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ANTI-BULLYING EFFORTS
Key Stories
Huffington
Post: Anti-Bullying Reports
NEA Today Article: Bullying!
Does It Get Better?
Common Myths About Bullying
Bullying and School Safety
Resources
Ala Dept of Education: Stop
Bullying in Alabama
Tips for Dealing with LGBT
Harassment in Schools
It Gets Better Project
President Barack
Obama: It Gets Better
Broadway Sings for
the Trevor Project: It Gets Better
SCHOOLS SHOULD BE SAFE FROM BULLYING
Message of Encouragement From President Obama
''We’ve got to dispel the myth that
bullying is just a normal rite of passage – that it’s some inevitable
part of growing up. It’s not. We have an obligation to ensure that our
schools are safe for all of our kids. And to every young person out
there you need to know that if you’re in trouble, there are caring
adults who can help.
''I don’t know what it’s like to be picked
on for being gay. But I do know what it’s like to grow up feeling that
sometimes you don’t belong. It’s tough. And for a lot of kids, the sense
of being alone or apart – I know can just wear on you. And when you’re
teased or bullied, it can seem like somehow you brought it on yourself –
for being different, or for not fitting in with everybody else.
But what I want to say is this. You are
not alone. You didn’t do anything wrong. You didn’t do anything to
deserve being bullied. And there is a whole world waiting for you,
filled with possibilities.''
-President Barack Obama
SPRIT DAY IS OCTOBER 19
Supporting National
LGBT Bullying Prevention
October 2012
October 19 is Spirit Day,
organized to raise awareness of
bullying against LGBT youth.
Every year millions of Americans
join the
Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against
Defamation (GLAAD) on or
around October 19 in wearing purple in
recognition of 'Spirit Day' and
to show support for lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender
youth. Spirit Day now counts
millions of Americans committed
to wearing the color purple on
October 19 to remember
youth lost to anti-LGBT
bullying.
Consider these important facts
and statistics and the unhealthy
impact of bullying on LGBT
youth:
8
out of 10 students have been
verbally harassed at school
4
out of 10 students have been
physically harassed at school
71% of students hear homophobic
remarks (dyke, faggot) often or
frequently
80% of transgender students
reported feeling unsafe at
school because of their gender
expression
40% of homeless youth are LGBT
The number one cause of LGBT
youth homelessness is family
rejection
Sexual minority youth are at
increased risk of suicide
attempts
BULLYING? YES! IT'S IN YOUR SCHOOL
NEA Provides
Valuable Bullying Prevention Resources
January 2011
The NEA (National Education
Association) acknowledges that
bullying is a major problem in
today's classrooms and offers
resources and training for
bullying and harassment
prevention in the classroom. In
the January/February edition of
NEA Today Magazine, they state:
"Today’s
bullies have more ways than ever
to devastate their victims. It’s
time to reconsider the role
educators can play in stopping
them."
The NEA article cites
recent events. The New Jersey college freshman who
jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge in
October isn’t the only young person allegedly driven to
death by bullying. Consider the California teen who
hanged himself from a backyard tree in September or the
Texas 13-year-old who grabbed a gun from his
stepfather’s closet a few weeks later.
These high-profile and
heartbreaking incidents have happened so frequently in
recent months, especially among gay and lesbian
students, that there’s a new word for the phenomenon:
bullicide. And it’s left educators and parents alike
wondering—just what in the world are we doing wrong? How
is it some of our children can be so mean? And others so
despairing? Aren’t these anti-bullying programs, popular
in so many schools, working at all?
It’s possible that what we
think we know about bullying isn’t all we need to know —
it’s also possible that some of the most commonly held
assumptions are misguided or that far too many adults
still don’t believe bullying is a serious problem.
The NEA
article suggests that many bullying
programs apply a one-size-fits-all
approach to problems on campus. They
train teachers and support professionals
to be watchful and consistent (often at
a high price). But while it’s critically
important for every adult on campus to
recognize and stop bullying, most of
these “top-down” programs look
promising, but don’t go far enough.
The article insists that educators
really have to do this work with
students.
It likely
starts with a needs assessment, going
into a school and understanding what are
the major issues. Is it harassment of
gay kids? Is it kids with disabilities?
Who are the harassers? You have to
engage kids in creative ways to work
through those issues: responsive
classroom work, the work where you have
kids sitting in circles and processing
this information.
A
whole-school culture shift needs to
happen. And that takes the commitment
and active involvement of teachers,
counselors, support professionals,
administrators, parents, and students.
It is the kind of work that the
NEA Bullying and Sexual Harassment
Prevention and Intervention Program
has provided (for free) to schools
across the country for more than a
decade. Its cadre of trainers and
curriculum guides helps define both
bullying and its impact, provides
important data and legal information,
and also specifically works to activate
the “bystander” — an oft-untapped
resource in bullying prevention.
LINKS:
NEA Today Article: Bullying!
Does It Get Better?
Common Myths About Bullying
Bullying and School Safety
Resources
Ala Dept of Education: Stop
Bullying in Alabama
NEA Report on Status of LGBT
People in Education
NEA Training Program: Safety,
Bias and LGBT Issues
Tips for Dealing with LGBT
Harassment in Schools
SPLC: LGBT Related Legal Rights for Students
Anti
Defamation League
BULLY
It's Time to Take a
Stand
March 2012
This year, over 5 million
American kids will be bullied at
school, online, on the bus, at
home, through their cell phones
and on the streets of their
towns, making it the most common
form of violence young people in
this country experience. The
Bully Project is the first
feature documentary film to show
how we've all been affected by
bullying, whether we've been
victims, perpetrators or stood
silent witness. The world we
inhabit as adults begins on the
playground.
The Bully Project opened on the
first day of school. For the
more than 5 million kids who'll
be bullied this year in the
United States, it's a day filled
with more anxiety and foreboding
than excitement. As the sun
rises and school busses across
the country overflow with
backpacks, brass instruments and
the rambunctious sounds of
raging hormones, this is a ride
into the unknown. For a lot of
kids, the only thing that's
certain is that this year.
LINKS:
Trailer for Film: Bully
Time Mag: A Punishing Movie Your
Kids Must See
The Bully Project
BULLIED
A Student, A School and a Case That Made History
The Southern Poverty Law Center
documentary film "Bullied"
has been shown in various
locations throughout the state,
including UAB and AUM.
The film is a classroom
documentary designed to combat
anti-gay bullying.
The film
highlights the
destructive
power and the
tragic
consequences of
anti-gay
bullying. SPLC
President
Richard Cohen
and co-founder
Morris Dees
emphasize the
need for schools
to adopt strong
anti-bullying
policies that
specifically
protect gay and
lesbian
students.
“We’ve seen a number of teens take their own lives after enduring anti-gay harassment,” Cohen said. “Each tragedy is a sobering reminder of our responsibility to take a stand against anti-gay bullying in our schools. Bullied is a way for students and educators to confront this issue head on.”
Bullied chronicles the powerful story of Jamie Nabozny, a student who stood up to his anti-gay tormentors and won a landmark federal court decision that school officials could be held accountable for not stopping the harassment and abuse of gay students.
LINKS:
SPLC's New Film to Combat
Anti-Gay Bullying
Order Your Free Copy of the SPLC
Film "Bullied"
SPLC Teaching Tolerance
SPLC Fighting Hate
SPLC: LGBT Related Legal Rights for Students
SUPPORTING BULLYING PREVENTION
October is National
Bullying Prevention Month
October 20 is Spirit Day
October 2010
October is National Bullying
Prevention Month. October
is also National Domestic
Violence Prevention Month.
And October 20 is Spirit Day,
organized to raise awareness of
bullying against LGBT youth.
Millions of Americans joined the
Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against
Defamation (GLAAD) on
October 20 in wearing purple in
recognition of 'Spirit Day' and
to show support for lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender
youth. Spirit Day now counts
millions of Americans committed
to wearing the color purple on
October 20, 2010, to remember
youth lost to anti-LGBT
bullying.
LINKS:
Million Wearing Purple on
Spirit Day
CBS News: Wear Purple on Spirit Day to Raise Awareness of Anti-Gay
Bullying
Why Wearing Purple on Oct 20 Will Help End Hate Crimes
The Trevor Project
IT
GETS BETTER
Suicide Prevention
Project
Renowned columnist Dan Savage launched the It Gets Better suicide prevention project for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, two-spirited, queer, and intersex youth bullied in high school and intolerant communities.
It’s hard to feel isolated in a cliquish social setting with bigots and bullies, but once you leave you can find acceptance in new communities, meet friends and lovers, and live a great life.
Dan and his partner Terry started the video series with their own stories of being bullied (“things got better the day I left high school”), and invite others to upload their own to YouTube. The It Gets Better Project now has dozens of inspiring videos about how people left behind the bigots, and are glad they didn’t give in to suicidal despair.
LINKS:
It Gets Better Project
President Barack
Obama: It Gets Better
Broadway Sings for
the Trevor Project: It Gets Better
It Gets Better
YouTube Channel
Dan & Terry: It
Gets Better
Teen Talks About Being Bullied
AFL CIO President
Trumka: It Gets Better
Adam Lambert: It
Gets Better
Suze Orman: It Gets Better
Neil Patrick
Harris: It Gets Better
Rob Thomas : It
Gets Better
Fort Worth City Councilman Joel Burns: It Gets Better
Speaker of the
House Nancy Pelosi: It Gets Better
Secretary of State
Hilary Clinton: It Gets Better
Gloria Estefan: It
Gets Better
It
Gets Better Project: Comments From Gap Stores Staff
It Gets Better
Project: Comments From MTV Logo Staff
It Gets Better
Project: Comments From Jewel
Advocate: Dan Savage Aims to Save LGBT Kids
CBS
News Report: It Gets Better Project
Psych Central: It Gets Better Project
Sean Chapin Sings:
It Gets Better
END
THE HATE
Wearing Purple to
Support Gay Teens on Oct 20
October 2010
When Tammy Aaberg wears her
purple T-shirt that says "End
the Hate" on Wednesday, October
20, she'll be thinking of her
son Justin. He killed himself
after he was bullied at school
for being gay.
"We are losing too many kids.
This has been kept silent for
too long," says Aaberg, 36, of
Fridley, Minn., a Twin
Cities suburb.
She is joining hundreds of
thousands of young people across
the USA who will be wearing
purple Wednesday, October 20 to
call attention to the deaths of
six youths who committed suicide
after they were bullied or
harassed because they were gay
or were thought to be gay.
A
Facebook page in honor of the
victims shows 1.4 million people
say they will take part.
One of those being remembered is
Justin Aaberg, who was 15 when
he hung himself in his room July
9, 2010. His last Facebook post
said, "If you really knew me, no
one would like me," his mother
says.
Her son never told her of the
emotional pain he was in, but
gay people hear so many epithets
and cruel remarks that they
start to believe them, Aaberg
says.
She says the observance can go a
long way to helping young gays
and lesbians realize they are
not alone if they see a teacher
or other students wearing purple
in support.
"It will make them feel better
about themselves," she says.
Gay, lesbian and bisexual youth
are four times as likely to
attempt suicide as straight
young people, says Laura
McGinnis, a spokeswoman for the
Trevor Project, a national
organization focused on suicide
prevention for lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender (LGBT)
youth.
She says it's unclear whether
there has been an increase in
suicides by gay and lesbian
young people but the issue has
gotten more attention. More
suicides are being recognized by
family, teachers and friends as
being the result of bullying or
harassment because of sexual
orientation, she says.
Eliza Byard, executive director
of the Gay, Lesbian, Straight
Education Network, which works
to end bullying of gay and
lesbian students, says nine out
of 10 LGBT young people
experience physical or verbal
harassment.
Joey Twomey and Jason Galisatus,
17-year-old friends from San
Mateo, Calif., say they've
experienced name-calling because
they are gay. Both plan to wear
purple on Wednesday.
Twomey says that when he goes to
class at his all-boys high
school, where he's the only
openly gay student, he'll be
looking around to see who else
is wearing purple. It will be a
sign of who supports him, he
says.
"I'd like to see some teachers
come to school in purple," he
says.
Galisatus, president of the
Aragon High School Gay Straight
Alliance, says he can identify
with the isolation and pain the
suicide victims felt. Seeing a
classroom full of purple would
help gay students see they have
allies, he says.
"It says, 'I am
here for you.' "
(From Marisol Bello, USA Today)
LINKS:
Ladies of The View Show Support
for Gay Teens on Spirit Day
It Gets Better: Theme Song for
The Trevor Project
USA Today Video About "It Gets
Better" Campaign
USA Today Article About TV Movie
About Lesbian Teen and Her High
School Prom
STATEWIDE
VIGIL HELD FOR SAFE SCHOOLS
Remembering Tyler Clementi
October 2010
Candlelight vigils
were held in Huntsville,
Birmingham and Montgomery on
October 9-10, 2010, in memory of those
we have lost to suicide because
of their perceived sexual
orientation or gender identity.
Their stories are tragic and
remind us that more should be
done.
Alabama has overlooked those
most at risk of abuse. Our state
deserves fully-inclusive
protections against bullying.
Together we can makes schools
safe for everyone.
The event was sponsored by Equality
Alabama,
Alabama Safe Schools Coalition,
Greater Birmingham Ministries,
Southern Poverty Law Center,
Stonewall Democrats,
PFLAG Birmingham, and
ACLU of Alabama.
Across Alabama
communities responded to the tragic
loss of Tyler Clementi. We were
saddened by how many children
and teens in our community face
harassment and bullying every
single day for simply being who
they are.
GAY
STUDENT SUICIDE AT RUTGERS
Tragic Death of
Tyler Clementi
September 2010
Tyler Clementi committed suicide
Sept. 22, apparently after
discovering that his Rutgers
University roommate, Dharun
Ravi, and friend Molly Wei,
live-streamed Clementi in a
sexual encounter with another
male student without his
knowledge, a lawyer for the
Clementi family announced.
Clementi's family attorney, Paul
Mainardi, said that after
learning of the violation of his
privacy Clementi jumped off the
George Washington Bridge, which
connects New Jersey with upper
Manhattan. Clementi's car, cell
phone and computer were found
near the bridge and his wallet
was found on a walkway on the
bridge.
There was reportedly no note at
the scene, but
ABC News reported that
Clementi left a final goodbye on
his Facebook page that read
"jumping off the gw bridge,
sorry."
Investigators have not confirmed
the suicide because no body has
been found, but sources within
the investigation told the
Star-Ledger that witnesses say
they saw him jump.
Ravi and Wei were charged with
illegally taping Clementi having
sex and posting the images on
the Internet, after they turned
themselves in to the campus
police.
According to investigators, the
first incident happened Sept. 19
when Ravi set up a web cam in
the room to capture Clementi and
his partner after Clementi asked
to have the room alone for a few
hours.
"Roommate asked
for the room till midnight. I
went into molly's room and
turned on my webcam. I saw him
making out with a dude. Yay,"
Ravi said on his Twitter page in
a Sept. 19 entry posted at 6:17
p.m., according to the
New Jersey Star-Ledger.
Ravi allegedly broadcast that
encounter but investigators
would not say what video site it
was posted to. A
few days later Ravi allegedly
tweeted to his 150 followers
telling them to "chat" him on
iChat, an instant messaging
sight with live video feed, the
Star-Ledger reported.
"Anyone with iChat, I dare you
to video chat me between the
hours of 9:30 and 12. Yes it's
happening again," Ravi wrote
Sept. 21.
The next day Clementi's
belongings were found on the
bridge.
Steven Goldstein, chairman of
the gay rights group Garden
State Equality, said in a
statement Wednesday that his
group considers Clementi's death
a hate crime.
"We are sickened that anyone
in our society, such as the
students allegedly responsible
for making the surreptitious
video, might consider destroying
others' lives as a sport,"
Goldstein said.
The accused were classmates at
West Windsor-Plainsboro High
School North in Plainsboro, N.J. If
convicted of the third degree
offense of transmitting or
distributing the images they
could face up to five years in
prison each under state law. A
fourth degree conviction for
collecting the images could mean
up to 18 months in jail,
according to the Middlesex
County Prosecutor's Office.
County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan
had no immediate comment about
additional charges in the wake
of Clementi's death.
LINKS:
CBS News: Tyler Clementi Suicide
NPR News: Student's Suicide is
Deadly Reminder of Intolerance
NY Times: Private Moment Made
Public, Then a Fatal Jump
Huffington Post: Rutgers Student
Commits Suicide
REACTION TO TYLER CLEMENTI'S SUICIDE
Open Letter From
Southern Poverty Law Center
October 6, 2010
As you probably saw in the news
recently, Rutgers University
freshman Tyler Clementi jumped
off a bridge after his roommate
surreptitiously broadcast online
an intimate encounter between
Tyler and another man.
Tragically,
Tyler's death was just one of a
number of suicides committed in
recent weeks by teens who were
harassed by their classmates
because they were gay or
perceived to be gay.
In Texas, for
example, 13-year-old Asher Brown
shot himself after enduring
relentless taunting at his
middle school. In California,
13-year-old Seth Walsh hanged
himself when he couldn't take
the bullying any longer ― as did
Billy Lucas, 15, in Indiana.
This is just the
toll from September ― and only
the suicides that made
headlines.
Thankfully, the
crisis of anti-gay bullying is
now getting national attention.
But putting a
stop to it is another matter.
Through our renowned Teaching
Tolerance project, we've
launched a major campaign to
combat anti-gay bullying in our
schools.
Just last night
in Washington, D.C., we
premiered an important new
documentary film ―
Bullied: A School, a Student and
a Case that Made History
― that will be shown
this fall in thousands of
schools and communities across
America. This powerful film
chronicles the story of a
Wisconsin student who stood up
to his tormentors and won a
landmark federal court decision
holding that school officials
could be held accountable for
not stopping the harassment and
abuse of gay students.
Our film, along
with its viewer's guide, is
designed for both classroom use
and teacher professional
development. We're making it
available ―
free of charge ― to
every school in America.
Unfortunately,
organizations like Focus on the
Family are pushing schools to
ignore this crisis. They say
that schools should remain
"neutral" and not mention gay
and lesbian students in their
bullying policies.
But history
teaches us that this is the
wrong approach. As Holocaust
survivor Elie Wiesel said,
"Neutrality helps the oppressor,
never the victim."
We know nothing
will change, and thousands of
children will continue to suffer
violence and humiliation, until
schools confront the problem
head on. We need every school in
America to adopt a strong
anti-bullying policy that
specifically protects gay
students. No child should ever
feel unsafe at school.
(From Richard Cohen, Southern Poverty Law Center)
LINKS:
SPLC's New Film to Combat
Anti-Gay Bullying
Order Your Free Copy of the SPLC
Film "Bullied"
SPLC Teaching Tolerance
SPLC Fighting Hate
REMEMBERING ASHER BROWN
Teen
Student Kills Self After Years Of Gay Taunts
September 2010
David and Amy Truong
are looking for justice after their 13-year old son,
Asher Brown, committed suicide in September 2010
after being relentlessly bullied at his Houston-area
school.
In addition to taking
on his religion and fashion sense, Brown's peers
took to - you guessed it - calling him "gay." Things
became so bad that Asher
shot himself to death.
The Truongs say they
called the school to tell officials about the
bullying. The school, for its part, insists no such
calls every happened, but the distraught parents
aren't giving up.
"I did not hallucinate
phone calls to counselors and assistant principals.
We have no reason to make this up. It's like they're
calling us liars," said Mrs. Truong, while her
husband insisted, "We want justice. The people here
need to be held responsible and to be stopped. It
did happen. There are witnesses everywhere."
Now, Asher's parents
hope to use his death as a lesson: "Our son is just
the extreme case of what happens when (someone is)
just relentless," insisted Mrs. Truong, before
turning her attention to the bullies, "I hope you're
happy with what you've done. I hope you got what you
wanted and you're just real satisfied with
yourself."
And I hope the accused
are apprehended and, yes, brought to justice: the
tide of bullying needs to stop, period, and
perpetrators need to know that their words can
indeed break bones, and lives.
On a related note, the
National Education Association will hold a talk
called "Addressing the School Environment and LGBT
Safety through Policy and Legislation." Hopefully
they'll come to some definitive conclusion on how to
stem bullying, and perhaps
Dan Savage can help, because this rubbish needs
to stop - period.
(From Andrew Belondsky, Toleroad)
GIRL BEATEN UP BY CLASSMATES
For Having a Boy's
Name
November 2010
What's in a name? A
12-year-old girl at Hernando Middle School in
Mississippi was beaten by five fellow students --
reportedly because they said her name, Randi, was "a
boy name."
"They started talking
about me like I was a man," she told local news
station
WREG. "That I shouldn't be in this world. And my
name was a boy name." The four girls and a boy
surrounded her after a Fellowship of Christian
Students meeting, and, she said, kicked her in the
rib and leg, hit her in the face, sat on her, pushed
her face into the floor, and threw her onto a
cafeteria table.
Apparently, the
incident was caught on surveillance camera, but in
order to maintain student privacy, the film has not
been released. A school administrator issued a
statement, said WREG, that "fighting is not
tolerated and that disciplinary action will be taken
to the fullest extent of the law." No charges were
filed, however, because the police were not called.
Whether the attack was an isolated incident or part
of ongoing bullying remains unknown.
The student in
question was not said to be LGBT -- but whether she
is or not doesn't matter. She was beaten because she
was perceived to be in some way not conforming to
her gender. That is yet another reason schools need
to include discussions of sexual orientation and
gender identity and expression in diversity and
anti-bullying programs. It is not just LGBT students
at risk, but potentially others as well. Students,
teachers, and staff must learn that even
characteristics some people might view as "deviant"
or "sinful" are still no excuse for violence and
bullying.
LINK:
Girl Beaten for Having Boy's Name
ANTI-GAY BULLYING
Remembering Carl J.
Walker-Hoover
April 2009
On April 6, 2009, an 11-year old
Massachusetts boy, Carl Walker-Hoover, took his life after enduring
constant bullying, including anti-LGBT bullying. Though Carl did not
identify as gay, his story is a tragic reminder that anti-LGBT bullying
and harassment affects all students.
Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, a junior at
New Leadership Charter School in Springfield, hanged himself after
enduring bullying at school, including daily taunts of being gay,
despite his mother's weekly pleas to the school to address the problem.
BULLYING FACTS & STATISTICS
Struggles in the
Schools
23 per cent of
elementary students reported being bullied one to three times in the
last month bullying statistics say. Recent bullying statistics admit
that half of all bullying incidents go unreported. 100,000 students
carry a gun to school bullying statistics say.
In a recent study, 77% of the students said they had been bullied. And
14% of those who were bullied said they experienced severe (bad)
reactions to the abuse.
Thirty-two
percent of parents fear for their child’s physical safety when the child
is at school. Thirty-nine percent of parents with a child in grade six
or higher are more likely to say they fear for their child’s safety.
Twenty-two percent of parents whose children are in grade five or lower
fear for their child’s safety. (Parents Not Overly Concerned About
School Environments for Their Children, Gallup News Service, 2001)
A poll of teens ages
12-17 proved that they think violence increased at their schools.
282,000 students are physically attacked in secondary schools each
month. Those in the lower grades reported being in twice as many fights
as those in the higher grades. However, there is a lower rate of serious
violent crimes in the elementary level than in the middle or high
schools.
According to the
bullying statistics, thirty-two percent of parents fear for their
child’s physical safety when the child is at school. Thirty-nine percent
of parents with a child in grade six or higher are more likely to say
they fear for their child’s safety. Twenty-two percent of parents whose
children are in grade five or lower fear for their child’s safety.
90% of 4th through 8th
graders report being victims of bullying. 39% of middle schoolers and
36% of high schoolers say they don’t feel safe at schools.
Among
students, homicide perpetrators were more than twice as likely as
homicide victims to have been bullied by peers. Bullying statistics say
revenge is the strongest motivation for school shootings. 87% of
students said shootings are motivated by a desire to “get back at those
who have hurt them.” 86% of students said, “other kids picking on them,
making fun of them or bullying them” causes teenagers to turn to lethal
violence in the schools.
Bullying
statistics shows that those who bully and are bullied appear to be at
greatest risk of experiencing the following: loneliness; trouble making
friends; lack of success in school; and involvement in problem behaviors
such as smoking and drinking.
61% said
students shoot others because they have been victims of physical abuse
at home. 54% said witnessing physical abuse at home can lead to violence
in school.
According to bullying statistics , one out of every 10 students who
drops out of school does so because of repeated bullying. Harassment and
bullying have been linked to 75 percent of school-shooting incidents.
LINKS:
Blogspot: Bullying
Statistics
Free From Bullies
NICHD Bullying Statistics
Groundspark: Bullying
How to Stop Bullying
Parenting Bookmark: Facts About Bullying
Target Bully: Facts
About Bullying
BULLYING AND LGBT
Prevalence of
Anti-LGBT Bullying
In March 2009, parents
sued a Mentor, Ohio high school for not protecting their child from
physical abuse, name-calling and taunts over his perceived sexual
orientation. The student, Eric Mohat, was told by one of the
school bullies, "Why don't you go home and shoot yourself, no one will
miss you." Mohat did.
In April, 2009,
an 11-year-old Massachusetts student
committed suicide because of what his mom described as
rampant bullying over his perceived sexual orientation at school.
Surveys of middle and high school students
show that a great deal of verbal and physical bullying in our schools is
directed at students who are, or are perceived to be lesbian, gay or
sexual minority youth.
The National School Climate Survey,
conducted in 2005 by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education
Network (GLSEN), concluded that
three-quarters of the high school students surveyed heard derogatory and
homophobic remarks “frequently” or “often” at school, and 90 percent
heard the term “gay” used generally to imply someone is stupid or
something is worthless. Bullying around issues of sexual orientation,
non-conforming gender behaviors and dress was the most common form of
bullying, second only to issues of appearance (e.g., body size and
disability).
In a poll conducted in 2005 by Harris
Interactive and GLSEN, 60 percent of students (aged 13-18) had been
verbally or physically harassed or assaulted during the past school year
because of real or “perceived race/ethnicity, disability, gender, sexual
orientation, gender expression, or religion” (p. 4). Over half of these
incidences were thought to be based on sexual orientation alone.
Among students who identified themselves
as LGBT, 90 percent had been bullied in the past year. Of these, 66
percent had been verbally abused, 16 percent physically harassed, and 8
percent had been assaulted.
LGBT students reported feeling unsafe at
school three times more often than non-LGBT students.
In a national survey of teens (ages 12-17)
commissioned by the National Mental Health Association (NMHA), 78
percent of teens reported that kids who are gay or who are thought to be
gay are teased or bullied in their schools and communities; 93 percent
hear other youth use derogatory words about sexual orientation at least
once in a while, and 51 percent hear these words every day.
The 2007 Indicators of School Crime
and Safety Report conducted jointly by the U.S. Departments of
Education and Justice, found that 11 percent of students (aged 12-18)
reported hearing hate-related words, 38 percent saw hate-related
graffiti, and 1 percent reported that the hate-related words related to
a disability or sexual orientation.
LINKS:
Stop Bullying Now
Gay Rights: How You Can Stop LGBT Bullying
Safe Schools Coalition Resources
Mental Health America: Bullying and Gay Youth
It Gets Better:
Theme Song for The Trevor Project
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The film highlights the destructive power and the tragic consequences of anti-gay bullying. SPLC President Richard Cohen and co-founder Morris Dees emphasize the need for schools to adopt strong anti-bullying policies that specifically protect gay and lesbian students.
“We’ve seen a number of teens take their own lives after enduring anti-gay harassment,” Cohen said. “Each tragedy is a sobering reminder of our responsibility to take a stand against anti-gay bullying in our schools. Bullied is a way for students and educators to confront this issue head on.”
Bullied chronicles the powerful story of Jamie Nabozny, a student who stood up to his anti-gay tormentors and won a landmark federal court decision that school officials could be held accountable for not stopping the harassment and abuse of gay students.