Say what you will about New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, but his It Gets Better video seems to be the first that acts as a recruitment guide for LGBT youth. “I have a message,” he says. “New York City wants you. New York has always been the place where anyone can go and be who they’re supposed to be.” UPDATE: And say what you will, indeed! We’d be remiss if we didn’t update this post with the poignant point from Ali Forney Center executive director Carl Siciliano:
The LGBT community needs to recognize these cuts as an attack against our most vulnerable youth, and against us as a whole. We pay just as much taxes as anyone, and there are far too few City-funded programs that support our most vulnerable youth. If we can be treated like this in a city with as strong an community as NYC, how will our youth ever get their fair share of the resources they need and deserve? I cannot speak strongly enough about what a horror it is to have LGBT youth who have been discarded by homophobic parents flock to us for help, and to have to counsel them to sleep in the subways because there are not nearly enough beds for them.
UPDATE 2: The New York City Council voted to reverse some of its previous budget cuts, which means there will be “a full restoration to a program directed at runaway homeless youth.”
JamieMcG
Would be a lot nicer if Mayor Bloomberg hadn’t just cut most of the budget from the Ali Forney Center for homeless LGBT youth. He’s essentially saying that it gets better so long as you don’t get kicked out of your house for being LGBT. While the message is certainly welcome, this particular one is rather hypocritical of the Mayor.
NotoriousDSG
Man, you’d think the mayor’s office wouldn’t be so tone deaf twice in two weeks!
First the fuck up the snow removal and post-blizzard press conferences and now they drop this video two days after cutting city funds for homeless lgbt youth drop-in centers?
It’s time for Mayor Bloomberg to put his money where his mouth is!
http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2011/01/04/seattle-should-support-new-yorks-ali-forney-center
If the good people of Seattle can do it, so can our millionaire Mayor!!
Dewey Lightfoot
A Koch for our times.
alan brickman
They cut funding for gay homeless…how does it get better again???
alan brickman
Where can I email him to tell him about what I think of this???
charles hall
what a douchebag. the world will soon know what a hypocrite he truly is. he doesn’t care about gay people or anti-gay violence unless it ends up on tv. tick tock, mayor Mike