Niners holler: ‘It gets better’

For a bunch of guys that make a living by ramming each other into the ground, it’s refreshing to see the San Francisco 49ers are standing up to anti-gay bullying.

In a new video spot for the It Gets Better Project, members of the Niner squad announce their partnership with the LGBT community in an outreach effort to help prevent depression and suicide in gay youth.

This is not the first effort by professional athletes to support the anti-bullying campaign — Mike Williams of the Seattle Seahawks and members of Seattle’s MLB, MLS and WNBA teams for a video last year — the Niners are the first NFL team to join the movement.

Linebacker Ahmad Brooks, safety Donte Whitner, and defensive tackles Ricky Jean Francois and Isaac Sopoaga sport their jerseys in the one-minute spot that was released today. It reaches out to youths to let them know that — as the slogan goes — “it gets better.”

To top it off, it’s a testament to how much the Niners love their fans: The partnership was first brought to the team after Niner faithful Sean Chapin presented a petition asking the team to show support for the LGBT community. CBSLocal reports that Chapin collected some 16,000 signatures.