October 22, 2010

(Colorlines)  President Barack Obama has a message for LGBT kids: He doesn’t know “what it’s like to be picked on for being gay,” but he does know “what it’s like to grow up feeling that sometimes you don’t belong.”

Obama and Secretary of State HIllary Clinton are the latest politicians to join the ‘It Gets Better” campaign, posting video messages that reassures LGBT youth being bullied in school that it gets better. “We have an obligation to ensure that our schools are safe for all of our kids” Obama said in his message.

Meanwhile, LGBT youth activists and their allies have a message for the president: He can make it better. In a statement praising Obama’s video message, Gay-Straight Alliance Network Executive DIrector Carolyn Laub said, “We call on the President and all elected officials to do everything in their power to make schools safer for LGBT youth. Our nation’s leaders can make it better for LGBT youth by ending discrimination against LGBT people in our country.”