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Conservatives' 'It Gets Better' Video Draws Criticism

The Huffington Post Canada   First Posted: 10/22/11 01:55 PM ET Updated: 10/22/11 05:52 PM ET

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Earlier this week a group of Conservative MPs and staffers released an anti-bullying video aimed at gay youth and the criticism has been swift.

In the video, MPs such as Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and Public Safety Minister Vic Toews repeat the line "it gets better" in support of a campaign by the same name. It was started by blogger and columnist Dan Savage to let gay youth, especially those contemplating suicide, know there is support available if they're being bullied for their sexuality.

Many are calling the video hypocritical given the underwhelming support some MPs in the video have shown for LGBT rights initiatives. Toews for example has in the past been a vocal opponent of same-sex marriage and protecting sexual orientation under hate crime legislation.

In a blog post, Savage said perhaps Toews and his fellow MPs are coming around to the "error of their ways" but that it's not enough:

People who are in a position to make it better -- elected officials -- but who have chosen, over the years, to make it worse, can come around. It's essential that they do ... But it's going to take more than a video to undo the damage done by Vic Toews and Canada's conservatives. This was, quite literally, the least Vic and his fellow conservatives could do. The very least.

MP Randall Garrison, the New Democratic Party critic for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues, told the National Post that the video "fails to understand the basic concept" of the campaign and that the lack of actual LGBT voices in the video detracts from its effectiveness.

The video was released on the same day as the funeral of 15-year-old Jamie Hubley, who committed suicide last week. Hubley's father, Ottawa city councillor Allan Hubley, released a statement saying his son had been the victim of bullying.

What do you think of the Conservatives It Gets Better video? Let us know in the comments.

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As part of the It Gets Better Project, President Obama shares his message of hope and support for LGBT youth who are struggling with being bullied.
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Earlier this week a group of Conservative MPs and staffers released an anti-bullying video aimed at gay youth and the criticism has been swift. In the video, MPs such as Foreign Affairs Minister J...
Earlier this week a group of Conservative MPs and staffers released an anti-bullying video aimed at gay youth and the criticism has been swift. In the video, MPs such as Foreign Affairs Minister J...
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David Valdes Greenwood

David Valdes Greenwood: It Got Better for Me... But That's Not Good Enough

It wasn't inspiration that got me off that bridge but a person who saw a boy in a perilous place. Fewer kids will die when it's not just their parents or their gay and lesbian peers but our entire society that is keeping an eye out on their well-being.

 
 
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
viking1969
2399 Fans
10:42 AM on 11/02/2011
What this demonstrates again is the fact that the conservatives, at their core are sociopathic and when their hate, hypocracy and bigotry gets caught in the headlights they simply go into damage control without any actual understanding of the consequences they have wrought on people.
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Brother Atticus
13 Fans
06:43 PM on 11/01/2011
... The thing that gets me is that I don't see how childish, isolated schoolyard incidents can be responsibl­y applied to an entire national policy (shouldn't bullying be handled on a local level?). Especially since everyone scoffed at this video anyway.
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RustyIdols
34 Fans
 
09:02 AM on 10/27/2011
Lack of LGBT voices? isn't ________ ________ in the video? Ohhhh you mean UNCLOSETED voices.
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Damian X
0 Fans
06:53 PM on 10/25/2011
I think this is great! Let's give these guys some credit.....at least they came around and did this. We aren't all the same in our voyage of tolerance and acceptance. This is a great step forward!
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janfromthebruce
84 Fans
 
05:52 PM on 10/25/2011
I'm not believing it & nor by the comments is anybody else - insincerity is dripping from this "I really really care about you" clip!
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Maryanne Slater
20 Fans
12:00 PM on 10/24/2011
What a pathetic, self-serving, cheapass production!

Yep, having a dozen MPs reading the same flippin' cue card is the Harper neocons' best show of sincerity.
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Brian Finch
116 Fans
08:37 AM on 10/24/2011
It would help is the so called closeted Baird - which is one of the biggest open secrets since Ricky Martin, could actually be honest, The others have no business in even going near it gets better after their record of voting, cutting & opposed anything that relates to the LGBT community. Even Rick Mercer, who isn't in your face with it, says on camera that he is gay in reference to the It' Get's Better." It does such a dishonour to the young man who committed suicide, and on the day of this funeral yet. It's shameful.
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CanadaStan
Cogito ergo spud, I think, therefore I yam
171 Fans
12:41 AM on 10/24/2011
Tommy Douglas said homosexuality was a mental disorder.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
rickthaluddite
What noisy cats are we
427 Fans
 
11:42 AM on 10/24/2011
So is conservatism as its practiced these days.
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Maryanne Slater
20 Fans
12:12 PM on 10/24/2011
So did the leading psychiatrists of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.

Tsk! How careless of Tommy not to have a time machine so that he'd know what we know now!

On the other hand, fundy conservatives said it was a sin in the 1800s, and the 1900s and are still repeating the same tripe.
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Brother Atticus
13 Fans
06:38 PM on 11/01/2011
Unfortunately, the book was thrown out on homosexuality's status as, if nothing else, a psychological curiosity solely on the basis of political pressure--it was the '70s, after all; NO additional scientific research contributed to that decision. That is troubling. It does not take a homophobe to suggest that the whole thing could have been handled a bit more prudently.
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Michael Scarborough
182 Fans
07:28 PM on 10/23/2011
Apparently Canadian and American "Conservatives" have something in common after all: the inability to understand what the consequences are when you have always been on the wrong side of history.
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CanadaStan
Cogito ergo spud, I think, therefore I yam
171 Fans
12:40 AM on 10/24/2011
In 2002 the liberals voted strongly against same sex marriage.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
ProgressiveCDN
A Progressive Moderate
318 Fans
 
12:19 PM on 10/25/2011
that's not true. they just favor civil unions for gay couples, but ultimately placed that choice with the religious institution that performs the "marriage"

Also, the Liberals never said any inflamatory statements to belittle homosexuals or any minority group for that matter.... the same can not be said for the Cons
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Jack Hope
Occasionally quoted by Mainstream Media
145 Fans
 
06:53 PM on 10/26/2011
And in 2005 Paul Martin and his Liberal Government brought about gay marriage nationally.

And before that Jean Chretien gave gay couples common law status. And before that they passed a national ban on discrimination against gay people in the workplace.

The last time the Conservatives did anything or supported anything for gay people in this country was almost 20 years ago when they lifted the order banning gay people from serving the Canadian Forces in 1992.

But wait! That wasn't even the same Conservative party that's in power.....

Conservatives are not our friends and will turn back the clock given the slightest opening. If they want to change that they have to do a hell of a lot better than one half hearted generic anti-bullying video.
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Brother Atticus
13 Fans
06:30 PM on 11/01/2011
I find equally disgusting the false-dichotomy that either we all walk the gay pride line in atonement for "our" decades of crimes against homosexuals...or we are hateful, cave-dwelling sadists. Jon Stewart, the supposed champion of non-partisan, common sense politics said in his anticipated Rolling Stone interview, "I do think that not everyone who doesn't believe in gay marriage is a homophobe" (right before saying that he considers CNN more despicable than even FOX). Why do we ignore the middle ground?
I don't see how childish, isolated schoolyard incidents can be responsibly applied to national policy anyhow...
And be careful with your use of the word "always."
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Aleithia
0 Fans
05:24 PM on 10/23/2011
For the self proclaimed experts, this message is one of the first line messages Psychiatrists, Doctors and Mental health counsellers convey to a suicidal patient. It can be very difficult to penetrate the psyche of such seriously depressed people. This message as simplistic as it is, has worked very well. At the point of suicide, the depressed person is convinced it will never get better. To suggest to such an one that "Suicide is a permanent solution to a *temporary* problem" and to get that thought to stick gives a person in Major depression something to hold on to, something to slow the fall.

So I read all the glib comments about how simplistic this message is, and I say it shows what you, the public don't know. This reflects the profound ignorance in this society of matters relating to mental illness.
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Maryanne Slater
20 Fans
12:15 PM on 10/24/2011
I've been though depression myself and I don't think group of stone-faced or smirking people reading the same cue card would have given me hope.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Whistlejackett
Hey stop doing that
977 Fans
 
01:58 PM on 10/23/2011
The only time it will get better, is in four years when these despots are booted out of office.
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Akirrah
15 Fans
01:36 PM on 10/23/2011
To the author of this article, the "least" they could do is nothing. While I do find it somewhat hypocritical that some people who have made it worse are saying it gets better, but when those people mmake the first steps towards eliminating their ignorance and you try to vilainize an entire political party despite those efforts, you are the ignorant one who is playing party politics instead of celebrating that people are finally changing their minds, whether it be for political reasons or genuine changes of heart.

If the idea of equality is to change people's minds who were previously ignorant then i feel as though this should be looked at as a positive rather than a negative of party politics bashing.

if all you do is attack people when they change their minds, then what are you even fighting the good fight for ? just so you can say "not good enough, Im still better than you"

EVERYONE is allowed to change their mind, and shame on you for degrading this down to a whatever you are vs concservative narrative.

I personally have no party affiliation, and both sides the left and the right seem like bickering children rather than intelligent adults trying to make this country better for everyone.
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gsa
42 Fans
03:12 PM on 10/23/2011
If the Tories had done something in their actions or policies to actually promote a better environment for gay people, then they would have the legitimacy to make this video. But given their past actions it would appear this is just another P.R. opportunity for them.

Let's see some (positive) action and then they can say whatever they want.
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ProgressiveCDN
A Progressive Moderate
318 Fans
 
03:05 PM on 10/25/2011
I agree that a change of heart is good. Although this video tries (horribly) to make it look like these Conservatives have embraced the 'other' in this case, I find it hard to believe. And a short video clip with bad acting surely isn't going to convince me that they are less ignorant.

This is not about party, it's about policy. Show me their compassionate policies to back up this forced rhetoric.
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Rhuebekah
11 Fans
05:24 PM on 10/25/2011
I think the video is telling people not to kill themselves and I find that compassionate
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Ioan Lightoller
Proud Gay Pagan Man, Living Happily With Husband
4833 Fans
12:30 PM on 10/23/2011
This is a really dorky video--very lame. The first couple of speakers looked as if they cared that they were getting their message across. The rest was repeat, repeat, repeat. Come on guys, you can do better than that! If you can't show more humanity and basic human caring than what I saw after the first two speakers, then don't make a video. Kids aren't stupid. They can tell when adults really care and when they are faking it.
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one1byke
Easy no Man.
350 Fans
09:41 AM on 10/23/2011
wake up. the are gay. what do you think this is a lll about?!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
PatientZeroBeat
Dying since 1962
212 Fans
 
01:23 PM on 10/23/2011
im up. he are you. I to sail this about not am.
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one1byke
Easy no Man.
350 Fans
04:01 PM on 10/23/2011
egg zzz AKctly!

Bill the Cat.
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techsupport
71 Fans
09:33 AM on 10/23/2011
Where's Harper?
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S Cooper
15 Fans
04:32 PM on 10/23/2011
His Christian evangelical base would never forgive him for appearing within 100 metres of this video even if he (like almost all the talking heads) didn't dare say teh gay word.
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Aleithia
0 Fans
05:28 PM on 10/23/2011
That is ridiculous, and I take exception to your sweeping remarks about people who care for other people despite whether or not they agree on absolutely everything.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
rickthaluddite
What noisy cats are we
427 Fans
 
07:00 PM on 10/23/2011
They forgave him for letting John Baird and Laureen Harper be each other's beards. If they knew the PM's wife was hiding in the closet, they'd never vote for him.
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