The Queerest Podcast
🚀 Incoming Transmission: A New Podcast is Landing! 🌌✨
The Queerest Podcast is your cosmic guide to the Queer Universe. Hosted by Andraé BVR, each episode takes you on an interstellar journey through queer culture, identity, and influence. From dismantling media tropes to exploring queer representation, we invite you to challenge norms and expand your horizons. So, buckle up, set your phasers to fabulous—close encounters of the queerest kind await!
The Queerest Podcast
IT GETS BETTER: From Moment to Movement
What does it take to lead a global movement for queer youth?
In this episode of The Queerest Podcast, host Andraé BVR is joined by Brian Wenke, Executive Director of It Gets Better—the world’s largest LGBTQ+ youth empowerment organization. Since 2016, Brian has helped transform the project from a viral video campaign into a multilingual, multi-continent platform that centers queer youth through digital storytelling, mental health initiatives, and brand partnerships grounded in integrity.
Together, they explore how It Gets Better continues to meet queer youth where they are—whether in classrooms, on social media, or through life-saving messages in their darkest moments. Brian shares how the organization builds hope not just through words, but through action—and why authentic allyship is more urgent than ever.
This episode is a powerful reminder that change doesn’t start with institutions—it starts with people. With stories. With showing up. If you’ve ever needed proof that one story can change the world, this is it.
Welcome to the Queerest Podcast, your cosmic guide to the queer universe. Hosted by Andre BVR, each episode takes you on an interstellar journey through queer culture, identity and influence, from dismantling media tropes to exploring queer representation. We invite you to challenge norms and expand your horizons. So buckle up and set your phasers to fabulous Close encounters of the queerest kind await.
Speaker 2:Greetings, cosmic queers and allies. I am your host, andre BVR, and this is the Queerist Podcast, your cosmic guide to the ever-expanding universe of queer culture, identity and influence. And before we go any further, I want to wish everybody a happy pride. Whether you're dancing through the streets, holding space with chosen family or just figuring it all out, this is your moment. Have it. You belong in this universe fully, fiercely and unapologetically. Today, we're talking about something core to pride but often overshadowed the next generation. Not just how we represent them, but how we listen to them, trust them and build systems where they can thrive. Our guest today is someone who's been doing just that.
Speaker 2:Brian Wenke, the executive director of it Gets Better, has spent nearly a decade expanding the organization from a wave of viral videos into a global network of storytelling, mental health support, grants and youth leadership. Whether it's a queer teen finding hope on TikTok or a trans student starting a library with one of their grants, brian's work reminds us that queer youth don't need to just be seen. They need to be trusted. So, whether you're a young queer person looking for hope or someone wondering how to show up better for the next generation, this episode is for you. So here's how today's journey breaks down. We'll start with an incoming transmission to catch up on what's lighting up the queer universe. Then we'll jump into a deep space dive with Brian to explore his journey, the evolution of it Gets Better and how the organization empowers queer youth around the world. And finally we'll close with the final frontier, our cosmic rapid fire round of questions. But first let's scan the queer skies and tune into what's coming through. You are now tuned into the incoming transmission. This is our signal check on the queer universe, from culture shifts to policy moves. This is where we track what's changing and how we move through it together.
Speaker 2:For today's incoming transmission, let's talk about Pride 2025, because something's off, and I know you feel it too. The brands that used to paint the town rainbow suddenly quiet Logos are staying grayscale, parade budgets are getting slashed and whole campaigns that once screamed we stand with you are nowhere to be found. And it's not an accident, it is a strategy. Somewhere in a boardroom, people decided that queerness was too controversial for Q2. And this retreat is happening while over 500 anti-LGBTQ bills are being pushed across this country. Transphobe queer students, drag artists, health care providers we're all being targeted. So ask yourself if you only support queer people when it's safe. Is it really support? And here's the thing Pride has never needed permission. We don't exist because it's marketable. We exist because we always have. And when the noise dies down, we get to focus on what's real each other, the organizers, the kids who are coming out in hostile states to their identity, the people making space for joy in a world that tries to shrink us and silence us. But my take this year's Pride isn't performative, it's personal. It's not about who shows up for the party, it's about who stays for the work, and that's today's incoming transmission from the queer universe. Let's beam in today's Deep Space Dive. Deep Space Dive Today's guest is someone who has transformed a viral video campaign into one of the most visible platforms for LGBTQ plus youth empowerment.
Speaker 2:Brian Wenke is the executive director of it Gets Better, the world's largest storytelling effort for LGBTQ youth and a leading youth empowerment organization. Since 2016, he's led the organization's expansion across four continents and six languages, building a network of affiliates from Guatemala to India to Russia, while forging bold, authentic partnerships with Fortune 500 brands to fund the mission without compromising its soul. Brian's work has been spotlighted in Teen Vogue, forbes, vanity Fair, the Hollywood Reporter and many more. Under his leadership, it Gets Better has evolved into a multi-layered movement that meets queer youth where they live, learn and socialize. Prior to it Gets Better, brian has raised over $25 million to address healthcare disparities, through the American Cancer Society, through global conservation efforts for Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association and through ArtShare LA for affordable housing and access to the arts. Without further ado, brian, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3:Hello, thank you, I'm so happy to be here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's great. I'm excited to learn more about an organization that I have been such a huge fan of, of all of the great work that y'all have done over the years. I think, like for me before we get into the questions, like the it Gets Better project, which I know it's now it Gets Better was such a amazing moment, I think, in like social media history and just like queer history in general, because it was like this viral movement of seeing all of these different, you know, individuals who were speaking out and empowering queer youth, and I think it was such a pivotal point for me to be able to see that level of visibility. And so I want to thank you for all of the efforts of you and the team and like your commitment to our community over the years.
Speaker 3:Glad I could be a part of that experience for you community over the years.
Speaker 2:Glad I could be a part of that experience. For you, of course, yeah. So I'd love to get started a little bit about kind of your journey and you know you've led it Gets Better for nearly a decade. We're almost on the 10 year anniversary, right? Oh my gosh, that's amazing. That's incredible. Before we like talk about like the strategy and impact of it Gets Better, I would like to go back and kind of what first lit the spark for you to do work centered around queer, youth and storytelling.
Speaker 3:I think I've been very fortunate over the course of my career to be able to pursue or pick jobs that aligned with my personal life experiences. You know I love that. You mentioned, you know, all of these things that I had done before I came to it Gets Better. But, like, I started my career at the LA Zoo because it connected me with a very positive experience that I had as a child volunteering for the Columbus Zoo. From Columbus Ohio, you know Jack Hanna, all the things it was. He was like a local celebrity, so right. So like the zoo is a big thing for me and you know it was. It felt good to be there because it just connected me to something that was positive.
Speaker 3:You know I went to the American Cancer Society after my mom was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and it was a way for me to feel like I could connect not only with my mom to support her journey but also feel like I have some purpose in that beyond that. And then you know when, when it gets better came around, it was kind of a similar thing you know it was. You know it was probably inevitable that I would land in the queer space at some point. But you know in hindsight I think you know landing at it Gets Better gave me an opportunity to fight to rate some of the wrongs I experienced during my coming out process. It took me longer to get here. It's a very personal, deeply personal experience and I probably wouldn't have been ready for it any earlier in my career. I met the folks here and I just couldn't say no, I love that.
Speaker 2:It's amazing Quick pop quiz. Though, given your love of the zoo, is there a particular animal that you really love? The orangutan.
Speaker 3:So, like I was there during a big capital campaign to renovate the zoo and the orangutan enclosure was one of the main projects that I had the opportunity to work on while I was there, so they're pretty cool. They're very cool, I took an anthropology class learned all about them.
Speaker 2:So I'm very, very appreciative of all of what they are and what they do. So that's amazing. So I'd love to now kind of talk about you know. You've been with it Gets Better, as I said, since the early days of the movement. What first drew you to the organization specifically and what about its mission made you want to be a part of building it long?
Speaker 3:term. I don't necessarily qualify the timing of my entrance into the space as the early days. When I arrived, the original campaign was ending with an Emmy, a New York Times bestselling book and an MTV series in the rearview mirror. I believe I landed at a time when the what comes next of it all was TBD right, and that was kind of what drew me in. You know, here was this, you know, amazing. You know, organization had a great reputation and a tangible cultural impact and I was being handed the keys to the car right. And you know I was looking for a challenge, something new. I mean, I had been working on LGBTQ plus issues way before I came to. It Gets Better, but only seasonably, you know, through like pride at American Cancer, and I just love the idea of creating experiences for young people that I wish I had had.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I appreciate that. Yeah, yeah, I think, like for me and my career in working with the LGBTQ community, I think it's like it's amazing, specifically like queer youth, they are so inspiring and so empowered and I feel like they're so much more ahead of their time than I think I even was at their age and I'm just kind of blown away that like they have such a stronger sense of their identity and are so unapologetic about it that it's just like if, if, I would have had that same level of confidence and like self-assuredness at the time that they do. Like I can only imagine, like the, the possibilities of that, and it's, it's so cool that you've been able to be a part of that and and supporting a lot of queer youth's journey, whether they, whether you, whether you know them or not. I think that's that's the real impact of it Gets Better. So really great stuff I would love to kind of discuss.
Speaker 2:Like many people associate, obviously, it Gets Better with the first wave of the viral videos, but it's it's grown into something much bigger. It's focused on mental health, it's focused on education grants, youth programs, you name it. How would you describe what it Gets Better is today?
Speaker 3:Well, you know, for some context, it Gets Better was born out of a serious crisis that was impacting the LGBTQ plus community, specifically youth communities. It was a suicide contagion that claimed the lives of young folks like Seth Walsh and Billy Lucas. It was a suicide contagion that claimed the lives of young folks like Seth Walsh and Billy Lucas. It was the same crisis that launched Glad Spirit Day. The initial goal was just to get in front of queer youth as fast as possible to show them that they were not alone, that there was help to be found and that they had a life that was worth living, a future to aspire to, and it was a response that generated an incredible amount of stories. Over 70,000 people turned the camera on themselves to show their stories as evidence that life could get better. And you ask any millennial, any queer millennial, about it gets better and that's what they'll remember. But you know, we grow up quickly and things change, and social media is not what it was 15 years ago, and there are different experiences to your point, young people, although across all generations, we do share a lot of common experiences when it comes to our coming out process. But you know, young people today are bold, they are more advanced and you know they have different needs, and so we want to evolve with that. But today I would say that we are more positioned as a youth empowerment organization.
Speaker 3:We moved farther upstream to capture the attention of young queer folks early because, like, our attitude is like, why wait until a young person is in crisis to offer them support? Like, let's try to avert the crisis right. Let's try to, like, equip young people with the tools they need to navigate an increasingly complex world, you know. So I like the idea of providing young queer people with a sense of control over their lives, especially like when we're in our teenage years, going through adolescence. I mean, I don't know anyone who gets out of high school unscathed, but just being able to tap into that and to show that there are ways that you can control your world and it Gets Better is here to help you.
Speaker 3:You know we are still a storytelling organization, don't get me wrong. Our goal was never to create this massive archive of stories, but the way that we've evolved our storytelling has led us to become the leading LGBTQ plus nonprofit on YouTube, twitch, tumblr and the leading youth org on TikTok. But beyond the storytelling, we want to get resources into the hands of LGBTQ plus youth who want to get involved in their communities, to make them, to make their communities better, more inclusive. And these brilliant, self-aware youth are the inspiration for many of the stories that we're telling today.
Speaker 2:That's incredible and like, how has the organization, like known how to shift into expanding you know the different programs into, you know the education, the grants, like what inspired the expansion of it? I guess is my question.
Speaker 3:Storytelling is like all the rage, right? You know, everyone's a storyt. My question Storytelling is like all the rage, right? Everyone's a storyteller now, all influencers and brands, and we're all storytellers. But the reality is that is just something we are innately qualified to do as human beings. It is what makes us unique, it's what separates us from other creatures on the planet our ability to weave stories and to weave fictions and to create this world that we're living in through the stories that we tell.
Speaker 3:When you talk about the impact of a story, right, we see that as planting seeds, and seeds aren't always maturing until decades into the future, right, and so we live in a very immediate, quick gratification world. And when you spend a lot of time putting together a story and you put it out on social, like, the shelf life is so short, but that doesn't mean that the story isn't good, right, it's just out there and there's so much other stuff being bombarded at you, and so we're like we need to extract more from these incredible stories that we're sharing. And so we're like, okay, well, let's take the best of the best, and I qualify best as the stories that are capable of of anchoring into one's memory because they elicit a very specific emotional response. We take those stories and then we said, well, let's maybe design some curriculum and we will push these stories into other offline spaces, like classrooms, where young people who might not be stumbling across our content online might be able to engage with it in an educational setting.
Speaker 3:And that was really what opened the door to everything else, because I would say, within the last five years, most of the growth that our organization has experienced is through leaning into the educational aspect of our work. That's what gave rise to it gets better change makers. That's what gave rise to it Gets Better Changemakers. That's what gave rise to Youth Voices, and we can talk about those at some point. But you know, these are all ways that we have engaged with young queer people in educational settings. And you know, I think it's really important that you know, with social media evolving into a very chaotic place filled with lots of misinformation, lots of poor information, lots of biased information that making sure that our stories that tell the truth about our community are shared in a variety of different ways, in a variety of different formats, to give young people the ability to consume them in the appropriate way.
Speaker 2:I think the education is so important because I think for me, growing up, not having a lot of these resources to understand myself, my community and just like the overall culture and history of the LGBTQ community, I think was so severely lacking. And I think in not having that, those resources, not having that information, it sent the message to me that, like, being queer is not okay. Any queer person who has is fed that kind of message. Whether it's directly or indirectly, you internalize that and it it creates internalized homophobia and it makes you feel like maybe I shouldn't be this With organizations like it Gets Better, having resources, having educational curriculum, having programs that you know allow you to feel empowered, to take control of a situation and embrace your identity, I think is so powerful and I think that's what's so amazing about the work that it Gets Better does.
Speaker 2:Looking at it from a global scope to like local roots, I think this organization has grown and expanded and is now in more places than I can't even believe it. Like it's in India, it's in Russia. This affiliate network is just massive. What have you learned? Building globally that's helped you better serve queer youth locally.
Speaker 3:What have you learned? Building globally that's helped you better serve queer youth locally. Well, our global affiliate network is probably, like I mean, in the US, which is where the bulk of our audience resides, although we have people that come to our website from all over the place. But when you think about like the United States, we're very insular. We don't really care a lot about what is happening outside the U? S unless it's happening to us or unless we're like in it. Right, and so you know. But what I have learned in the time that I had the opportunity to contribute to the expansion globally is perspective, and and this is not to say that we don't have our share of issues here in the United States but when you stack them up against other countries, it helps contextualize concern. There are still over 60 countries that still criminalize same-sex relations. While I think it's important to educate young people about the history of our community, it's also important to contextualize their experience with the larger global community. We are all interconnected and we influence each other in many ways. What I love about our affiliate network is that around 50% are representative of countries within Latin America About 50% and most are in Spanish-speaking countries, and this reality motivated the launch of it Gets Better Español, which is here in the US, which is an effort to connect it Gets Better programming to Spanish-speaking communities in culturally relevant ways here in the US.
Speaker 3:But when you look at things like what's happening in Latin America versus what's happening here in the US, but when you look at things like what's happening in Latin America versus like what's happening here in the US, there is let's just talk about Mexico, for example. Mexico is probably one of our stronger affiliates. They operate in a country that has no national 911 service. They and so they operate in a country that doesn't have a lot of suicide prevention resources. They're growing, you know, obviously, trevor Project has has moved to Mexico, but a lot of our Latin American affiliates have their safe hours, which we don't do here in the US because there are other other organizations that do that, and so a lot of these affiliates are doing a variety of different things in addition to like the storytelling or core programming that we would like our affiliates to do.
Speaker 3:But they're doing things that are things that are maybe a few years behind where we are here in the US, and I'm so inspired by them and I think it's really important to understand progress, and I think the only way to be able to do that is to contextualize it, to see it within like the bigger global frame. Right, and there are a lot, of, a lot of countries that are at the beginning stages of their fight for equality, and I'm here for it, because there's an energy there. There's a different kind of energy. There is an enthusiasm that makes you just want to hop on a plane and go down and jump it in the front line. So I think if we spent more time focusing on other communities outside the US, I think it would really help us understand progress here and to appreciate what we have, and it would probably light some fires to get people motivated to ensure that what we have here in the US doesn't backtrack.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and I'm curious with the affiliate networks what does that entail specifically? What resources that are available for them on a broad scale?
Speaker 3:All of these affiliates are independently organized. They are separately incorporated. They are not extensions of our business unit here in the US. They are connected through our work through, essentially, a licensing agreement that gives them the ability to operate as it gets better XYZ country, but they are, for the most part, autonomous. We ask them to adopt our mission and to integrate storytelling, which is our core program, into their work, but we give them a lot of freedom to do what they feel is necessary to support queer youth in their respective markets. We also support them when resources are available with capacity building grants and we also well, we just finished one this week actually, we moved to a virtual setting this year for a variety of different reasons. But we also host summits for representatives of our affiliates to come together, share best practices and talk about what's important to them. So lots of like continuing education opportunities. We like to think that you know we can help them learn from our mistakes here, so we try to do everything we can to give them a leg up and as much wind at their backs as possible to be successful. And you know, all the affiliates are in different stages of of development and I'm I'm very proud of of Canada. They just received a $1.5 million grant from their local government.
Speaker 3:Mexico is is just going, you know, full force. They have grown so much over the years and they are independent, they have a development team, they're doing all the things and they're actually like starting to solidify partnerships that I wish we could do here in the United States. But, you know, argentina is fantastic Just spearheaded a partnership opportunity that brought in a lot of our affiliates in Latin America into a content campaign with Disney. And then we have Chile, who is the oldest affiliate that is just owning their work and are actually I would even do, I dare say that they might have even grown bigger than our organization here in the state. So you know they're doing some cool stuff, right? I mean, we have a vision of a world where all LGBTQ plus young people are free to live equally, and you know we have a lot of work to do, right, we can, we can hope that what we do here in the States is gonna like trickle out and, you know, impact some folks. But you know, these affiliates are just incredible and I'm so inspired by them every day.
Speaker 2:That's awesome and I think it's like the fact that you have this, you know, affiliate network and this model specifically allows for each of the different countries to show up in the way that feels most meaningful to that unique market and those local you know, the, the local queer youth that are there. And I think that makes so much sense because it's like not every, not every program makes sense in every country. It's bespoke to each one's journey and challenges and opportunities that it has available. So that makes a lot of sense and I, you know you, obviously, with the affiliate program, you have other programs, like, like you mentioned before, the youth voices and the Changemakers, that don't just center youth but it like gives them power, it empowers them to like take control of themselves and their community. Why was this important? For you? To create pathways where queer youth aren't just heard but are actually like leading like leading.
Speaker 3:So when I first stepped into my role, I I had a conversation with my father, who is a retired clinical psychologist with a focus on early childhood development, but now is serving as, like, a counselor, a school counselor in several local school districts in Ohio, a school counselor in several local school districts in Ohio, in Columbus and I asked him I you know, dad, what, what is this thing about suicide? Why is suicide such an issue for young queer people, for young people in general it's not just queer people and you know he he boiled it down to control and you know he he boiled it down to control. And you know there are, there are a lot of things that happen to us physiologically during adolescence. You know we're we're developing our value system, we're we're starting to think critically about the world, we're trying to fit in right. We're trying, we're developing, you know, in our sexuality is, and there's just a lot of things that are happening that intensify everything. And you know my father, who I have a tremendous amount of respect for, you know, said that it was, if you can offer young people a sense of control over their lives, you know it could have a meaningful effect later on. And that never stuck with me and you know when the opportunity to bring it Gets Better change makers to life, which is a grant making slash mentorship opportunity for for young queer people who want to make a difference in their local communities.
Speaker 3:I see this as an opportunity to put resources into the hands of young people who know what's best for their community right, you know and to give them some control over creating the world in which they want to live, and so I think this is really important to me. Like our grant making program, it's a kid will get up to $10,000 to do what they feel is going to create a more inclusive community, and we have so many cool projects that come to the table. We have young people wanting to do community gardens or community art projects or teacher training modules. We had a group in Florida that created a video series to support sensitivity training and you know, I think all of these projects are so amazing in and of themselves. But what I love so much about a program like it Gets Better Changemakers is that it's the process to get from project concept to completion, not only from the receiving of the funds but also through the entire process of having to engage the community, having to overcome obstacles, having to pull people together to make this project a reality, I think is just as beautiful as the project outcomes. So, long story short, changemakers is like.
Speaker 3:This is how we are helping young people take control of their world, and with Youth Voices, which is our ambassador program, you know, we and to your earlier point, these young people are just so advanced or like beyond me, like when I was 16, I was like hiding, I'm like I don't want anyone to see me. I was just trying to get through my day. I wasn like hiding, I'm like I don't want anyone to see me. I was just trying to get through my day. I wasn't out.
Speaker 3:And so these young people, they're ready to do it. They want to give back to their community because they want to take the confidence that they have and they want to translate that into supporting their peers who might not have that confidence. And so these youth voices, they come into the organization. We're changing the program a little bit, but the way that the cohort has worked they run on the academic year. It's very competitive. They apply for the position, they get it and approximately 10 students a year get this opportunity and we provide them with media training, and after that we give them opportunities to connect with the press, to engage with our audience and to plug into brand partnerships. We have a lot of great brands that we work with, that love to engage with our youth voices, particularly around pride, so we give them opportunities to engage with the world with these new media skills, and so to me, this is just all about showing young people the various ways that they can connect with the community and gain some control over their lives.
Speaker 2:If I would have had a program like that, I can only imagine like where I would be now. I think like giving these young people the ability to conceive a concept, bring that concept to life and then, just like, have an impact on their community. It does so many things for them in their development. It, you know, allows them to learn how to organize and learn how to build that community and in the process, I'm sure, being able to see you know a different side of their identity, I think like that's so powerful and I love that you all have that program. That's really amazing and I'm curious like so you talk about how you know it gets better. Storytelling is such a big part of the organization it's built. This organization is built on storytelling. Is there a story, maybe one you've heard recently, that really hit home and reminded you why this work matters?
Speaker 3:Yes, definitely. So I was on. I was doom scrolling on TikTok, as like one does.
Speaker 2:As one does.
Speaker 3:And I came across this video and I think it came out of Norway. It was like a safe cities campaign out of out of Norway and it was following a variety of different LGBTQ plus people as they were kind of navigating their daily life. It was a very short commercial. I guess you could call it a commercial or a story or whatever. But, for example, like one of the the vignettes was there were two queer women holding hands, waiting for a taxi or a ride share, and as soon as the car was in sight, they stopped holding hands with obvious concern about how the driver was going to perceive them or potentially judge them or what have you. And these two, these two queer women, get into the car and then they see a rainbow flag and then they start holding hands again and so but there were a variety of different other experiences of queer people navigating the world, clearly from a place of isolation and feeling concerned about bringing their full self to the world because of whatever fear of violence or what have you, but the flag was a comforting moment.
Speaker 3:Seeing the flag in in all of these vignettes was a comforting moment for them and what that reminded me of as someone who admittedly, look, I've been in this space to like a decade plus, right, you know, pride to me.
Speaker 3:You know, every year I'm like, oh my gosh, this is just going to be a lot of work. And you know, I kind of enter the season, admittedly a little, you know, bitter and kind of tired, right, but but when pride gets here and you get to these festivals and you get the opportunity to march and you see the people that are impacted by this, that don't get to see the pride flag every day, every day, that don't get to see or participate in this kind of community, it changes your attitude real quick. And seeing that video just reminded me of how important the flag is, or a flag that is representative of a community. It makes you feel safe, it makes you feel welcomed, and we can't forget that. And it just kind of reminded me of why I'm here. Right, you know, these are the moments that we're fighting for, you know, and hopefully there will come a time where we don't need these flags to feel safe and to feel welcome, but it's still super important right now. So that's that's what I just saw, like literally like two days ago.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I think honestly I can. We can literally have a conversation just about like the flag being in, like places of business, in ride shares, like that. I think it's so important. I think for me I even today, still I am me and my husband like, if we're in an area that we're not sure we're safe in, to be out and proud like that's always still a concern, like safety is always a concern, even in the most like progressive and accepting areas.
Speaker 2:You never know who's around or who's it and and their feelings towards you know queer, queer love and queer identity. And I think, like for me, seeing an establishment, seeing a right here, seeing even a person wearing some rainbow, I think is so reassuring and it allows me to be put at ease, to know like I'm in a place that's safe, I can exist and my identity is not going to be a factor in how I'm treated in this space. You know what I mean. I think like that's so important and I think for me, like I I love that when I go to a place, if rainbow flags are strewn around and they're just everywhere and it's just like it, it feels like a queer paradise of sorts. You know what.
Speaker 1:I mean.
Speaker 2:Like I'm home. You know what I mean. This is the safe space where I can just like be and like enjoy myself and not have to worry about like that as a concern you know what I mean.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you could relax, right, you know, and it's, it's. I don't think people recognize that because I, I, this is something that is cross generational as far as I'm concerned. You know, I, I'm concerned, you know, I, I'm an Xer, right, and I still have those same fears when I'm in unfamiliar places, right, and just, I don't. And it might be just like a little sigh of relief that that you know, that that I feel when I walk into a space when there's just even a tiny, tiny little, just a little one, right, it's, you know, just you know. So you know, this is, this, is, it's such a simple thing, right, but it generates so much controversy. It's generated so much controversy, I'm tired of it.
Speaker 2:It's just a few colors, folks, like it's not that big of a deal. You know what I mean Exactly, a little bit goes a long way. It really does it really. It really truly does. And you know speaking of just like being safe and and you know dealing with, like the, the effects of, like anti-lgbtq sentiment, like lgbtq youth are navigating a variety of things, as you know very well. They're navigating stress, stigma, isolation in this current climate, political regression. How does it gets better? As you know very well, they're navigating stress, stigma, isolation in this current climate, political regression. How does it Gets Better? Respond to this moment, not just symbolically, but like tangibly for queer youth.
Speaker 3:Well, one of the programs I'm most excited about well, I'm excited about all of them, but I'm excited about this one because it Gets Better recently became a steward of this program, which was built in partnership with Centrelink and Hope Lab, and it is a web based app called IME Guide. It's like IME, like I-M-I is how it's spelled, but it's it's like I-M-E, like I-M-E. I am me, I am me. Imiguide is where it can be found online. It's a web-based app that will help young queer people navigate stigma, stress, gender and queerness in general. It's self-guided. It is a peer-reviewed masterpiece as far as I'm concerned.
Speaker 3:Right Like just to be connected to something that is driven by science not only driven by science, but also created in partnership with the young people that it is designed to help. And so, you know, I see lots of expansion modules on the horizon for this particular resource. Lots of expansion modules on the horizon for this particular resource, which has now been utilized by over 170,000 people, and the studies that have been done about its impact have clearly demonstrated its value in helping young people navigate very complex situations. So I'm I think that's I'm very excited about that. I'm excited that you know it gets better is the steward of this resource and I am looking very much forward to seeing how we can expand it in the future.
Speaker 2:It's so smart Again it's. It's. It gets better meeting the youth where they're at. They're on their phones all the time. There's an app for that. Like it just makes sense. You know what I mean.
Speaker 3:I think this is where you know we are in the middle of a mental health crisis, right, and one can even argue that we've been in it for a while.
Speaker 3:Even pre-pandemic Mental health has always kind of taken a backseat right, and now it's front and center, and because it's there, we can maybe start to come up with ways that we can address it. And you know, not everyone has access to therapy, not has access to the physical health that they might need around their mental health. But there are so many opportunities right now to engage with people where they are and this isn't to say this is a replacement for traditional therapy, but not everyone, if they are experiencing challenges, needs to automatically go out and find a therapist right, and I know this is very controversial right now. But with AI, I think that there are a lot of opportunities to address some of the issues that are contributing to this mental health crisis in ways that we haven't experienced yet, and I'm all for it. I think that there could be some really cool stuff to do with AI and helping young people figure things out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely Side note really quickly. I actually work in AI marketing, so I firmly agree with you, I think that is totally.
Speaker 2:And I honestly think you're right, though I think the capabilities of what AI can do to support queer, you know, queer youth, I think, is so expansive, and I just think it's a matter of, like, the right individuals, the right organizations, finding ways to harness it in a way that you know, makes it accessible to them. I would love to kind of shift the conversation, though, just to talk about Pride Month. As we're entering it right now, it's Pride 2025. It's a very unique year where we're at, you know, it's pride is obviously a moment of celebration. It's a moment of survival. How, how do you approach this month, especially, you know, given the messaging, being really focused on like queer joy, but also managing that with, like the reality that, like we're in a time of great turmoil and discomfort and, like I mentioned before, like political regression? Like, how do you balance those two things going into Pride Month?
Speaker 3:Well, obviously, current events has a tremendous influence on Pride, on pride, but what I try to do I mean to me it's it's an opportunity to focus, because it is very easy to get swept up in current events. What's happening, you know, with X, y, z, presidential administrations I mean, like we were born during the Obama administration, arguably a pretty progressive, you know administration and so but what that means to me is that there are issues that young queer people are experiencing, regardless of who is in office, regardless of what is happening in the news, regardless of whatever is happening, when it comes to the deeply personal experience of coming to terms with your sexual orientation or gender identity. These things transcend current events because these are the, these are the things that people experience at all ages. And so, when it comes to pride, I recognize like, superficially, there's going to be some challenges. Obviously, you know there are cultural influences right now when it comes to, like, corporate and brand support, and so I would be very interested to see how pride is materializes this year when a lot of these organizers are having funding pulled and you know it gets better. It's not exempt from that, like we've had funding drop or, you know, removed altogether, not because of a revocation of federal funding, but just because, like, culturally, all of a sudden, it's been okay for brands to be like we're. We're not, we're just going to sit over here on the sidelines for a minute. So I am very interesting to see how that plays out.
Speaker 3:But I also know that our community is not going. We're going to be irritated, we're going to be frustrated. We're going, but we're going to figure it out and I am looking forward to it. Honestly, like, even if it's stripped down, like I don't need big festivals, I don't need big parades, I would be happy saying, hey, show up at this spot and let's walk a mile together. Like I'm fine with that, and maybe that's what we need to do.
Speaker 3:Maybe we need to reconnect with some of the values of the founders of our fight for equality, right, and you know the founders of our fight for equality, right, and you know I we're going to have a blast anyways. Like we don't need a bunch of money to do it. It's going to be difficult, but I'm kind of here for it. I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of, like, chaos art. I'm looking forward to seeing, like, what kind of innovations our community is going to come up with to keep us on this path of progress. So I mean, that's me today, right, that's me right now. You know I don't want to be like we got this. It's going to be difficult but, like you know, I think it's a good thing. It forces us to step out of our comfort zone and to find new ways to bring our community what it needs. So that's where I am.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I really agree with that, and I think it's like whether these corporate sponsors are with us and there are ones who have like dug in their heels about their support for the community, which I'm like hey, costco, love you, you know what I mean and then like that, like are. I think a good example of this would be Target and their pullback on DEI, and then now they have a pride line and like girl please, but anywho, I think it's like the reality. We don't need them to exist. We've been here, we will be here tomorrow and it's not a matter of their tepid support. It's good PR now or not good PR later, like it doesn't matter. It's like we will exist.
Speaker 2:We are the creative community. We are going to find ways to show up and support our community and take up space and just exist proudly. Although Pride has become much more corporatized over the past decade or so, you know we don't need that. We just need ourselves and we just need to join in community to show our solidarity, and I think like that's that's really the purpose of Pride. It's about being there, being proud and being visible so that other people can acknowledge that we are humans just like them and we, we deserve to exist as peacefully as they do. You know what I mean Exactly. I would love to kind of talk about, like imagining queer futures and if you have, we're going to give you a magical one right now and we're going to say, hey, if you could grant queer youth like one thing whether it's a resource or a tool or a truth to help them, what would it?
Speaker 3:be Confidence. Ooh, yes, you know it's one thing to be different, you know, and and to fight the, the, the challenges of being different, the fear of not being accepted, whatever. But just a little bit of confidence and owning your differences, I think could go a long way. I wish I had it and I stifled myself for way too long. And, yeah, confidence.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm with that. Yeah, I think that that's perfect and it's succinct, and I think it's like to be able to be confident in yourself, and I think that's something I continue to develop every single day. I feel very confident in my identity, I feel very confident in who I love and, you know, being able to support our community. But I think, like it's a building process every day, to show up for yourself and to be unapologetic. That really could change people's lives, like incredibly, in a way that like really allows them to feel empowered and exist in a way that is just so, you know, at allowing them to be themselves and just exist. And for those that are listening, like whether they're queer, whether they're questioning if they're an ally, like what is one thing that they can do to make it better for LGBTQ today? Uh, vote.
Speaker 3:I mean learn how your, learn how your country's government works, and then go vote.
Speaker 2:Thousand percent, yeah, I think that's, that's huge. I think a lot of people don't realize the impact of voting. I think there's the people that do, and I think there's the people that are. They don't see the utility, they think one vote's not going to change anything. But I think, like which is? It's? It's wild to me, but it's like. The reality is like if your vote didn't matter, they wouldn't be doing all of this work to take away your ability to vote right.
Speaker 3:I mean, like it is like the cornerstone of democracy, right Like and I'm, I certainly have a lot more people go out to vote, like. I'm tired of that. I am very tired of that excuse and it's very easy to be disillusioned with the whole process Because, to your point, what am I? One person, one vote, but one vote could be the difference, and you know it's happened before. That's what recounts are for, right like it's important one vote everything.
Speaker 2:It could change who has power, what policy that they enact and like what happens to your future. So it's like for those that are listening, make sure you register to vote and make sure you vote both those things together, folks, okay, and see that they enact and like what happens to your future. So it's like for those that are listening, make sure you register to vote and make sure you vote Both those things together, folks, okay. I would love to shift now to our final frontier, which is our closing signature segment, where we ask every guest the same five questions. To wrap up with some fast takes, some real talk and a peek at what makes you you answer as quickly or thoughtfully as you'd like. Uh, there are no wrong answers, so let us get into it, okay. The first question I have for you is what is your go-to queer anthem that never fails to get you pumped?
Speaker 3:I have a new one. I have a new one. Okay, it's Miley Cyrus's new one.
Speaker 2:Oh, the new one that just came out, like literally today and like literally came out like her album. What is it?
Speaker 3:Like let's pretend the world End of the world End of the world. Yes, I love her and you know she has supported it Gets Better in the past and I she has supported it Gets Better in the past and I just appreciate her.
Speaker 2:And I was just jamming out to it when I was taking a shower today.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, that's my anthem. That's my anthem for now, for right now.
Speaker 2:Yes no, exactly, you gotta. You gotta have an anthem for different seasons and for different reasons, right, so I'm with that, okay, the next question I have for you is if your LGBTQ identity came with a warning label, what, what would it say?
Speaker 3:Gay, white, angry cliche. I love that Does that paint a picture. I think it does, I'm so basic in so many ways and I like, seriously, like I. It's hard, you know, I don't like being, I don't like to reinforce stereotypes, but like there are a reason why stereotypes exist and it's people like me reinforcing them.
Speaker 2:you know, yeah, yeah, and. And being self-aware is also a great trait too, so we love that, right. The next question I have for you is if you had a queer superpower, what would it be? So it can't be like a regular superpower, it needs to be something a little queer.
Speaker 3:Something that's queer. Okay, I wish I had better design sense. Right yeah, fashion, home, home decor. I don't. I don't have that gene and I I wish I did. Yeah, that's fair, I'm like jeans and t-shirt till they fall apart and like random tchotchkes. Don't connect. That's, that's my vibe, right so very relatable content.
Speaker 2:I am so lucky to have a husband who is the designer of the family, so I am want that superpower as well.
Speaker 3:But like, this whole thing that you got going is like beyond, like this is all him.
Speaker 2:He did this. I'm so proud of him. I'm so lucky to have him as my partner and husband and executive producer because, like he up leveled the production, he's just like doing all the things, because he is an audio visual expert, so so lucky to to have that, because otherwise this would be like a blank wall and like a white t-shirt, which is not bad, but he definitely up leveled the production, so got to shout out to Albert.
Speaker 3:This is my flair. Well, yeah, shout out to Albert, but this is my flair. Like a pride flag with like fold creases in it, right, so like that's my jam.
Speaker 2:Hey, I'm with it, right. So, like that's my jam, I hey, I'm with it. I thought that's that's very neat, so I I appreciate that. The next question I have for you is what is your favorite piece of queer content right now? So that could be a film, a show, a podcast, a book. Don't say the queers podcast, because we already know it's your favorite, but anything all right. It's not new, though what?
Speaker 3:what? It doesn't have to be new. It doesn't have to be new. Okay, it just. It came up this weekend and it's just like. It's like a go-to, it's like it takes me to a happy place.
Speaker 2:It's grease too oh, I love grease too. Oh, my god thank you yes, michelle pfeiffer, iconic in that movie, oh my god, and lorna loft like I think it is the most underrated.
Speaker 3:I mean, it's campy as all get out. Oh, absolutely so campy. We were at like a video bar and it was like a musical sing-along night and so all the videos were just like snippets of Broadway shows and what have you, and you could put in requests. And we put in a request for, like Grease 2, a cool Rider.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, I was just. I was literally just going to say that I'm like who hasn't learned that dance, that doesn't love that movie? Like come on now.
Speaker 3:Michelle Pfeiffer was like flawless in that movie. I just remember her like red, like shiny lips, like it was just in the full black outfit, like just amazing, and but have it, they didn't have grease too. I'm like how can you not have grease too? Right, like I mean, and they're like we don't have the video and it's like what needs to be a dvd. So what did my husband do? He went out and he bought the dvd and he sent it to the bar. So we're gonna get. We're gonna get grease too. Cool writer, next time we're in, we're at that bar.
Speaker 2:I love that. That's fantastic. Yeah, I would have been like what do you hate, michelle Pfeiffer? How dare you?
Speaker 3:This feels illegal. Literally.
Speaker 2:The next question I have for you is if you could give your younger queer self a piece of advice, what would it be?
Speaker 3:Okay, I always. This is not the first time I've been asked this and I always go to the same thing Go to the gym, don't neglect your body, don't drink or do drugs excessively, and join drama club. Join drama club, yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh, love drama club? Absolutely no. I am a huge proponent or improv club, because that's the tea as well.
Speaker 3:Anything theater related and you you know, people who aren't in theater don't get it, but I studied theater all through undergrad. I never pursued it as a career, but the, the soft skills that I developed through my training anybody could benefit from. Like everybody should be taking drama classes. As far as I'm concerned, acting classes, musical theater, whatever like all of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like it's you're, you're learning about the human experience and also you being able to tap into your emotions in a way that you're in a controlled environment, and then, on top of that, you're having fun. And then, finally, I would love to ask the final question, which is can you tell us where people can stay up to date on the work of it Gets Better, and how can they support?
Speaker 3:Well, the easiest place to go is itgetsbetterorg. That's our website, but if you're on social, we're on literally every major social media channel and our handle is itgetsbetter. So whether you're on Instagram or Tik TOK, that's how you can find us. It gets better, amazing.
Speaker 2:I love that. That's fantastic. And donate folks donate, donate, donate because we need more money so we can reach more queer youth and empower them Right.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, and actually national give out day is coming up. Ooh, you're right. So like that's a great time to make a donation, and if you want to make a donation during that time, for it Gets Better, it will be doubled because we have a very generous match partner that will match every single dollar up to 5000. So help us get to 10,000. Yeah donate.
Speaker 2:Ryan, I want to say thank you so much for this conversation. I want to thank you for the work you do and for reminding us that it gets better isn't just a slogan, it's a responsibility. Under your leadership, the organization has become more than a message. It's a platform, it's a resource and it's a lifeline, whether it's in classrooms, it's online or through global partnerships. It gets better. Keep showing up, meeting queer youth with visibility, support, support and affirmation they deserve, not just in theory but in practice and in a world that keeps testing us, that presence means absolutely everything. So thank you so much, and for this episode's cosmic key takeaway I wanna share that hope is a verb.
Speaker 2:It's not a slogan or a wish. It's a commitment and, as Brian reminded us today, it takes courage, intention and consistency. So let's not wait for it to get better. Let's be the reason that it does. Every voice matters, every action counts, and the universe that we want begins with what we do next together. Thank you again so much, brian. It's been a pleasure. Please go out and support it Gets Better, and have a good night y'all.
Speaker 1:And that's a wrap for this episode of the Queerest Podcast. Thank you for joining us on this cosmic journey through the queer universe. If today's conversation resonated with you, be sure to like, subscribe and share it with your chosen family. Your voice helps grow the Queerist community. Until next time, stay curious.