Someone asked me how I can wear an It Gets Better hat right now!

By Brian Wenke, Executive Director, It Gets Better

Read the letter or watch the video below!

Something happened to me a few months ago that I haven’t been able to shake. I was wearing an It Gets Better hat, and someone came up to me and said, “I don’t know how you can wear that at a time like this.” At the moment, I didn’t have a good response. I just felt… irritated. But later, I realized it wasn’t about them. It was about what that comment represented.

Hopelessness.

Because that’s what hopelessness does. It creeps in. It clouds everything. It makes people believe things won’t get better, even when they can. And that hit me hard, because my job – our work at It Gets Better – is to push back against that feeling of hopelessness every single day. 

Not with blind optimism. Not by pretending things are easy. But by making sure LGBTQ+ young people can see a future for themselves, and know people are fighting like hell to help them reach it.

Every day at It Gets Better, I get to see what hope actually looks like. I see young people stepping into leadership. Finding their voice. Building communities where they can actually thrive. Not someday. Now. That’s what this work is really about. And right now, it matters more than ever.

If that person were to express the same sentiment to me today, I’d have a much better answer. I’d say, “You bet your ass it gets better.” I wear this hat because I believe we can get through this moment, even as LGBTQ+ youth face political hostility, online cruelty, isolation, and fear about what comes next.

I believe that because we’ve been here before.

As a child of the ’80s, I watched our community fight through the escalating AIDS crisis. I saw fear. I saw loss. I saw cruelty dressed up as politics. But I also saw the innate power this community has to never give up. To demand better. That same power is still here. I see it every day in the young people we serve and in the work I have the privilege of leading at It Gets Better.

It’s Mental Health Awareness Month. And while awareness matters, LGBTQ+ youth are carrying a weight no young person should be asked to carry alone. The weight of the world they’re living through right now. 

That’s where you come in. 

I set a goal to find 200 people to join our recurring giving community. We’re at 185. We’re close but not there yet. Recurring support is what allows us to show up consistently. To keep building spaces where young people can find connection, support, and a sense of future. 

So if you’ve ever wondered whether it really gets better…Help us prove that it does.

Join me as a monthly donor. Be part of the reason someone else holds onto hope.

Brian Wenke (he/him)
Executive Director
It Gets Better

P.S. – Do you like the hat and what it stands for right now?? You can buy it and other It Gets Better merch with positive, affirming messages in our shop. All proceeds support LGBTQ+ youth.