Last week, the San Francisco Giants became the first major league sports team to make a video for the It Gets Better Project, and already, other teams are following suit. 35-year-old Sean Chapin, tired of hearing all the negative press about Kobe Bryant’s anti-gay slur, started a Change.org petition asking the Californian baseball team to send out some positive messages to the LGBT community.
Soon after the Giants’ video was released, 12-year-old Sam Maden started his own Change.org petition asking his favorite baseball team, the Boston Red Sox, to do likewise. Within a few days, his petition had over 10,000 signatures, and the Red Sox agreed to make the video. The Chicago Cubs have also announced plans to make an It Gets Better video, and countless other sports teams have Change.org petitions demanding them to join the movement. It started out primarily with MLB teams, but these petitions are no longer limited just to baseball, nor just to American teams. The Cincinnati Bengals (NFL), Oklahoma City Thunder (NBA), and even Manchester United (UEFA) are among the many teams whose fans are asking them to make It Gets Better videos. People for the American Way applauds the sports teams participating in the It Gets Better Project, as well as the thousands of fans urging their teams to step up to the plate and publicly speak out against anti-gay bullying.