Hi John,

If there’s one thing I know from my years of work with It Gets Better, it’s that small displays of allyship help make the world a better, safer place for LGBTQ+ youth.

That’s why I’m inviting you to be the kind of visible ally LGBTQ+ youth need. Through February 14, donate $50+ to It Gets Better, and we’ll send you our limited-run LGBTQ+ friendship bracelet pack—seven bracelets that celebrate LGBTQ+ identities and include an uplifting message.

If $50 isn’t something you can commit to, take the It Gets Better Pledge. Join the hundreds of thousands who’ve already committed to showing up visibly and vocally. Download your pledge graphic, post it, tag It Gets Better, and help us flood feeds with support as we work to uplift, empower, and connect LGBTQ+ youth around the globe.

I’m asking because I know what it feels like to grow up without that kind of visibility.

When I was a teenager in the mid-2000s, I thought I was the only queer person in the world. Many queer people my age and older felt the same thing. We didn’t know there were other people out there like us, especially not people raised in the Mormon faith like I was.

That was by design. My community actively ostracized and excommunicated queer people who had come before me, ridding me of any opportunity to learn their stories, their challenges, and their triumphs.

When I finally found the courage to embrace and accept my queer identity in my mid-20s, I learned quickly that I was never alone. This beautiful, broad community taught me queer people have always existed—always worthy of visibility and opportunity, even when it’s been denied to us. Learning that, I promised I would never hide again, not just for my sake, but for any queer kids I might encounter down the road.

Fast forward a few years to a youth conference I attended in New York as a representative of It Gets Better. I met a high school student who told me they’d been bullied by other kids attending the conference for wearing nail polish. They’d removed it in shame. It broke my heart to see queer teenagers still dealing with the same blowback for their gender expression that I had when I was their age.

The following day, as I was about to take the stage for an education panel in front of 500+ young attendees, I couldn’t stop thinking about them. I turned to a fellow panelist and asked if they had any nail polish. Deep in my gut, I felt the need to be the kind of representation I’d been denied as a kid—on stage, wearing bright red nail polish, showing the world who I am and how I was born to express myself.

I’ll never know what that moment meant to that young person—if they even noticed, or if it shifted anything for the people who bullied them.

But I do know this: visibility matters. Showing up counts. It doesn’t take a lot of effort to help us make it better for LGBTQ+ youth. You just have to be willing to take that extra step, whatever it looks like for you. 

Donate $50+ and wear your support. Take the pledge and make your allyship visible. Maybe even do both.

Join us.

Justin Tindall (he/they)
Deputy Director
It Gets Better

P.S. - We want to thank our friends at the AbbVie Foundation. AbbVie employees made these bracelets with love for our Youth Voices ambassadors, our grantee network, and for all of you. 

It Gets Better is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a mission to uplift, empower, and connect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer youth around the globe. All contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. 

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