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– Hey there. My name's Isaiah.
I'm 17, and I'm a senior in high school right now.
– And I'm G. I'm 16, and I'm a junior in high school.
– And we're here because we're LGBT youth.
We just wanted to talk to you and kind of share our stories,
and let you know that whatever you're feeling right now,
however you're feeling right now...
you're definitely not alone, and...
you definitely aren't...
the only person who's ever felt like that before.
Not too long ago, probably just a couple years ago,
I was 14 or 15, and I was still just coming to terms
with the fact that I was gay.
And it was just so difficult going day to day,
knowing that so many of the people around me
had no idea what it was like for me to struggle with issues
like hearing "that's so gay" in the hallway
or hearing people call each other "***".
A lot of times I did just want to wait and stick it out.
And I just kept telling myself, "It's OK.
"I'll just have such a better life when I get to college
"or when I get out of school altogether
because that's when I'll be able to actually be myself and live."
And so I tried that for a couple of years.
I went day to day and it just...didn't get any better.
And I realized, "Hey, I'm going to be here for a while.
"Why should these next couple years be any less than perfect for me?"
Because I deserved a good life, I deserved to be happy.
I tried and succeeded at making it better for myself.
I didn't just wait and hope that it would get better.
I found a whole world of people and of places
and of experiences that I never thought I would have.
Just because I stopped for a moment and I thought to myself,
"Hey, it doesn't have to be this way.
"I don't have to be alone in my high school.
"I can go out and see what the world has to offer me."
And so before I knew it I was starting my own
gay-straight alliance at my school,
I was meeting tons of other people from all over my state
and learning that I really wasn't alone.
I really didn't have to just wait for things to get better
because I could make things better for myself now.
And by making things better for myself,
by starting a gay-straight alliance club,
by going up to the capitol and lobbying for LGBT rights,
I was actually making it better for other people, too.
– For me, my moment of realization happened
almost exactly a year ago, in August.
It was the week before my 15th birthday
and it was before I had even challenged my own gender and sexuality
and I was just struggling with my identity and who I was.
And it was really hard having people challenge me
and having people ask me what I wanted to do with my life.
And it came down to when my dad had a surgery
and nobody was telling me what was going on.
It was the night before my 15th birthday and I wanted to get out.
I thought my dad was going to die,
and I couldn't deal with the lack of sleep from staying up all night
and with waking up to him screaming in pain.
And I asked my mom if I could leave for the night.
And she was tired and she was stressed too like we all are;
we get tired and we get stressed and, you know,
it seems like the whole world is up against us.
And she told me to pack my bags and asked me
if I really wanted to stay in this house,
and told me to get out.
In that moment it was just too much for me to handle.
And I just didn't feel like it was worth waking up the next morning
for my 15th birthday,
and I went into my bathroom with a razor blade and a bottle of aspirin.
And when my vision started to go and I started to see double,
the world started to slip around me and I was on my way out.
I was saying goodbye in my head and in my heart.
And then as I was lying down in that bathtub thinking about it all leaving,
I thought about what I wanted to be when I grew up.
And I thought about all the dreams that I had had growing up to be a doctor.
And in that last bit of strength, with the last coherence I had, I called 911.
And it took everything to just stay on the phone
until the ambulance came and took me to a hospital.
A week later I got out of the hospital and went back to high school
and started my sophomore year,
and I made the decision to make it better for myself.
Because I'm not going to wait until I get out of high school
and I go to college and move out,
because right now is where I am and right now is where it needs to change.
And it can happen for anybody.
It has to take that moment of realization,
and hopefully it doesn't happen when you've already taken the pills
or already tied the noose,
because it doesn't need to happen then.
And I'm just thankful that I figured it out when I did,
and wish I had figured it out sooner.
But now that I have, I've made myself a community.
I've made tons of new friends from all over the state
through my work for LGBT rights, for safer schools.
And again by choosing to make my own life better,
my own climate better, because it needed to be,
I've succeeded in making it better for other youth.
And so Isaiah and I want to step in now
and let youth know all over the world
that you don't have to wait. It can happen right now.
Right here in your own high school.
– So no matter what problem you're dealing with,
whether it be a problem over, you know, a sickness in the family
or because you deal with bullying and harassment
and discrimination in your school.
No matter what it is that has you feeling down,
we want you to know that you can make it better.
For us, as LGBT youth, we know that it wasn't acceptable for us
to just wait around and just wait for the world to get better and accept us.
Because we have the power right now.
We made a difference and we wanted and did accomplish so much for ourselves
and for so many others like us.
And so whether it be doing something like
challenging yourself to make a new friend every week
or even, you know, starting your own gay-straight alliance club,
or talking to your school administrators, or...
no matter what it is, we want you to know
that you can make your life better now.
You don't have to wait. There's no reason to just sit around.
You can get up, whether it be today or tomorrow,
just as soon as you can, try and make the world a better place.
Because no matter what you do, how big, how small,
it will make a difference, and you're definitely not alone.
You're on the internet right now; you're watching this video.
You can totally just go to Google.
You'll find so many things that you probably had no idea existed.
So many people who want you to succeed, who want you to be happy,
and who don't want you to just wait around,
because there's really no time better than right now
to start making your life better.
So please go to those places.
Go to websites like GSANetwork.org,
or, like, MakeItBetterProject.org
and see what's out there.
No matter what you decide to do, we want to hear about it too.
Record a video, respond to this video with it,
or record a separate video and send your link to makeitbetter@gsanetwork.org,
and we'll feature it here on this page,
because we want to show as many youth as we can
making the world better for themselves.
Because we're not helpless, we're not ruled by adults,
we're not just waiting to grow up.
We have lives right now, and we have power right now,
and we can use that to make it better right now.