LGBTQ2 youth are seven times more likely to commit suicide than their straight peers, and the stats are even worse if the kids are aboriginal or transgender. It Gets Better Canada wants to show these kids they are supported and loved and what better time to do this than during PRIDE?
Canadian LGBT stories matter because Canada is the second largest country by landmass on the earth. Our communities, especially our marginalized communities, can be separated for miles. Christopher Gudgeon makes this geographic isolation a case for why the "It Gets Better" campaign is particularly relevant to Canadians. Chris is an author, poet, screenwriter in addition to his role as Executive Director of It Gets Better Canada, a non-profit organization promoting positive messages of hope for LGBTQ+ youth. He agreed to share with Steve Polyak from Gay Calgary Magazine how "It Gets Better Canada" got founded:
CG: I started talking to the parent organization "It Gets Better Project" in Los Angeles just about a year ago and I was looking for an organization to get involved with that could tie in a lot of my talents and interests, with my background in Interactive [Software], in making entertainment content and writing and working with young people. So, I came across "It Get Better" and I’ve heard of them but I hadn’t really paid attention. Then I noticed they didn’t have a Canadian Affiliate. There’s other offices around the world so we talked back and forth for six or seven months and then in November signed an official affiliate agreement settled. "It Gets Better Canada" were the official affiliate. We’re independent but we’re part of the international umbrella of "It Gets Better".
SP: So...
CG: So yeah I’ve been the executive director from the start ‘cause basically I started it?
What makes him qualified for the position? Chris shares with Steve a plethora of work experiences and expertise relevant to directing It Gets Better Canada:
CG: I’ve been a writer for 35 years. I’ve done a lot of television and film or I’ve created a couple TV series, one series Ghost Trackers ran on YTV for 5 years, I became creative producer. So, I’m familiar with developing [long-term content] and I’ve done a lot of social media on Interactive [Software]. So, I understand how social media works, I understand how Interactive works, I understand how to bring it together to create content. I also started off as a family-youth counsellor and I did a lot of work with particularly government and NGOs around engaging youth in particular at-risk communities, different kinds of initiatives. [...] So I’ve got a background in creating education materials; background in social media, background in dealing with, working with youth and their families, background in production, creating content and just a background in writing. And I’ve got a background working with a number of non-for-profits, especially on the governance side with the boards and the communications side. I’ve done a lot of community and corporate and government and organization and communication.
What Chris saw in the original "It Gets Better" project was "a strong brand that had a clear vision and a clear mission. The idea is to use social media to provide positive messages help LGBT youth and help connect them to a larger community. Social media is a great outlet for doing that."
It Gets Better Canada doesn’t directly provide healthcare, school, or a place to sleep but through the use and power of social media they can get kids’ attention, especially those hard to reach kids and at-risk kids and direct them to those services closest to them or national services. The organization works closely with affiliated programs and corporate institutions that fit their framework to provide a space for kids to build an online community that can support, provide care and other services needed by LGBT youth including GSAs and partners that already work with established GSAs.
On the topic of how he will spearhead ongoing buzz in the movement to increase engagement, visibility, social acceptance and story sharing, Chris says, "We’re going to create specific social media campaigns. So, there’ll be very simply a SnapChat style video campaign for high school news and we’re going to partner with some corporate organizations to promote that." Instead of leaving video creation and sharing up to chance and hope, Chris is determined to bridge everyday kids with queer role models that are closer to their own communities. He notes that, "You read the story about famous rock stars who’s gay and that’s great and it’s inspirational and empowers you but it’s also really remote. But someone who’s in your community who’s had success, a high profile, that’s way more accessible." Examples include provincial MLAs, teachers, artists, authors and other community leaders who have all achieved some level of success without being Vegas celebrities. People like you.
Chris himself is open to being vulnerable and sharing some personal details that connect us to him as a fellow human being:
SP: Now to your book. I don’t know how many books you’ve written so far...
CG: 20.
SP: 20! And have they all been poetry?
CG: No this is my first [poetry] book.
SP: So that is your first book. What made you want to do poetry compared to all the rest?
CG: For me it’s whatever captures my attention. I’ve written some poems over the years and then I wrote a poem called, "Waiting for our Lord Jesus Christ... in the Maple Leaf Lounge at the John G. Diefenbaker Airport in Saskatoon Saskatchewan." I wrote that for Giest magazine about 5 years ago and it was really successful and it occurred to me that I wanted to write more poetry. So, most of the poems were written over the past two years, since I came out... Since the last 2 and a half years. So nothing really happened, just poetry caught my attention.
SP: Did you say you just recently came out over the last several years?
CG: No, no, I’ve never fitting in or out. It doesn’t really register that strongly to be...
SP: So you’ve been... Just basically been out there.
CG: Being the... Yeah. If someone asked me technically I would say I’m bisexual but that honestly doesn’t mean anything to me because it doesn’t make me feel or think anything differently.
SP: Being with some of the artists and whatnot nowadays the term they’re using is the word sexually fluid, at least it gives that larger spectrum. It’s like I’m not gay, I’m not straight. I’m not really bi. I’m just whatever.
CG: I identify with the struggle that we all have because we’re "unnatural"... "Out of the ordinary" or worse. We offend people; we anger people; we scare people. I identify with that more than a sexual label, if that makes sense. I can sit down with almost any gay guy in the world and we have something in common. It’s not fucking. That’s not what we talk about... Well that’s not true.
SP: Ha ha ha ha ha!
CG: What do you know, that’s a shorter conversation than the actual things that we’ve all experienced, actual human connections and disconnects that we experience in a very similar way. That’s what I think brings us together and that’s what the actual community is. The sex is an element of the community. I think if you actually got down to it connection is the core of the community.
"People love to focus on the sex because it’s sexier," Chris continues, but on the other side of a great time in bed, what we all want to feel is human connection. That’s what It Gets Better Canada stands for: to be the hub of all these beautiful connections we make from our core. So, help Canada kick off our new national social media campaign to support Canada’s LGBTQ2 youth for PRIDE this month of June 2017!
Chris believes we can create at least 10,000 videos and have them posted on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram by the end of this summer! Post a 10-second video saying "Hi, I’m___ from ____, and I support Canada’s LGBTQ and Two Spirit Youth!" with the hashtag #ISupportCanadasLGBTQ2youth. Connect to your core now: It’s time to show your pride.
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