http://www.seattlemag.com/article/arts/seattles-most-influential-people-2011
Dan Savage
( person of the year )
The It Gets Better Project
Sometimes life’s most fleeting moments are the ones that have the greatest impact. Take, for example a distinct memory Dan Savage recalls from his Chicago childhood: “I was 8 or 9, and my family was in line for a movie, and we saw two gay people holding hands,” he says. “My parents were appalled—they literally turned our heads away so we wouldn’t see. But I thought, ‘Oh my god, I’ll be OK. They have friends, they’re laughing, they’re OK…I’m going to be fine.”
Helping gay kids understand they’re going to be OK was the chief source of inspiration for the It Gets Better Project, which The Stranger editorial director and syndicated “Savage Love” sex columnist Savage launched with his husband, Terry Miller, late last September by way of a video heard around the world. Saddened by the suicides of two teenage boys who were victims of antigay bullying, Savage and Miller recorded a simple YouTube video explaining (in a nutshell) that high school sucks for anyone perceived as different, but if you can just get through it, life gets better.