[ Music ]
>> Sometimes I think it's harder if you think
about how you're different, and you can think
that maybe being different is bad.
Being different is great.
And you should really rejoice in those differences.
And you should realize that whoever you are,
whatever you bring, it's important
and that you are necessary.
>> At first I didn't really have a name for it.
I didn't know why and what was going on.
>> I was, I think, like many of us, very confused
because the messages that we get from around us are that,
you know, we're supposed to be heterosexual.
>> My friends began to go through their experiences
and mostly be attracted to girls and I was not.
>> I couldn't really define myself as LGBT, T in particular,
until I was in my twenties.
>> It wasn't like I think I'm gay.
It's no. I know it.
>> But I just knew that, that was probably different
and something I'd better keep to myself.
>> I didn't know what the reactions would be.
I didn't want anybody to not like me.
So I just kept silent about my inner feelings
and just kept the door shut.
>> I didn't know anybody else in my position
and I didn't know who to talk to.
>> And I even heard rumors about other kids in high school,
and I was terrified to even mention anything to them
for fear that maybe those rumors were not true
and that they would start to spread things about me.
>> A classmate of mine, when I was a freshman in high school,
was rumored to be dating a senior girl
and that her car was vandalized.
And I found it was intensely upsetting.
And I remember going to talk to the counselor about my feelings,
being very upset about that, and she looked me in the eye
and told me that, that was what she got for being different,
which helped me to understand that my questions--
that feelings needed to stay very deep inside of me.
>> I recall actually a particular group of kids
in seventh grade who took it upon themselves
to just torment me on the bus.
It got bad enough that I started lying to my parents saying
that I'd missed the bus and I would just watch it drive away
and then get a ride home.
>> He got bullied.
He didn't fit in.
Eventually he dropped out of high school and left home.
>> It was really hard to feel that I was the only person
in the world that didn't make sense.
>> All of my relationships at that time
in my life were all based on as lies that I wasn't gay.
>> You start to become -- well, I did --
kind of became two people, an external Susan who tried
to be what everybody wanted her to be
and then a very internal Susan who was very private
and kept a lot of emotions and feelings to myself.
>> I finally said I can't do this anymore.
Let me just go to a meeting, see what it's like.
>> I made a decision that I wasn't going to hide
who I was because, you know,
college was already a more progressive place to be,
and it was important to me that I actually lived for the rest
of my life like I should.
I started coming out to friends in the local area basically just
by showing up as my new self in girls clothes
and everyone was very accepting and a little bit confused,
and that got me the courage to tell my parents.
>> And in that moment though I also realized
that if she was going to have the courage to be who she was
and to be out, that if I was going to be the kind
of mom she deserved, I had to have courage too.
>> I just started crying and told my dad.
And he said oh, of course, we love you.
You know, we were just -- we didn't know.
We just said that kind of thing just
because that's how we were raised.
We don't actually think it's awful.
>> Before my dad passed we got to a good place.
And my mom is still alive and she and I are very close.
And she's very accepting of who I am
and I would say very proud of who I am.
>> And it was liberating.
It was they've known all this time that they still liked me.
I guess they were waiting for me to tell them.
>> And it was like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.
>> And I soon, you know, circled myself around eleven people
that just accepted me for who I was.
>> If you find someone that you're very comfortable with,
you're friends with, sometimes you just have to take that leap
of faith and you've got to talk to them and be real with them.
>> Just take a deep breath and just --
it's very simple to say I am gay.
All you have to say.
>> Every day from that point forward of making the decision
to step out into the unknown and come out
and share what my world is and my truth is
where things started to get better.
And after that every day going forward has been better still.
>> Once I found the LGBT community at my campus
and started going to their events
and seeing what an awesome group of people they were
and how accepting everyone is that's
when it started really getting better.
>> Not everybody is there yet.
That's okay.
People should be, you know, as public as they'd like to be,
as public as they feel comfortable.
>> I think you have to love yourself,
realize that you're good person and realize what you have
to offer to the world.
>> There are people who want to be there for you
and who want you to be yourself.
>> You just have to reach out to them.
Find a counselor or a neighbor, someone who you trust.
>> You need to surround yourself with a lot
of supportive friends and family.
>> I've seen people becoming more and more open-minded,
a big difference, you know, to embrace people
that they don't look or behave exactly like them.
>> Well, I think things are getting better
because more people are realizing
that it's not a big deal at all.
It's fine.
It's the way people are.
>> It almost doesn't matter anymore.
It's just who I am.
It's one part of who I am, not everything about who I am.
And so I get to live comfortably at work, at home,
with my family, even in church being who I am
and that's everything.
>> It's just becoming the new normal where you're just defined
by your character and not by who you love.
>> Being gay doesn't necessarily define you.
It's just one factor of who you are.
Here at NASA I'm able to be an engineer.
I'm able to be gay.
I'm accepted, even loved.
>> These men and women come from all walks of life,
different ethnicities and different orientations.
>> Embrace yourself for who you are.
Be proud of who you are.
Accept yourself.
>> Because there is a place for you in this world.
>> Just hang in there.
It does get better.
It gets great even.
>> It gets better.
>> It does get better.
>> It gets better.
>> It does get better.
It really does.
>> It really does get better.
>> It gets a whole lot better.
>> It absolutely gets better.
>> And it gets so much better.
And you can't even realize how much better it gets
until you've seen it, until you've done it.
>> It will get better.
>> I'm Ellen Ochoa, Director of the NASA Johnson Space Center.
I want you to know that here
at Johnson Space Center teamwork is one of our greatest assets,
and that means we value the skills and talents
of every individual regardless
of differences including sexual orientation or gender identity.
If you're going through difficult times right now,
be patient and give yourself time to overcome the hardships
and I promise that life will get better.
>> [multiple voices] It gets better.
[ Music ]
>> I'm George Takei.
It gets better...
Better than George Takei?
(Laughter)