Dustin Lance Black, Milk Screenwriter, Asks LGBT Community to Tell Their Stories

Tell your story

​By all accounts, the "It Gets Better" video campaign was a raging success. Sex columnist Dan Savage asked LGBT folks and their supporters to make videos encouraging gay teens to hang in there -- that life does gets better. The concept went viral and thousands of people, including President Barack Obama and even the Giants, have created videos on YouTube.

Now, the Courage Campaign and Oscar award-winning Milk screenwriter, Dustin Lance Black, are, um, milking the video rage with a new contest of their own, "Testimony: Take a Stand."

Black recorded his own video, asking LGBT people and their supporters to share their stories in honor of Harvey Milk Day. He and the Courage Campaign will select the best stories told via video -- and Black will then produce a TV segment featuring the winners.

The videos must be submitted by June 15. 

Dustin Lance Black: Testimony Video Contest from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.

The goal is that these stories will influence senators who are considering a repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act as well as Supreme Court justices who will potentially take up the issue of gay marriage. 

"These Justices and U.S. senators don't live in a vacuum," Black says in the video. "They watch the news, read the papers, and pay attention to the daily narrative unfolding across this country. Our stories must be a part of that narrative. That's why Courage Campaign needs you -- on camera." 

According to a statement from the Courage Campaign, the video project kicked off during a Harvey Milk event in Austin, Tex., over the weekend, where the campaign collected 75 videos.

The stories will likely cover a range of topics, including inequality in the workplace, marriage inequality, and parents with LGBT children.

Surely, San Franciscans, the Mecca of gay pride, can sweep this contest. Get your videos up there!

Follow us on Twitter at @SFWeekly and @TheSnitchSF