The MLB Giants "will become the first professional sports team to jump into the burgeoning anti-homophobia campaign with an upbeat 'It Gets Better' video designed to bring hope to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender young people," according to a front-page piece by Rachel Gordon of the S.F. CHRONICLE. While "celebrities, politicians and everyday people have posted more than 10,000 'It Gets Better' videos to YouTube to build awareness of the continuing problem of gay suicide and anti-gay bullying, no teams in the pro sports world have stepped forward to produce a video." Giants fan Sean Chapin "began an online petition drive on the San Francisco website Change.org to get his hometown team on board the 'It Gets Better' project and persuaded more than 6,000 people to sign on." Giants Senior VP/Communications Staci Slaughter said that the team "had been thinking of joining the campaign before Chapin started his petition drive, but that his efforts speeded things up." She added that the "exact content of the video and which, if any, players or members of the coaching staff will participate have not been determined." The plan originally "was to produce the video for the Giants LGBT Night home game in August." But Slaughter said, "Now we're trying to get it done sooner than later." Recently, Suns Fs Grant Hill and Jared Dudley filmed a PSA for the "Think Before You Speak" campaign, "telling viewers that anti-gay remarks aren't cool." And on Sunday, Suns President & CEO Rick Welts "came out publicly as a gay man" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 5/17).
