October is National Bullying Prevention Month – and it’s just in time. Nine out of ten GLBT students experience harassment in school. GLBT youth are four times as likely to commit suicide as their heterosexual counterparts. Here are the latest casualties:
- Tyler Climenti – The young Rutgers student’s sexual encounter with his boyfriend was streamed live on the internet by two other students including his roommate via webcam. Ongoing investigations reveal that anti-gay bias played a role.
- Seth Walsh – The 13 year old middle school student from northern California died of complications resulting from hanging himself from a backyard tree. He had been taunted and bullied by school mates because he was gay. No charges are being filed in the case.
- Asher Brown – Another 13 year old Texas student shoots himself because of being taunted and bullied. His parents lobbied the school for a year and a half before his death for help.
- Justin Aaberg – One of a rash of teen suicides in the Anoka-Hennepin School District. The District’s neutral stance on bullying is being challenged by a number of students, parents and community members.
And the bullying is not limited to peers terrorizing peers. A recent story on CNN reports that a state assistant district attorney, Andrew Shrivell, is terrorizing and stalking the University of Michigan student class president, Chris Armstrong, because of his sexual orientation.
The nation is experiencing an epidemic of bullying, and we must act as a community to combat it. There are a number of projects aimed at empowering youth and individuals to make a difference.
- It Gets Better Project – A You Tube video project started by Dan Savage. The project encourages GLBT adults to post personal video about their adult lives after surviving experiences of bullying. Savage’s video has almost 500,000 hits to date.
- The Big March – A movement in the U.K. to organize web avatars to march across the web in November to increase awareness of the issue in Great Britain.
- Kid Power – A California anti-bullying organization offering a myriad of resources for kids, teens, parents and teachers including practical, empowering skills to combat bullying.
- GSA Network – A national network of Gay-Straight Alliances organized in high schools to create community and understanding between gay and straight students.
- The Trevor Project – A national suicide prevention hotline aimed at providing resources to youth and their friends and families.
Chad brown!?!
I remember when you taught molecular madness to me.
Thanks for taking the time post about this, Chad. With all the thought and opinions going around about this very topical issue, I’m sure everyone agrees on the tragedy of it all. Sure, kids can be cruel, and the victims of bullying react differently – but it cannot be ignored – or tolerated.