Dan Savage

Growing up isn't easy. Many young people endure bullying that makes them feel they have nowhere to turn--especially LGBT kids and teens who often hide their sexuality for fear of being bullied. Without openly gay mentors, they don't know what the future may hold. After a number of suicides by LGBT students who were bullied in school, syndicated columnist Dan Savage uploaded a video to YouTube with his partner, Terry Miller, to inspire hope for LGBT youth. The video launched the 'It Gets Better Project', initiating a worldwide phenomenon. This is a collection of expanded essays and new material from celebrities and everyday people who have posted videos of encouragement, as well as new contributors. We can show LGBT youth the happiness, potential, and positivity their lives will have if they can get through their teen years. "It Gets Better" reminds teenagers in the LGBT community that they are not alone--and it WILL get better.

an Savage is famous--and to some, infamous--for many reasons. To name just a few: he's the author of America's leading sex advice column, the frank and expletive-filled "Savage Love;" co-founder of the Emmy Award-winning "It Gets Better Project," a YouTube campaign aimed at LGBT youth that swept the globe in 2010; and he wrote the groundbreaking 1999 memoir The Kid about adopting a son with his partner (now husband) Terry, which helped inspire same-sex couples nationwide to adopt. Dan has long been an advocate for marriage equality and LGBT rights, and AMERICAN SAVAGE contains some of his most personal and reflective essays on those subjects to date. He also explains, with his trademark humor and honesty: - Why assault weapons should be banned, but why guns should be allowed in the U.S. capitol - Why Obamacare, as good as it is, is "still kinda evil" - Why straight people should have straight 'pride' parades too - Why feminists are wrong about Halloween - Why the Bible is "only as good and decent as the person reading it" - Why public school sex-ed is more like "sex dread" - Why the gay marriage debate isn't a zero sum game: nothing has been taken from straight couples in states where all couples can marry In a chapter called "Bigot Christmas," Dan also tells the behind-the-scenes story of his famous recent family dinner and marriage equality debate with Brian Brown, head of the National Organization for Marriage.