LGBTQ activist organization the It Gets Better Project has awarded $10,000 in grant funds to 50 school districts across the country to promote gender ideology.

The project was founded by LGBTQ activist and sex advice columnist Dan Savage as an organization that provides anti-bullying support for LGBTQ teens. But Savage has a history of bullying teens himself – particularly, those who identify as Christian.

The It Gets Better Project received high praise from the Obama administration in 2010.

In November 2021, the project announced its grant program, dubbed “50 States. 50 Grants. 5,000 Voices” to support high schools and middle schools that are “empowering LGBTQ+ students.”

Schools applying for the grant funds were required to commit they would be used to support local LGBTQ+ students.

“If it wasn’t for younger generations, not just like the younger generations of today, but past generations of young people, those are the ones with energy,” said Brian Wenke, executive director of the It Gets Better Project, according to Forbes contributor Dawn Ennis, whose byline states she reports on “the fight for transgender equality and other LGBTQ issues.”

“Those are the ones that are fighting to make a difference in the world,” Wenke added. “They are motivated, they have energy and they are willing to put it all on the line to get their voice out there and heard.”

It Gets Better is awarding grants in 40 states plus Washington, D.C., “including many traditionally conservative areas,” the organization touts, describing some of the projects to be funded:

The winning projects include a school in the conservative area of Mission, Texas which will be using the funds to create a regional Queer Youth Conference; a school in Maine that is creating a Gender Sexuality Alliance to train educators and administrators on LGBTQ+ knowledge; a Colorado school remodeling single-gender restrooms into gender-neutral ones; a school in Minnesota which will offer an LGBTQ+ history and pop culture class; and a gender-inclusive closet providing affirming clothes for trans and gender non-conforming students in New Mexico.

However, on April 13, 2012, the It Gets Better Project’s Savage, who says he was raised Catholic, spoke to thousands of high school students at a Seattle High School journalism convention, using his platform to denigrate Christianity and humiliate Christian students.

Video Warning: Profanity

Savage said:

The Bible — we’ll just talk about the Bible for a second. People often point out that they can’t help with the anti-gay bullying, because it says right there in Leviticus, it says right there in Timothy, it says right there in Romans, that being gay is wrong. We can learn to ignore the bulls**t in the Bible about gay people the same way we have learned to ignore the bulls**t in the Bible about shellfish, about slavery, about dinner, about farming, about menstruation, about virginity, about masturbation — we ignore bulls**t in the Bible about all sorts of things.

While some students could be heard cheering Savage on as he made his remarks, the video shows numerous others walking out. After further comments about the Bible, Savage said about the students who left:

You can tell the Bible guys in the hall they can come back now since I’m done beating up the Bible. It’s funny to someone who’s on the receiving end of beatings that are justified by the Bible, how pansy-assed some people react.

“I apologize if I hurt anyone’s feelings,” Savage said, but justified his comments, stating, “but I have a right to defend myself and to point out the hypocrisy of people that justify anti-gay bigotry by pointing to the Bible.”

The National Scholastic Press Association and Journalism Education Association, who sponsored the conference, issued a public statement condemning Savage’s remarks.

Entertainment reported:

This is not what our organizations expected. In his attempt to denounce bullying, Mr. Savage belittled the faith of others – an action that we do not support. Ridicule of others’ faith has no place in our programs, any more than ridicule of the LGBT community would.

In a post dated April 29, 2012 at the blog The Stranger, Savage wrote he “would like to apologize for describing that walk-out as a pansy-assed move,” but then denied he was calling the students who walked out pansies, “just the walk-out itself.”

Savage also denied he called “anyone’s religion bulls**t.

“That is being spun as an attack on Christianity,” he wrote. “Which is bullshhh… which is untrue [sic].”

At the time of his remarks to the high school students, Savage had just launched a sex advice show for college students on MTV.

Two years later, however, Savage was still attacking Christian organization Family Research Council, asserting, “Every dead gay kid is a victory for the Family Research Council.”

The It Gets Better Project grants are funded by clothing brand American Eagle Outfitters and its subsidiary Aerie, in part via their customers’ “Real Rewards” loyalty program donations.

“American Eagle Outfitters [AEO +0.9%] (AEO) has been underperforming on the charts, recently hitting a July 1, nearly two-year low of $10.98,” Forbes reported Wednesday in a stock market analysis. “Plus, the descending 40-day moving average has been putting pressure on the shares.”

The Aerie brand, however, has apparently been successful with those seeking clothing that identifies with woke phrases such as “inclusion” and “body positivity,” as a Forbes column described in June 2020.

“Aerie has redefined the standards of beauty by encouraging young women to love their own bodies,” the article explained.

“It is incredibly gratifying to know that the support of AEO and our AE and Aerie customers is giving students across the country the chance to create more inclusive communities within their schools,” Jennifer Foyle, president and executive creative director of AEO and Aerie, said, according to Forbes. “We are so proud of the partnership we have built with It Gets Better Project and the positive impact our work together has upon empowering and uplifting LGBTQ+ youth.”

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Susan Berry, PhD, is national education editor at The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Dan Savage” by Dan Savage. Background Photo “Classroom” by Wokandapix.

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