“Almost 85 percent of LGBTQ teenagers are harassed in high school because of their sexual orientation, with 61 percent of gay youth reporting that they felt unsafe in school and 30 percent staying home to avoid bullying” - (2009 Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network survey).
I’ve been reading various responses to the recent four nationally recognized gay teens that completed suicide; Tyler Clementi, 18, Seth Walsh, 13, Billy Lucas, 15, and Asher Brown, 13, realizing that these are only four of many more gay or perceived to be gay bullied teens that find themselves facing a life that is not worth living and hopeless.
I’ve purposely used the word gay to identify these teens and the type of bullying they experienced. Reason is, I’ve noticed some responses to these tragedy’s as people thinking that because the gay teen is identified as gay and the bullying is homophobic and intolerant that those talking about these deaths are some how promoting the “gay agenda” or the using these deaths as a “political statement”.
My first reaction is what type of agenda does one perceive the "gay agenda" to be? Promoting tolerance agenda? A human right agenda? A civil rights agenda? All of which I would answer yes and admittedly say of course my response to these deaths is part of promoting tolerance and human rights.
Here is one example by “smittshow” taken from OUTwest Lubbock Youtube “It Gets Better Project” Channel; smittshow says; “…you shouldn’t have put such a strong emphasis on gay kids being bullied, a lot of kids get bullied for many other reasons.”
And another by Britton Peele columnist from the Texas Tech University, Daily Toreador, "Bullying serious problem, don’t mix politics into issue"; “…I feel as if too many people are taking the fact that these suicides were by members of the gay community and rushing to make a political statement out of it.”
I’ve also read Rachel Simmons Newsweek article, "The Nine Most Common Myths About Bullying" and Jessica Bennett “Are We a Nation of Bullies?" with great respect and gratitude for pointing the conversation in directions that, as a whole, make us contemplate the underlying current to bullying.
Yes, the statistics are outrageous no matter what type/kind of bullying we are discussing. Yes, young and old, straight and gay, people have in some manner experienced and/or witnessed bullying or have been the bully themselves. The issue for me is, when bullying is covered and discussed in the media looking for answers from school leaders tasked with protecting and representing all students, the system breaks down and reveals that "sexual orientation" is excluded in written policies and procedures while all other descriptions such as race, color, religion, gender, national origin, and disability are included.
By not including “sexual orientation” as a descriptive, defining whom this type of discrimination touches, supports the social, political and ideological system that has been in place for generations and adds to the practice of dehumanization of GLBTQ people. Deep seeded anti-gay bias from unknown teens to politicians, from television/movies to the church pulpit, from state bans on adoption, to not serving openly in the military, as well as having to live with the fear of loosing your job if you “come out” at work. It seems obvious to me why I would be discussing “gay” bullying over all other types of bullying at this point and time; because gay bullying is validated, reinforced and in some communities celebrated to dehumanize someone because they identify as GLBTQ or are perceived to be “gay”. The message is clear to the GLBTQ community; “please don’t exist” and if you do exist we don’t want to know about it.
The problem is, or shall I say the problem for an intolerant person is, that GLBTQ people do exist and on some levels the mediums listed above have showcased some support for GLBTQ people by way of character plots and "reality" television, and/or showing in the news the potential "threat" of overturning laws set in the last 10-15 years.
The issue I take with television/movies/advertising is that images of GLBTQ identified person’s still follow the pattern of hetero-normative media representation, leaving out GLBTQ people based on race, class, gender identified, ability, age, etc. Some would say I should just be glad they don’t have us written into the script as murdering, drug dealer, pedophiles, that die at the end of the film at the hand of the “confused” character that suddenly finds, after a heated affair with someone of the same sex, that they are straight again!
Have we come that far? Far enough where one can separate media images of fantasy to that of images of real lived experiences? All those that I ask usually say yes that they can differentiate fact from fiction. But what is the issue? Why is the audience continually bombarded with this imagery if we still classify it as fiction? Does our fictitious fantasy need to be degrading and intolerant?
I choose to talk about “gay” bullying and say it with purpose to remind people that all bullying, while harmful in every way, is not discussed equally. Until school districts consciously include "sexual orientation", gay and/or perceived to be gay youth will not find relief. Until media consciously begins to light a real lived experience of representing gay or perceived to be gay individuals as no longer condemned by outside sources on a continuous basis, I will always make a point to single out the anti-gay, hate filled speech and torment as a most horrendous form of greed and power. For me, it is time to give the power back to survivors of bullying to stand up and fight because talking about bullying alone is not enough.
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