Meet Our New Class of Youth Voices

By Rae Sweet

Five years sure does fly by when you’re having fun! It Gets Better’s Youth Voices Class of 2025 has just commenced, and we are so excited to welcome in some new and some returning incredible LGBTQ+ young people to help pave the way for our organization and inspire their peers through our global platform. 

Youth Voices has grown tremendously since its inception in 2020. But we couldn’t have done it without the young people involved, and their dedication to improving the program, our organization, and furthering our mission to uplift, empower, and connect LGBTQ+ young people across the globe. 

“Being a founding member of Youth Voices nearly four years ago and recently finishing my term as Youth Alumni Co-Chair to the board, I have witnessed firsthand how profound our work has had on not only myself but the dozen-plus Youth Voices that came after me, and also the tens of thousands of LGBTQ+ youth who tune into our online content. 

It Gets Better’s vital efforts to uplift and support the Youth Voices have provided me with a vital sense of hope and belonging.

It Gets Better’s vital efforts to uplift and support the Youth Voices have provided me with a sense of hope and belonging. Seeing my stories and those of the Youth Voices shared through the project has truly empowered me to embrace my own journey. This team has genuinely become a second family to me at a time when I needed it the most.” – Zach, Youth Voices 2020-2023, Youth Advisory Committee Co-Lead 2023-2024

With this year’s class, we have had 30 remarkable young people join us as Youth Voices from across the U.S. When you support It Gets Better, your contribution goes “straight” into the positive development of these young lives. 

“In a world that is too often cruel, especially against LGBTQ+ individuals, and even more so against transgender people, I refuse to standby and gaze upon injustice complacently. As an openly queer teenager, I’ve seen people like me be openly discriminated against and, at worse, be physically harmed for no reason outside of something integral to our identity. With the recent murders of Brianna Ghey and Nex Benedict – two sixteen-year-old transgender high school students – and the general hostility towards the transgender community, I sometimes find myself feeling conflicted as to whether or not I should live authentically as myself for the sake of preserving my safety. 

Now, I’m very grateful to live in New York where I am able to find supportive communities and mentors to help me in this aspect. However, even as recent as March 2024, school boards in this state are considering passing measures that would wrongfully discriminate against transgender student athletes. The ramifications of a policy that targets an already marginalized group of people can be extremely dangerous as we’ve seen happen countlessly throughout our current world. Something must be done, but who and how?

I’m joining Youth Voices so that I can contribute to making our world a safer place for queer people to not just survive, but to thrive.

I’m joining Youth Voices so that I can contribute to making our world a safer place for queer people to not just survive, but to thrive. For everyone to have what is, unfortunately, a privilege: the ability to live authentically and without active persecution. Youths create our future and we must work, however challenging it may be, to make it accessible and just.” – Marlin, 16 years old, New York, Youth Voices Class of 2025

Learn more about the new Youth Voices Class of 2025 cohort here.

– Rae Sweet is It Gets Better’s Senior Education Coordinator who oversees the Youth Voices program.