniversal, a collective of LGBT employees and straight allies. In it, they talk about how the network has been a sort of work-topia for queer employees and how diversity is encouraged without reservation.
Due to space constraints I couldn’t get more in from members Lauren Wheat and Matthew Simpson, but they had a lot to say about what the group means to them. Simpson, with NBC strategic marketing, and his partner Murad Kirdar, both work for the company. Simpson talked about his reasons for joining the group.
“I joined for a couple of reasons,” Simpson said. “First, I felt it was important for me, as an openly gay employee, to represent Dallas-Fort Worth within the larger footprint of Out@NBCUniversal. While there are thousands of members all across the country, from New York to Los Angeles, the DFW chapter was fairly young and had so much potential to make a difference. Getting involved was the best possible way to for me to help elevate the visibility of the Chapter and learn how other Chapters work to attract, recruit and retain great LGBT talent.
“Second, I’d have to say my partner of 17 years, Murad. While we didn’t meet at NBCUniversal, we now work just 50 feet from each other. As you know, Murad is co-chair of the DFW chapter and I was very excited to see him step up and embrace a leadership role. His excitement, passion and desire to lead on LGBT issues in the community is the reason so many LGBT and straight ally co-workers have joined the chapter.”
WATCH: Someone from Arlington has filmed an ‘It Gets Better’ video, but it ain’t your Rangers
Former UTA standout Hunter Pence
The Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays have become the latest Major League teams to release “It Gets Better” videos, prompting us to again contact the Texas Rangers to find out if or when the organization plans to follow suit.
“To my knowledge, there are no updates. Thank you,” said John Blake, the Rangers executive vice president for communications, in a response to our email on Monday.
Which, presumably, means the Rangers are still “seriously looking at [their] options.” (In case you’re wondering, the Change.org petition calling for the Rangers to make an “It Gets Better” video has now expired, but not before amassing 2,780 signatures.)
Anyhow, while we’re awaiting the Rangers decision, we figured we’d go ahead and point out that North Texas native Hunter Pence, who played at UTA and Arlington High, appears in the Phillies “It Gets Better” video, which you can watch below. And just to underscore the fact that it really does get better, we’ve even thrown in a few more pics of Pence’s recent strip tease at a charity fashion show.
WATCH: Randy Roberts Potts on Joy Behar
Randy Roberts Potts
Oral Roberts’ grandson Randy Roberts Potts, who lives in Dallas and spoke to Dallas Voice last summer, appeared on Joy Behar last night. He spoke to CNN anchor Don Lemon, who is also gay. The video is below.
Since speaking to Dallas Voice last year, Potts has been writing and has become a speaker appearing around the country, talking about coming out in an evangelical family. Last fall, he made an “It Gets Better” video that was included in the bestselling book of the same title.
In this interview, he said that when he visited his grandfather about six months before he died, he the evangelist apparently knew his grandson was gay and that meeting was his way of telling him that he loved him, “no matter what.”
When Lemon, 45, came out publicly earlier this year, he said that he’d been out to CNN colleagues for a long time.
UPDATE: Rangers may film ‘It Gets Better’ video
We just received an email from John Blake, executive vice president of communications for the Texas Rangers, responding to our inquiry Wednesday about the possibility of the team recording an “It Gets Better” video. FYI, the petition at Change.org calling for the Rangers to do so is now up to 2,394 signatures.
“The Rangers have received the correspondence and we are currently considering our options and the timing on any initiatives,” Blake said in his email.
We called Blake to try to get more out of him.
“It’s late in the season and everything, and it’s just a matter of timing and that kind of thing,” Blake said, adding that the team is in the midst of a pennant race. “We’ve received the correspondence [emailed petitions] and we’re just considering the best way to add the whole bullying initiative. We’ve discussed it internally and that’s where we’re at. I think it’s fair to say we’re seriously looking at our options.”
Asked whether the organization has set any kind of a timeframe for a decision, Blake said: “I think it will be sooner rather than later.”
In other words, keep those signatures coming!
Rangers ‘It Gets Better’ petition gains steam
A while back we mentioned that online petitions had been launched at Change.org calling for both the Texas Rangers and Dallas Cowboys to record “It Gets Better” videos.
At the time, the Rangers petition had only 124 signatures, but thanks in part to Equality Texas, which shared the link on Facebook earlier today, it’s now up to more than 1,700. (For those who are keeping track, that’s about 1,000 fewer than a recently-gone-viral petition at Change.org calling for Sesame Street‘s Bert and Ernie to wed. )
The Cowboys petition isn’t faring so well, languishing at only 57 signatures. Still, that’s better than the three people who’ve signed a petition — launched since our previous report — calling for the NBA champion Dallas Mavericks to record an “It Gets Better” video. (It would help if the folks starting these petitions would at least include the team logo.) We were unable to find any petition related to the Dallas Stars.
Anyhow, we’ve put a message in to John Blake, the Rangers’ executive vice president of communications, to find out whether the Rangers are aware of the petition or plan to record an “It Gets Better” video.
Meanwhile, the St. Petersburg Times reports that the Tampa Bay Rays will become the ninth Major League Baseball team to film an “It Gets Better” video later this month. (And, by the way, those teams include the one with the very best record in the league, my Philadelphia Phillies.)
