22 Oct 2010

Barack Obama video supports gay teenagers

US President Barack Obama has released a video to draw attention to the pressures facing gay teenagers, lending his weight to a campaign that has attracted more than 2,000 video contributions and 10m views on YouTube.

The campaign, prompted by a spate of gay American teenagers killing themselves in recent weeks, received the backing of the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, on Tuesday, when she posted her own two-minute video.

In his video posting, the president draws parallels with his own upbringing. "I don't know what it's like to be picked on for being gay. But I do know what it's like to grow up feeling that sometimes you don't belong," he says. "It's tough.

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