Introduction / by Dan Savage --
A message from President Barack Obama --
You will find your people / by Laurel Slongwhite --
The life almost lost / by Bruce Ortiz --
In the early morning rain / by Jennifer Finney Boylan --
Something has changed within me / by Gregory Maguire --
Action makes it better / by Urvashi Vaid --
You are a rubber band, my friend / by Brinae Lois Gaudet --
God believes in you / by Bishop Gene Robinson --
The person worth fighting for is you / by Alex R. Orue --
A message from Ellen DeGeneres --
Life unfolds exactly as it should (but not as you planned) / by Sean Blane and David Rosen --
It gets better for a British soldier / by Lance Corporal James Wharton --
Getting stronger and staying alive / by Gabrielle Rivera --
Coming out of the Shtetl : gay Orthodox Jews / by Marc Tannen, Chaim Levin, Ely Winkler, Justin Spiro, Moishie Rabinowitz, and Mordechai Levovitz --
Going back in / by Michael Cunningham --
A message from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton --
This I know for sure / by A.Y. Daring --
It gets better Broadway / by members of the Broadway and New York Theater Community --
Rockin' the flannel shirt / by Krissy Mahan --
How it got better for an ordained Christian minister / by Professor Stephen V. Sprinkle --
Out of darkness / by Philip Deal --
I was a teenage lesbian / by Alison Bechdel --
Something special / by Sia Furler --
The dinner party / by Adam Roberts --
What I wish I knew / by Ivan Coyote --
Freedom from fear / by Michael Feinstein --
A message from Prime Minister David Cameron --
You will meet people who celebrate you / by Jenn and Erika Wagner-Martin --
An identity unfolded / by Mark Ramirez --
A message from Suze Orman --
Brothers : it gets better / by Lenox Magee, Rannon Harris, David Dodd, and Kean Ray --
Drop dead, warlock / by David Sedaris --
Gwendolyn gone / by Meshell Ndegeocello --
Growing up gay ... and Kinky / by Dart --
The biggest gift / by Stewart Taylor --
A message from Senator Al Franken --
Transsexual prairie girl / by Tamsyn Waterhouse --
Art from rage / by Jake Shears --
It gets better (Btkoun Ahsan) / by Bashar Makhay --
Too good to be true / by Cameron Tuttle --
Journey to a better life / by Juan Carlos Galan, MS --
The gay guy in the band / by Kevin Samuel Yee --
Will I grow up to be Paul Lynde? / by Andy Cohen --
Finding who I am / by Hunter Adeline Brady --
Community / by Chaz Bono --
A message from Nancy Pelosi --
Gunn's golden rules / by Tim Gunn --
Perfect, just the way you are / by Darren Hayes --
Where happiness is / by Natalie Sperry Mandelin --
Not-normal / by Michael K. Wells --
Born this way / by Perez Hilton --
Darn it / by Kate Clinton --
Look at the moon / by Agustín Cepeda --
Critical shifts / by Jesse Barnes --
For Aideybear / by Ava Dodge --
A message from John Berry --
The show must go on / by Kyle Dean Massey --
Survival tools / by Ellen Forney --
Dear Uncle Ronnie / by Randy Roberts Potts --
My office wall / by Trevor Corneil, MD --
Keep on livin' / by J.D. Samson --
It gets better because you're a little different / by Dave Holmes --
Unapologetically, me / by Demetrius Gittens --
A collective voice / by Gabe Milligan-Green, Addy Cahill, and Russell Peck --
I didn't always wear a tuxedo / by Murray Hill --
How I got over / by Tuan N'Gai --
A "better" evolution / by Joseph Odysseus Mastro --
Save yourself, save the world / by Khris Brown --
Becoming an authentic person / by Nicholas Wheeler --
On the other side / by Jay A. Foxworthy and Bryan Leffew --
Bully me / Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum--
To the bullies / by Tristan Jackson --
The good fight / by Kristel Yoneda --
A message from Kevin Hague MP --
Haters can't hate someone who loves themselves, and if they do, who cares / by Lynn Breedlove --
Not playing at a cinema near you / by Rebecca Brown --
From "faggot" to field biologist / by Christopher A. Schmitt, PhD --
It got better / by Stephen D. Lorimor --
Our parents as allies / by Lawrence Gullo, Fyodor Pavlov, Eileen Charbonneau, and Ed Gullo --
Lesbian teacher believes in you / by Kristin Rivers --
Stepping off the sidelines / by Wayne Knaub --
My own worst enemy / by Jessica Leshnoff --
You are a beloved child of God / by Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson --
Transgendered and self-educated in Maine / by Jean Vermette --
The power of "You" / by Luan Legacy --
It gets better for small towners, too / by Dwayne Steward --
To me : with love and squalor / by Terry Galloway --
Happiness is inevitable / by Henry Winfiele --
I wish I'd been sassier! / by Brian Gallivan aka Gay Sassy Friend --
Protect and serve loves Semper Fidelis / by J.D. Davis and Allen D. Stone --
The doors of acceptance / by Shaun Ridgway --
Hope out of tragedy / by Matthew Anthony Houck --
Christian LGBT kids : you're part of the plan / by Raven Mardirosian --
Terrible day / by Patrick Murphy --
The worst of both worlds / by Michelle Faid --
Closets on fire / by Anthony Antoine --
The King brothers / by Dick and Mark S. King --
Community found / by Taylor Bailey --
From scared to proud : the journey of a gay medical student / by Jake Kleinman --
Authentic self / by Sara Sperling --
You can live a life that's worth living / by Kate Bornstein --
