Tegan and Sara are no strangers to standing up for same-sex rights and gay equality. But now the twins have lent their support behind a series of videos entitled "It Got Better" also featuring Jane Lynch and George Takei among many other celebs.
"Hello! We are truly honoured to be a part of It Got Better — a video series by the It Gets Better Project sharing LGBT stories of struggle and success," the group wrote on its official site. "This is such an amazing initiative and we're so touched that our story could be included to provide encouragement and support for those who need it."
The nearly seven-minute video begins with the duo talking about growing up in Calgary. "The sort of perception of Calgary is that it's a lot more right-leaning or conservative," Tegan says, adding the two were really "boyish" as youngsters and cut off their hair to resemble their father. "They would pay us to dress in dresses when we would do family photos," Sara says.
Tegan says the transition from age 11 to 12 was when there was something "about my girl friends that I liked more than I liked about my boy friends." Sara says it was the summer before seventh grade when "suddenly girls looked different to me." Sara also says she "was really tortured and I also really internalized what I was going through right away because middle school was when we started doing the locker room and changing and I felt like I was in the wrong place."
It was the 1993 Vanity Fair cover of k.d. lang and Cindy Crawford which "really resonated" with Tegan. "I remember thinking k.d. lang was kind of like my role model for sexuality because she got to be androgynous and cool but very beautiful and got the girl," she says. The two then talk about not knowing any gay teenagers growing up with Tegan adding Sara "got to her feelings of gayness quicker than I did." Sara says her mother was disappointed initially on learning she was gay and "really struggled" with it. Now her mother has become a great ally.
Tegan also says the twin dynamic added another element. "There is this twin thing where you don't want to be the same," she says. "I didn't want to be like, 'Well I'm gay too,' and have everyone be like, 'You're just saying that because she's your twin.'" And as they went into their 20s, they realized they could become a pop band and politically aware. "I don't think our music is eradicating ignorance and homophobia or sexism, I think it's just helping people come a little bit further over the line to understanding," Tegan says.
The video closes with Tegan and Sara performing at the Club Skirts Dinah Shore Weekend in California earlier this year for what they dub as a "big gay deal!"
Tegan and Sara continue touring behind 2013's Heartthrob with their next show being the CBC Music Festival with Spoon June 14 in Vancouver.
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