Friday, October 15, 2010

Guest Blogger, Kacie Graham: Bully Bull

Five teen suicides in three weeks, all from different backgrounds and in different parts of the country with one thing in common: they were bullied for being gay.

I know you all know about this and some of you are probably tired of hearing about it. I am, too. I'm tired of hearing that any of it happened because in my mind it shouldn't have.

Honestly, I don't know what the worst part is; that these kids felt this was their only option or that people are surprised it happened. Maybe it's the numbers, because five suicides in three weeks is stunning. But the fact is that we've known for a while that homosexual youth are up to four times more likely to commit suicide than heterosexual teens.

I've heard some people say that bullying doesn't cause suicide. That everyone gets bullied in school and some people need thicker skin. I was most definitely bullied; I got shoved into lockers for being white, punched by a football player for being a girl and tormented by other girls for being fat. These aren't my words, by the way, it's what they said. I obviously didn't kill myself, so why should these other kids? Because when I went home I had loving family members, a Bible to comfort me and actual friends to hang out with. I didn't have to worry about whether my parents would disown me, whether God even wanted anything to do with me and if I would be molested as an influence to be turned straight. Yea, that happens too.

Recently a large group of gay celebs have teamed up to make "It Gets Better" videos to offer encouragement and moral support to gay teens now. The basic strategy is to admit that it sucks now but when they become adults things will calm down and they will be happy. Will they, though?

The bullies that broke a boy's arm for "committing gay acts" didn't come up with the idea that gays are "bad" on their own. The gang members that sodomized and abused three men in New York were certainly influenced by someone. And the boy that beat another gay youth with a metal pipe didn't face any repercussions at school. When another boy was kicked down a flight of stairs another school system turned their heads. That boy was one of the latest suicides committed this season. This hate didn't just suddenly span from non existence. It was taught to these people by adults. And one day these kids will become adults and show their youth that you ought to kick the odd man out until he lines up properly. Any abuse is cyclical and unfortunately it will keep on turning unless we do something about it.

Schools need to implement a more rounded sex education to include the acknowledgement of homosexuality. Teachers need to be given training on how to deal with youths struggling with their orientation and the bullying that is a result of that. And on a daily basis we need to remember that we're all human, we're all different in some way and if someone were to suddenly decide they hated something about us and acted on that, we would be in their shoes.

God loves us all the way God made us, even if God doesn't always like us or what we do. Why can't we respect that?

3 comments:

  1. When I heard of the most recent homosexual suicide, where the guy filmed his gay roommate with another guy and posted link to it online which caused him to jump off of a bridge, it made my skin crawl. So I definitely respect this post.

    Not that I feel like bringing the religious aspects into this forum (again), but I just want to say that when it comes to homosexuality and the church, if the church is doing any less than loving homosexuals, then we are not doing what we are called to do.

    If you would like to debate the manner in which we show that love, then I would say you are free to do so. However, the manner in which the church responds to homosexuals needs to be grounded in genuine love and respect.

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  2. Prominent gay role models made this video to say things will get better? That is a nice gesture. But nothing more. Perhaps the society i live in is more tolerant towards homosexuality and i still find we have a long way to go, but i have just checked the numbers: Dutch suicide rates in young people (10-19) (source: http://bit.ly/dccWUg) is going down. Perhaps the US school system would like to look at how we deal with 'the gays' in school. There are lessons to be learned. It is unacceptable that people of any age feel they have no choice but this most radical one.

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  3. You are right, I think that it definitely falls on the schoosl to develop better programs of support. School is (largely) the arena where these people are bullied, and it would make sense for it to be the environment that addressed these problems.

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