Seventeen Democrats in the Texas Legislature offer support to gay youths struggling with bullies in a pair of videos posted online this week.
The two-part video includes messages of support from Texas Sens. Wendy Davis of Fort Worth, Sylvia Garcia of Houston, Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa of McAllen, José Rodríguez of El Paso, Leticia Van de Putte of San Antonio, Kirk Watson of Austin, Royce West of Dallas and John Whitmire of Houston.
“As the first out, openly LGBT women in the Texas state Legislature, this message is very important to me,” state Rep. Mary González, D-El Paso, says in the first part of the video. She is joined by nine of her colleagues in the House.
The videos, posted on YouTube, are part of the “It Gets Better” campaign, a nationwide movement aimed at gay youths that began in 2010. Earlier participants in the campaign include President Obama, Justin Bieber and Fort Worth City Councilman Joel Burns, whose 2010 speech from Fort Worth City Hall has been viewed more than 2.8 million times.
The project was produced by Omar Araiza, who works for Hinojosa and said he was motivated by “personal assaults experienced when I was younger.”
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