Over the past few years, countless celebrities, high end business professionals and random people have recorded YouTube messages letting LGBT middle schoolers and high schoolers know that it does get better. More recently, that same basic idea has evolved into a glitzy, well-polished and honest series called “It Got Better”, and the latest entry was just contributed by beloved Star Trek actor George Takei.
For almost eight minutes, George Takei lays out his painful and beautiful story. It starts on a train headed to one of the horrifying camps Japanese citizens were herded to during World War II, and it ends with our hero getting married and officially getting his happily ever after. In between, there were career successes, moments of courage and at times, a sense of isolation that came with being publicly closeted. That’s the thing about the LGBT community. They’re not fighting to be able to rub their personal lives in people’s faces. They’re fighting to be able to walk through life and go through the exact same milestones as everyone else, which is why marriage is so important. It’s a hurdle an overwhelming majority of people cross, and denying people that choice just seems wrong.
Regardless, it seems almost certain that this video will go over very well among the people it was made for. There are lots of people in the world who not only need to know it gets better but also need to see a blow-by-blow path of how it happens. It got better for George Takei. It got better for Tim Gunn, and it’s gotten better for countless others. Here’s to hoping life hasn’t peaked for Star Trek star either. We need a whole lot more loveable weirdness before he goes.
