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[ Music ]

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>> Sometimes I think
it's harder if you think

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about how you're
different, and you can think

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that maybe being
different is bad.

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Being different is great.

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And you should really
rejoice in those differences.

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And you should realize
that whoever you are,

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whatever you bring,
it's important

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and that you are necessary.

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>> At first I didn't
really have a name for it.

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I didn't know why and
what was going on.

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>> I was, I think, like
many of us, very confused

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because the messages that we
get from around us are that,

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you know, we're supposed
to be heterosexual.

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>> My friends began to go
through their experiences

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and mostly be attracted
to girls and I was not.

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>> I couldn't really define
myself as LGBT, T in particular,

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until I was in my twenties.

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>> It wasn't like
I think I'm gay.

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It's no. I know it.

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>> But I just knew that,
that was probably different

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and something I'd
better keep to myself.

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>> I didn't know what
the reactions would be.

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I didn't want anybody
to not like me.

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So I just kept silent
about my inner feelings

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and just kept the door shut.

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>> I didn't know anybody
else in my position

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and I didn't know
who to talk to.

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>> And I even heard rumors
about other kids in high school,

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and I was terrified to even
mention anything to them

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for fear that maybe those
rumors were not true

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and that they would start
to spread things about me.

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>> A classmate of mine, when I
was a freshman in high school,

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was rumored to be
dating a senior girl

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and that her car was vandalized.

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And I found it was
intensely upsetting.

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And I remember going to talk to
the counselor about my feelings,

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being very upset about that,
and she looked me in the eye

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and told me that, that was what
she got for being different,

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which helped me to
understand that my questions--

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that feelings needed to
stay very deep inside of me.

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>> I recall actually a
particular group of kids

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in seventh grade who
took it upon themselves

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to just torment me on the bus.

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It got bad enough that I started
lying to my parents saying

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that I'd missed the bus and I
would just watch it drive away

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and then get a ride home.

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>> He got bullied.

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He didn't fit in.

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Eventually he dropped out of
high school and left home.

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>> It was really hard to feel
that I was the only person

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in the world that
didn't make sense.

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>> All of my relationships
at that time

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in my life were all based on
as lies that I wasn't gay.

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>> You start to become
-- well, I did --

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kind of became two people,
an external Susan who tried

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to be what everybody
wanted her to be

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and then a very internal
Susan who was very private

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and kept a lot of emotions
and feelings to myself.

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>> I finally said I
can't do this anymore.

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Let me just go to a
meeting, see what it's like.

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>> I made a decision that
I wasn't going to hide

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who I was because, you know,

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college was already a more
progressive place to be,

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and it was important to me that
I actually lived for the rest

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of my life like I should.

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I started coming out to friends
in the local area basically just

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by showing up as my new
self in girls clothes

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and everyone was very accepting
and a little bit confused,

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and that got me the
courage to tell my parents.

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>> And in that moment
though I also realized

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that if she was going to have
the courage to be who she was

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and to be out, that if I
was going to be the kind

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of mom she deserved, I
had to have courage too.

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>> I just started
crying and told my dad.

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And he said oh, of
course, we love you.

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You know, we were just
-- we didn't know.

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We just said that
kind of thing just

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because that's how
we were raised.

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We don't actually
think it's awful.

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>> Before my dad passed
we got to a good place.

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And my mom is still alive
and she and I are very close.

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And she's very accepting
of who I am

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and I would say very
proud of who I am.

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>> And it was liberating.

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It was they've known all this
time that they still liked me.

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I guess they were waiting
for me to tell them.

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>> And it was like a weight had
been lifted off my shoulders.

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>> And I soon, you know, circled
myself around eleven people

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that just accepted
me for who I was.

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>> If you find someone that
you're very comfortable with,

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you're friends with, sometimes
you just have to take that leap

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of faith and you've got to talk
to them and be real with them.

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>> Just take a deep
breath and just --

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it's very simple
to say I am gay.

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All you have to say.

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>> Every day from that point
forward of making the decision

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to step out into the
unknown and come out

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and share what my world
is and my truth is

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where things started
to get better.

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And after that every day going
forward has been better still.

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>> Once I found the LGBT
community at my campus

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and started going
to their events

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and seeing what an awesome
group of people they were

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and how accepting
everyone is that's

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when it started really
getting better.

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>> Not everybody is there yet.

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That's okay.

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People should be, you know, as
public as they'd like to be,

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as public as they
feel comfortable.

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>> I think you have
to love yourself,

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realize that you're good person
and realize what you have

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to offer to the world.

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>> There are people who
want to be there for you

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and who want you to be yourself.

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>> You just have to
reach out to them.

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Find a counselor or a
neighbor, someone who you trust.

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>> You need to surround
yourself with a lot

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of supportive friends
and family.

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>> I've seen people becoming
more and more open-minded,

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a big difference, you
know, to embrace people

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that they don't look or
behave exactly like them.

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>> Well, I think things
are getting better

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because more people
are realizing

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that it's not a big deal at all.

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It's fine.

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It's the way people are.

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>> It almost doesn't
matter anymore.

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It's just who I am.

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It's one part of who I am,
not everything about who I am.

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And so I get to live
comfortably at work, at home,

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with my family, even in
church being who I am

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and that's everything.

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>> It's just becoming the new
normal where you're just defined

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by your character and
not by who you love.

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>> Being gay doesn't
necessarily define you.

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It's just one factor
of who you are.

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Here at NASA I'm able
to be an engineer.

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I'm able to be gay.

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I'm accepted, even loved.

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>> These men and women come
from all walks of life,

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different ethnicities and
different orientations.

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>> Embrace yourself
for who you are.

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Be proud of who you are.

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Accept yourself.

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>> Because there is a place
for you in this world.

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>> Just hang in there.

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It does get better.

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It gets great even.

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>> It gets better.

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>> It does get better.

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>> It gets better.

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>> It does get better.

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It really does.

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>> It really does get better.

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>> It gets a whole lot better.

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>> It absolutely gets better.

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>> And it gets so much better.

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And you can't even realize
how much better it gets

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until you've seen it,
until you've done it.

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>> It will get better.

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>> I'm Ellen Ochoa, Director of
the NASA Johnson Space Center.

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I want you to know that here

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at Johnson Space Center teamwork
is one of our greatest assets,

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and that means we value
the skills and talents

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of every individual regardless

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of differences including sexual
orientation or gender identity.

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If you're going through
difficult times right now,

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be patient and give yourself
time to overcome the hardships

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and I promise that
life will get better.

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>> [multiple voices]
It gets better.

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[ Music ]

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>> I'm George Takei.

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It gets better...