Stop Bullying of Gay StudentsMany kids deal with bullies. We have seen the consequences of chronic bullying in events like Columbine. Some say bullies are part of youth. But, it should not include being humiliated and degraded because of who others fear you are. After reading about the Rutger's student who jumped off of a bridge after being horribly outed via a secret video recording placed online by his roommate and another woman, I'm bothered.
In the past year, there have been several suicides by kids who were bullied, humiliated and emotionally or physically tortured by other kids and youth about their assumed sexual orientation. Too much focus is on the person who appears gay. There is much less talk about lesbian or tomboy girls even though they are picked on as well. And there is not enough focus on the presumably straight offenders, some of whom are likely very much closet homosexuals terrified to admit it because society has created an unsafe environment. It's often those who fear being gay that are so violently anti-gay. Or Christians forgetting love thy neighbor for hate thy other Christian if he/she loves the same gender.
Is Bullying a Student for Appearing Gay a Hate Crime?I think certain bullying should fall under hate speech. I have heard little about the two college students who secretly invaded his privacy. Are they being charged with a crime? Are they being held liable at all for Tyler Clementi's death? Ravi, the roommate, posted about Clementi's actions on Twitter. He went into his friend's dorm room, remotely activated his web cam, and recorded another person's intimacy. Was he turned on by it himself? What motivates a man to tape another man being intimate with a man? Perhaps his own internal homophobia and hatred of himself.
I think that anyone who secretly records another person having sex should be jailed. It is perverse.
It is a violation of privacy. There is a huge difference between a couple filming themselves vs someone recording you in your home during your most private moments. Add placing the recording on YouTube and it's sick.
People will dislike gay, lesbian, and bisexual people. It is stupid to think that everyone will get along all the time, a lesson learned from history--someone must be hated at all times. Yet, I wonder if they believe that children should be taunted until they kill themselves? This is what a 13-year-old did after continued bullying. He hanged himself from a tree in his back yard this year.
Stand Up to Stop BulliesThe idea behind everything that I'm saying here is that we need to find ways to allow our children to grow up, even if to the dismay of some they end up gay. Gay children do not equal a failed parent. With all the ways kids and adults can bully others now through cyber bullying, etc., we need to stand vigilant that our children arrive safely into adulthood. It is not only the kids who are gay that are teased and bullied. Boys often call another the derogatory gay "f" word just because and to put down boys in any way they like. The point is it's not just gay kids who are bullied for it.
Straight kids are severely bullied with the use of derogatory words. Remember this if you think your kid is safe from being bullied.