WATCH: NYPD to LGBT Youth: 'It Gets Better'

NYPD officer Brian Rao in the video

Police were once considered enemies of LGBT people; indeed, the event generally considered to have spurred the modern gay rights movement was a police raid on a gay bar, New York City’s Stonewall Inn.

Now, in an indicator of how times have changed, the New York Police Department has recorded a video for the It Gets Better Project, the series that seeks to help LGBT teens get through tough times by reminding them that life will improve.

“There was a time that I wanted to disappear, it was that painful, so I understand what it feels like,” says Det. Carl Locke, president of the Gay Officers Action League, in the video. “But it does get better.”

Police commissioner Ray Kelly reminds gay youth that they can turn to the police for help if they’re being bullied. “No one should have to suffer for being who they are,” he says.

Watch the video below.