MTV, Dan Savage to talk sex at UCF

Internationally renowned sex columnist and author Dan Savage will be at the UCF campus on Nov. 14 for the filming of Savage U, an MTV series that features Savage answering sex-related questions asked by curious college students.

Twelve universities were chosen for the tour, according to MTV spokesman Jake Urbanski, and UCF is the only college in Florida to be featured in the series.

"We look for campuses with a diverse set of opinions and a base of thoughtful, intelligent students. UCF fit those criteria," Urbanski said.

Savage, who is known for his often-controversial views on sexuality, has had a noticeable media presence in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community for nearly two decades. He is most recently known for being the co-founder of the "It Gets Better" campaign, which he and his husband Terry Miller started in response to the rash of suicides among homosexual youth during fall of 2010. The initiative spurred the mass creation and dissemination of "It Gets Better" videos, submitted to YouTube and other websites by celebrities such as Ellen DeGeneres and President Barack Obama.

Savage has also written several books, including It Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating a Life Worth Living and The Kid: (What Happened After My Boyfriend and I Decided to Go Get Pregnant) an Adoption Story in addition to his internationally syndicated sex-advice column known as Savage Love.

Here's a sneak peak Q&A session Savage had with the Central Florida Future:

Central Florida Future: Why did you want to be a part of a show targeting college students in particular?

Dan Savage: Well, my column has been targeting college students for years now, and my podcast has targeted college students, too. The targeting isn't intentional — so maybe I should say that college students have targeted me? A large percentage of the mail at Savage Love, and now the calls at the Savage Lovecast, have always come from college students and college-age young adults. And it makes sense: college is usually when people begin to experiment with their adult identities, to find themselves, and that means experimenting with their sexualities and sexual identities, too. And when you do that — when you're at that stage of life — that's when you tend to have the most, and the most interesting, questions.

What I'm doing now for MTV is taking what I've long been doing in the column and on the podcast — talking to college students about sex — and bringing it to TV.

CFF: Why do you think it's important for this kind of discussion on sex and relationships to be facilitated among college students?

Savage: Because people who are inventing themselves as adult … for some a new adult self is a fresh creation, for others it's a reaffirmation of who they've always been … need information, and they need support, and they need answers. They also need to know that they have a right to make their own choices and their own mistakes and that sex and relationships are complicated and sometimes painful things. But they're worth it, so worth it.

CFF: What kind of questions are you hoping students will ask? Why?

Savage: I'm hoping students will ask questions about whatever interests or troubles them. My column, my podcast, this TV show — where we go is up to the folks who are asking the questions. I don't have an agenda, question-wise, only that the questions be real and honest. And to help people feel comfortable being honest, people can submit their questions anonymously for the Q&As. They don't have to stand up at a mic and ask their question in front of God and everybody.

CFF: What's the most outrageous question you've been asked thus far in the college Q&As?

Savage: Well, at the University of Oregon someone asked if I wanted to sleep with him. That was outrageous — but in a delightfully flattering way. (And, for the record, the answer was "no.")

CFF: How do you hope your "It Gets Better" campaign has affected college students that are a part of the LGBT community?

Savage: The "It Gets Better" Project was designed to offer LGBT youth who are isolated and alone and being bullied the kind of love and support that they lack and that we all deserve. I'm hoping that most LGBT college students already have that love and support in their lives, and that they aren't being bullied, and that they don't really need the IGBP. But for those college-age LGBT students who do need it, I hope it's given them a vision for their own futures that's positive. I hope that the IGBP has illuminated paths for them that inspire them and give them hope. And I'm hoping that LGBT college students who don't need the IGBP — LGBT college students who are loved and supported — are inspired by the IGBP to offer their love and support to others who do need it.