Five recent incidents of gay teenagers committing suicide have pushed the issue of homophobia and anti-gay bullying into the forefront. Social Media is responding in a huge way to this cause, via websites, Facebook events and viral videos.

The biggest push in recent weeks has been for The Trevor Project, a support organization and suicide hotline founded in 1998. The Trevor Project is at the forefront, using social media to spread their message far and wide. Most recently, working with columnist Dan Savage, they have begun a campaign entitled “It Gets Better,” soliciting videos from celebrities and non-celebrities giving encouragement to LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning) teens and letting them know that though they can’t see it and don’t feel it right now, life gets better. One of the most recent videos is from Project Runway’s Tim Gunn.

Ellen Degeneres issued a video and a statement last week that instantly went viral on Facebook, being liked over 29,000 times and shared by over 50,000 people. You can view the video and the transcript of it on Ellen’s website. A Facebook campaign has even started to Wear Purple on October 20th in honor of the teens.

The social media aspect of this support is key. Bullied teens feel isolated and cannot see how their circumstances could possibly get better. In many small (and large) towns, resources such as local LGBTQ support groups are not available and school facilitators may not be able or ready to answer questions from the teens. Having access to social media… to teens and people teens look up to across the globe, people who have been through what they are going through, come out on the other side and prospered is priceless in the absence of local support.

Social media alone isn’t going to stop bullying of LGBTQ teens or teens in general, but the tools that social media can provide to spread messages of support far and wide are a good first step.