- Randy Potts recording his “It Gets Better” video.
Earlier this year we profiled North Texas’ Randy Potts, whose grandfather was anti-gay evangelist Oral Roberts.
Randy Potts is gay, and so was his uncle, Ronnie, who committed suicide in 1982. Now, using a letter to his deceased uncle as a backdrop, Randy has recorded an “It Gets Better” video message to LGBT youth.
Potts lives in Farmers Branch. He moved to the area to be near his three children. He has little contact with the Roberts family although last year he did attend his grandfather’s funeral. In the video, he describes how, in front of 4,000 mourners, his mother told him he’d be going to hell.
NPR’s “The Story” interviewed him for an upcoming episode. He expects it to run later this year on the anniversary of his grandfather’s death.
I’m speechless! Your presence humbles me. I use to watch your grandfather as a child
when i would go over to my grandmother’s house in Indiana. I respect you, I honor you
and your children should be proud of you. I had no idea your uncle committed suicide.
I probably saw him as a child. Your grandfather would show the family on his program.
This video should be seen by everyone. You have moved me beyond belief!! I will always
say a prayer for you and your family. I hope one day to meet you.And i hope your mother
will come to see just how wonderful you are.
Thank you Randy. Yours is a much more positive and powerful message than the one the Oral Roberts gave me in the 50s when he asked me to put my hand on the television screen so he could heal me. What I discovered only later was that I did not need healing because I was not sick or broken. After that, it did get better.