- Byname of:
- Daniel Keenan Savage
- Born:
- October 7, 1964, Chicago, Illinois, U.S. (age 62)
Dan Savage
-
Who is Dan Savage?
Dan Savage, born on October 7, 1964, is an American writer known for his syndicated sex-advice newspaper column, “Savage Love.” The column, which debuted in 1991, gained popularity for its frank and humorous advice on human sexual behavior, particularly concerning homosexuality. In 2010, Savage created the It Gets Better Project to support LGBTQ youths. Savage has also written best-selling books, such as Skipping Towards Gomorrah: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Pursuit of Happiness in America (2002) and American Savage: Insights, Slights, and Fights on Faith, Sex, Love, and Politics (2013).
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What kind of writing is Dan Savage known for?
Dan Savage is an American writer known for his frank and ribald syndicated sex-advice newspaper column, “Savage Love,” which rose to prominence in the 1990s. While initially tongue-in-cheek, Savage's blunt and humorous advice on a range of topics, especially those concerning homosexuality and human sexual behavior, gained popularity. The column was nationally syndicated and later spun off into a call-in show and a podcast, Savage Lovecast. Savage is also the author of best-selling books, such as Skipping Towards Gomorrah and American Savage.
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What is the 'Savage Love' advice column?
"Savage Love" is a frank sex-advice column by Dan Savage, which rose to prominence in the 1990s. Savage, openly gay, initially lampooned advice columns for heterosexual audiences but shifted to offering substantive, humorous advice on various topics, especially homosexuality and human sexual behavior. His blunt approach gained popularity, leading to national syndication in the late 1990s. The column expanded into a call-in show and the Savage Lovecast podcast in 2006. Besides his column, Savage became editor in chief of The Stranger in 2001 and editorial director in 2007.
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How has Dan Savage contributed to discussions about relationships and sexuality?
Dan Savage is an American writer known for his frank discussions about relationships and sexuality. His "Savage Love" column, which debuted in 1991, gained popularity for its substantive advice on human sexual behavior, particularly homosexuality. Savage's candid approach made him a media figure, leading to appearances on talk shows and MTV's Savage U.
In response to suicides by gay teenagers, Savage co-founded the It Gets Better Project in 2010, offering support to LGBTQ youths. He also wrote best-selling books, such as The Commitment: Love, Sex, Marriage, and My Family (2005), further contributing to conversations about love, sex, and relationships.
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What is the It Gets Better Project and how did Dan Savage help start it?
The It Gets Better Project is an Internet-based effort created in 2010 by Dan Savage to support and inspire lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youths.
Savage and his husband created a YouTube video in response to a series of suicides by gay teenagers. In the video, they shared that life will get better for frustrated or distraught LGBTQ youths as they grow older. This video led to the It Gets Better Project, which collected thousands of similar support messages from users, including videos by Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Lady Gaga, Stephen Colbert, and Ellen DeGeneres.
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How has Dan Savage influenced LGBT rights and public conversations in the United States?
Dan Savage is an American writer known for his sex-advice column, "Savage Love," which began in 1991. His frank discussions about homosexuality and human sexual behavior gained widespread popularity and made him a media figure.
Savage founded the It Gets Better Project in 2010 to support LGBTQ youths, which featured messages from prominent figures like Barack Obama and Lady Gaga. He also protested right-wing politicians' views on homosexuality, such as his "Google bomb" targeting Rick Santorum in 2003.
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Dan Savage (born October 7, 1964, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.) is an American writer who rose to prominence in the 1990s via his frank and ribald syndicated sex-advice newspaper column “Savage Love.” He gained additional fame after writing numerous books and for creating (in 2010) the It Gets Better Project, an Internet-based effort to support and inspire lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youths.
Savage grew up in Chicago and graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He was living in Madison, Wisconsin, when an acquaintance mentioned that he was moving to Seattle to launch a new alternative newspaper, The Stranger. Savage made an offhand comment that every newspaper should have an advice column, and he was hired to write one despite having no experience.
“Savage Love” debuted in 1991 and was initially a tongue-in-cheek work, as the openly gay Savage lampooned the conventions of the staid advice columns that catered to a heterosexual audience. However, over time, he embraced his role as a giver of advice, and—while the columns retained a humorous streak—he started offering substantive advice to all manner of reader questions, particularly those concerning either (or both) homosexuality and the more idiosyncratic practices of human sexual behaviour. His blunt advice proved extremely popular with readers, and “Savage Love” was nationally syndicated by the late 1990s. The column also spun off into a short-lived call-in show and a podcast, Savage Lovecast, which was launched in 2006. In addition to writing his weekly column, Savage became editor in chief of The Stranger in 2001 and editorial director of the paper in 2007.
The success of “Savage Love” turned Savage into a media gadfly, and he became a frequent talk-show guest, contributed to the public radio program This American Life, and had a college-centred sex-advice show on MTV called Savage U (2012). He also gained notoriety for a series of politically themed exploits that he undertook to protest right-wing politicians’ stances on homosexuality. Prominent among those was his effort in 2003 to create a new word, santorum, after former U.S. senator Rick Santorum compared homosexual sex to child rape and bestiality. Savage created a Web site with his explicit definition of santorum, and it became one of the top results of a search for Santorum’s name on Google. That “Google bomb” persisted for years, drawing Santorum’s anger during his failed attempt to become the 2012 Republican presidential nominee.
In 2010, in response to a rash of suicides by gay teenagers, Savage and his husband made a YouTube video to tell frustrated or distraught LGBTQ youths that life will get better as they grow older. The video kicked off the It Gets Better Project, which compiled thousands of similar user-created support messages, including videos by U.S. Pres. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Lady Gaga, Stephen Colbert, and Ellen DeGeneres.
Savage also wrote a number of best-selling nonfictional books, such as Skipping Towards Gomorrah: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Pursuit of Happiness in America (2002), The Commitment: Love, Sex, Marriage, and My Family (2005), and American Savage: Insights, Slights, and Fights on Faith, Sex, Love, and Politics (2013).