Make It Better Project

Jan 25

Celebrate by joining GSA Network and Senator Franken to #makeitbetter with the Student Non-Discrimination Act!

[video]

Dec 21

One teacher’s approach to preventing gender bullying in a classroom

Fantastic piece about one teacher making it better.

“It’s Okay to be Neither,” By Melissa Bollow Tempel

Alie arrived at our 1st-grade classroom wearing a sweatshirt with a hood. I asked her to take off her hood, and she refused. I thought she was just being difficult and ignored it. After breakfast we got in line for art, and I noticed that she still had not removed her hood. When we arrived at the art room, I said: “Allie, I’m not playing. It’s time for art. The rule is no hoods or hats in school.”

She looked up with tears in her eyes and I realized there was something wrong. Her classmates went into the art room and we moved to the art storage area so her classmates wouldn’t hear our conversation. I softened my tone and asked her if she’d like to tell me what was wrong.

“My ponytail,” she cried.

“Can I see?” I asked.

She nodded and pulled down her hood. Allie’s braids had come undone overnight and there hadn’t been time to redo them in the morning, so they had to be put back in a ponytail. It was high up on the back of her head like those of many girls in our class, but I could see that to Allie it just felt wrong. With Allie’s permission, I took the elastic out and re-braided her hair so it could hang down.

“How’s that?” I asked.

She smiled. “Good,” she said and skipped off to join her friends in art.

‘Why Do You Look Like a Boy?’

Read More

Dec 07

[video]

“It’s no longer good enough for us to tell kids that it’s going to get better; we have to make it better now” — Rick Mercer (via livinglifefeminist)

(Source: youtube.com, via livinglifefeminist)

Write a Letter, Make It Better! -

Write a letter to your current or former high school principal and let them know what it’s like for LGBT youth — and what steps they can take to Make It Better now!

Dec 06

Yes! Check out makeitbetterproject.org :) We’d love for more people from tumblr to participate and contribute!

zumie-monster:

how about instead of an “it gets better” project we have a “let’s make it better” project.

Sep 27

Tell Lady Gaga how YOU Make It Better -

Last week, 14-year-old Jamey Rodemeyer died by suicide. He was part of the LGBT community, he had been bullied and harassed because of his sexual orientation, and he had even created an It Gets Better video.

We’ve been through this before. We cannot go through this again. We can and must Make It Better. There are plenty of ways for you to participate in Make It Better Semester, and we hope you write letters, put up posters, and create videos. But this fall, we’re not acting alone. In response to Jamey’s death, Lady Gaga tweeted: “Bullying must become illegal.”

Criminalizing bullying is not the answer. There are proven, positive ways – from starting and supporting Gay-Straight Alliance clubs to intervening when slurs occur – to Make It Better. It’s important now more than ever to stick to these concrete steps, and not turn to punitive, reactionary measures that cause more harm than good.

Lady Gaga means the best, and we love her activism. So let’s help her fight for social justice by telling her how we are making it better right now, every day, in our communities through positive measures. Let’s tell her this is how we can Make It Better.

Are you in a Gay-Straight Alliance club? Did you advocate for anti-bullying policies in your community’s school that spell out that nobody can discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity and expression? Did you make sure those policies were posted in the hallways and on your school’s website? Did you train your teachers to intervene when slurs occur?

Then film a Make It Better video and thank Lady Gaga but tell her: this is how we can Make It Better.

Sep 23

Productive day.

That’s fabulous! Would love to hear more about the presentations :)

cowboyqueer:

Well had two Make it Better Project / Silence is NOT Golden presentations.
I think we covered a lot of ground.
I talked to freshmen to seniors all at once.
They were pretty open and they all seemed to get something from the session.

Can’t wait to have more presentations and have MORE input.(:

(Source: cowboysintuxedos)

Zander05: Make it better NOW!!! -

zander05:

Each and every day, people die. Sometimes it’s natural causes, sometimes it’s smooth and peaceful, sometimes it’s painful and agonizing. Sometimes people have the privilege of having a pretty easy life, and sometimes we don’t.

The It Gets Better Project has its heart in the right place, but if…