Gay rights activists applauded the San Francisco Giants when they became the first major league sports team to record a video in support of LGBT youth for the ‘It Gets Better Project.’ Many hoped the video would spur other MLB teams into action; and now, those hopes have come to fruition.
The Seattle Mariners announced Thursday that team members will participate in a video for the YouTube-based anti-bullying and suicide-prevention campaign. Rebecca Hale, spokesperson for the Mariners, said that the idea has been on the team’s radar since the release of the Giants’ video last month.
Inspired by Sean Chapin, the San Francisco man who launched the highly successful Change.org petition partially responsible for the Giants’ decision to join the ‘It Gets Better Project,’ recently returned Iraq veteran and openly gay man Eric Williams started his own petition urging the Mariners to join the LGBT youth support campaign. By Thursday, the petition had 3,000 signatures – and while Hale notes that it did not prompt the Seattle team’s decision to record a video for ‘It Gets Better,’ 22-year-old Williams is focused on the project’s potential to help young people struggling as he once did to cope with their sexual identity.
“I had nobody, there were no gay people in my area,” Williams, who grew up in Excelsior Springs, Montana, told USA Today. “Seeing this project that puts big names and regular faces out there and tells kids that id does get better is such an awesome thing.”
While there is not yet an official release date for the Seattle Mariners’ ‘It Gets Better Project’ video, Hale confirmed that filming is already in the planning stages.
It sounds more like the baseball teams are being coerced into participating… so they won’t lose gay sponsors…