Vasquez, Torre, Analco, Moreno 1

Isrrael Vasquez; Rudy Del La Torre; Alberto Analco; Cristina Moreno

John Kubler
English 114B
14 May 2015
Project Media Collaborative Essay
In our society lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people have been oppressed, not
only in the United States but also around the world. They have faced several forms of bullying
and oppression for far too long. For our collaborative project we have all used many ways to
show the abuse going on while people still ignore it. The video we based our argument off of for
unequal rights towards the lesbian, gay bisexual and transgendered people was a video by a rock
band, Rise Against called Make It Stop (September's Children). This song is a part of the It
Gets Better Project which is an Internet nonprofit company founded by gay activist Dan
Savage. This projects goal is to prevent suicide among LGBT youth and improve the lives of the
teenagers they work with. We wanted to bring more awareness on the issue of lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transsexual people and give them hope that one day there really will be the freedom
to live and express themselves without being scared of who they truly are and being comfortable
with coming out because of the challenge of overcoming possible bullying.
The directors role in the project is to collaborate with the editor and choose what will be
on the final draft of the music video. I was in charge of getting everyone up to speed on what is
needed to get done and tell each group member what is it we they have to do but giving them
freedom on the creativity. I also have to work with the graphic designer and website master and
help them understand what exactly are our key points and arguments are for the since I chose the
video for our group project. The reason why I chose Make It Stop by Rise Against is because

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the song makes an impact on the viewer by seeing the scenarios of the group of bullied teenagers
who fall under the oppression of those who think otherwise. The lyrics are very compelling and
give the viewer a sense of empowerment toward the LGBTQ community because no one enjoys
people being hurt. Our twist on the video adds more to the pre-existing video but also includes
words of encouragement for those who feel oppressed in the LGBTQ community.
After following the life of those teenagers they decide to overcome the idea of suicide for
the better and become great people in the future, and words it will get better are being spoken
by those who want to help teenagers who feel like they have no way out. Saying it will get better
is true if one is strong enough to endure the harassment and overcome obstacles like everyone
else. The five teenagers mentioned in the video are people who took their life because the
bullying was too much to bear and for them the only way out was to end it. The It Gets Better
campaign was created after nine teens committed suicide for being bullied and the campaign
helps those who need help with bullying or who are having social withdrawal.
As the editor (Rudy De La Torre), I chose to make our video of actual footage of people
getting bullied, showing how depressed people can become which can even lead to people taking
their own lives. The video consists of clips I found on YouTube relevant to gay, lesbian, bisexual,
transgendered people, depression, freedom, bullying and acceptance. As the sexual minorities
continue to be mistreated, people lose hope suffer from very low self-esteem. People who
identify with sexual minorities are often compared to other people in the community and are
perceived as abnormal.
This project has helped me to understand that there is a severe lack of representation for
and of members of the LGBT community. There are simply not enough people in power that are
openly gay, lesbian or other sexual minorities. Although there are many groups supporting the

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LGBT community, there should be a person with higher power who advocates for equal rights. If
more people with considerable fame or influence brought attention to these conflicts, there would
be more significant results. The more people are less conscious about these problems, the more
that people will feel miserable as they grow up leading to depression or many other
psychological issues. In a part of the video I edited, there are several photos showing recognition
of the LGBT community and show the support that exists around the world. There are pictures of
people marching for gay marriage or just gay rights in general. An image that caught my
attention the most had a picture of someone holding up a sign saying, Gay is the new black
with a black man holding the sign up. I agree with this statement because this project has helped
me to see how gay people are being oppressed and cut out of society just like members of racial
minority groups.
The interactive website was kept basic but with good and important information that
would help the online viewer find navigating on the website site interesting, instead of being
attacked with a ton of information that could be overwhelming and may cause the viewer to lose
interest. The main logo we used for all of the webpages was the Rise Against band logo. We used
that logo because it belongs to the band that we chose our song from and because it helps support
our arguments. The logo is a fist in the air with a heart in the back. The colors of the logo also
help our support argument because they are of various colors almost like a LGBT flag. The
background I used for the first four web pages was that of a student who we assume to be
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, sitting on the floor by his looker looking depressed and
alone. Since the viewer may not be aware of the negative things LGBT may experience we gave
the first background a very blurry effect. As you go to the next few web pages you start to see the
background image get clearer and clearer hopefully signifying that the viewer now knows and is

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made aware of LGBT bullying. On the last page we changed the background to another image
that supports our argument. It was an LGBT sign that had the word bullying with the slash over it
like a stop sign. What the image basically meant was stop the bullying of LGBT individuals.
On the second page, after the introduction, we wanted to show the viewer what it felt like
to be a bullied LGBT person. We found an a good video of a boy who committed suicide after he
told his parents that he was gay and they didnt accept him because of it. He was also bullied at
school and really only had his sister. The boy explains how he feels about not being accepted,
about his parents not caring about him, and how he is sorry for being gay. Although the video is
only a dramatic performance, it definitely gives the viewer a strong idea of what an LGBT
person might be feeling before they decide to take their life. On our statistics we went straight to
the facts. The viewer doesnt have to read a ton of percentages and a ton of data that may not be
completely relevant and may just be forgotten. Instead the viewer gets the important facts such as
the number of LGBTs who report being verbally or physically bullied at school, how much more
likely they are to commit suicide compared to the heterosexual group, and how many have
attempted suicide within the past year. The information is shown visually through charts and
diagrams and is also written out so if someone doesnt like charts or diagram they can read it in
bullet points. The page after that shows real examples of teenagers who decided they couldnt
take the bulling anymore, so they took their own lives. Those five individuals, Tyler Clementi,
Billy Lucas, Cody J Barker, Harrison Chase Brown, Seth Walsh, are just some examples of the
horrible consequences that bulling can have. Those individuals will never get to enjoy a full life
because they were made fun of for being lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender to the point where
it became unbearable. This page tries to argue that the bullying of LGBT teens has to stop
because it is something thats real, something that occurs often and isnt just some rare event.

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The final page shows the lyrics to the song that we chose, Make It Stop by the band Rise
Against. It also explains that based on the information the viewer saw on the website they now
have a good idea of just how serious the issue is and hopefully they also got a sense of what
these individuals feel or felt when being bullied. All this backs up what the videos main message
is which is to realize that people are different and then accept them and make the bullying stop.
As graphic designer, my job was to incorporate visual and textual content in my graphic
newsletter which was presented in class. My group came up with six claims during class which
we believed related closely with the lyrics of our chosen song Make It Stop by Rise Against.
Our first claim was Cant change who one is. To elaborate more on this, what we meant by our
first claim was that, as shown in our newsletter, students who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or
straight cannot change what or who they are. By bulling these individuals they are basically
being told that they are not normal and should change who they are, though for obvious reasons
they cannot. For our second claim we chose to write Religion is a scapegoat for hate. Many
times people use religion as a scapegoat for hate. People who strongly disagree with LGBTQ and
the way they are usually use religion as their reason for disapproving of the LGBTQ community.
They were taught to believe in their religion and if their religion says being gay is a sin then they
will engrave that into their head and actually believe it is a sin to be gay. Also, because of this
they think they can get away with saying hateful things. Empowerment for homosexuals was
our third claim. In the music video it tries to show that it can be hard being LGBTQ or even part
of the LGBTQ community but you have to be strong and not give up because after all it gets
better. Even if you feel that no one is there for you, you need to become your own rock and be
strong for yourself. If anything there are other people out there who know exactly what you are
going through and can help or try to help you with whatever situation you are going through.

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This brings me to our fourth claim Someone needs to step up and fight against oppression. If
the LGBTQ community stands together they can fight the hate, fight the bullies, and fight to be
accepted like everyone else. Stronger together than alone. Feeling alone is actually one of the
worst feelings one may endure. In the article How Do We Stop LGBTQ Youth From Killing
Themselves by writer, educator, and activist Michael Carosone he discusses a time in his life
where he noticed that one of his students needed help after hearing the students poem which
exposed his vulnerability and humanity and expressed his deep, dark desire to end his life
(Carosone 1). Instead of ignoring the issue and just sending the student off to a counselor he
invested his own time, specifically his class time, to personally get the student some help.
Remembrance of those who have passed is the fifth claim that has a greater impact on people.
There are some who just couldnt take it anymore, and its a tragic thing. But their passing should
not go unnoticed. Their passing can be used to stop it from happening again in the future by
spreading the word that bullying has to stop. Why is it that people begin to care and begin to try
and make an effort to save or help others when there has been a death? Why does ones troubles
and issues go unnoticed? In the article Memories of a Gay Childhood by author of eight
award-winning books on creativity, spiritual intelligence and social activism Jan Phillips, Phillips
talks about her own youth. Also, she recalls her own early years as a queer youth: how
despairing [she] was, how wrong [she] felt, how terribly unseen and unheard. Then [she]
remembered [her] suicide notes, how occasionally [she] would write one and leave it around to
be found. No one would pay attention to her when she was suicidal. This is horrible to hear
because if anything, people would have taken noticed after she had committed suicide. Luckily
she did not. Our sixth and final claim was Born this way. Now this is one of the most debated
issues discussed when discussing the LGBTQ community. There are two sides to this issue. On

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one side people state that those who are gay were born that way. The article Is Sexual
Orientation Determined at Birth from ProCon.org, a well-known pros and cons of controversial
issues website, mentions that Opponents argue that homosexuality is a reversible and
unfortunate lifestyle choice resulting from poor child-parent relationships, sexual abuse,
brainwashing by pro-gay influences, or other developmental causes (ProCon.org).
Our society has bullied, oppressed, and discriminated lesbian, bisexual, gay, and
transgender individuals for being who they are. We have argued that LGBT individuals are who
they are and they shouldnt have to be something theyre not so they can fit in. They should have
the freedom to sexually identify as whatever they feel is right without being judged negatively by
other members of society. The video we made with the song Make It Stop by Rise Against
really helped show that the LGBT community is being bullied and oppressed but they are also
strong and they will fight because it does get better (It Gets Better Project).

Works Cited

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Carosone, Michael. "How Do We Stop LGBTQ Youth From Killing Themselves?" The
Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 15 Sept. 2014. Web. 9 May 2015.
"Gay, Bullying, Suicide Video." YouTube. YouTube. Web. 10 May 2015.
Phillips, Jan. "Memories of a Gay Childhood." The Huffington Post.
TheHuffingtonPost.com, 24 July 2014. Web. 9 May 2015.
"Is Sexual Orientation Determined at Birth?" ProCon.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 May 2015.