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Thirteen Democratic senators have added themselves to the chorus of people telling young gays and lesbians that “It Gets Better.” At a Wednesday news conference, several of the Democratic lawmakers unveiled their nearly five-minute entry to the nationwide video series that reaches out to bullied gay and lesbian youth – with a message that not only is the best yet to come, but that momentum was on their side. The senators’ entry in the “It Gets Better” series was released just days after New York became the sixth state to legalize gay marriage, which the lawmakers cited as just the latest example that the push to increase rights for gays and lesbians is gaining steam. For his part, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) noted at the news conference that he was one of only 14 senators to vote against the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as only between a man and a woman, in the mid-1990s. But now, the 13 lawmakers in the video are roughly half of the senators backing a measure introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) to repeal DOMA, and several of the Democrats at Wednesday’s event also cited the recent repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy as proof that further changes were on the way. “What I sense is that we’re at a kind of tipping point, where momentum is heading in the direction of greater tolerance, acceptance, against hate and bullying,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said. Still, Blumenthal’s rhetorical flourish was likely topped by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who cited Martin Luther King Jr., Alexis de Tocqueville and the late gay activist Harvey Milk in his remarks. The other senators making appearance in the video are: Feinstein; Chris Coons of Delaware, who spearheaded the effort; Sherrod Brown of Ohio; Maria Cantwell of Washington; Dick Durbin of Illinois; Al Franken of Minnesota; Kirsten Gillibrand of New York; Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire; Mark Udall of Colorado; and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island. Their “It Gets Better” entry comes on the heels of submissions from President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and the San Francisco Giants baseball team. The campaign was started last year by the syndicated columnist Dan Savage.
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