We have seen recent focus in the news media of heart breaking stories of young LGBT youths either being killed, committing suicide or being seriously injured all because of the effects of bullying.  As the debate on equality for the gay community continues to escalate and some of the rhetoric gets more volatile,  the trickle down effect often manifests itself in violent behavior on school grounds.

Bullying is really just another face of  Hate and is truly criminal.  What in popular culture has always been seen  as a rite of passage especially in terms of masculinity for a boy to ” man it up” when bullied,  the actual bullying mentality has become murderous especially against LGBT youth.

Society is currently debating the very standing, in terms of the very rights of the queer community, where even some of the more established religions of the day are taking an active political role in trying to marginalize this group through their opposition to equal rights.  It is no wonder why those who bully have somehow convinced themselves that there is an unspoken approval from legitimate society to attack, humiliate and even injure LGBT peoples.

Many of these young gay people lack support from school administrators, teachers and adult leaders who often place the blame of the bullying on the victim because of the victim’s differences that they say call on the attention of the bullies in the first place.  This further cements not only the level of bigotry that extends up to the adult level but also solidifies the vulnerability of the young person where their value and safety has no protection from those who should be their chief protectors.

Our children are dying and their blood is on our hands.

We have to continue our efforts on the Equality front but we must also get into these schools and protect them. Bullying should be a first strike and you are out offense in most cases.  No one should be the brunt of verbal or physical abuse because of who they are or how they inherently act simply because they do not fit a mold.

Never before do we need to get involved in our schools and youth organizations to make sure that LGBT youth are not being bullied to death.

There are organizations like:  It Gets Better Project – a series of  You Tube videos as part of  a campaign encouraging LGBT youth to hang in there through the bullying years.

Dan Savage and his partner started this project and has invited others to video taped their “It Gets Better” story, post it on You Tube and then send them the URL to be part of the campaign.  I invite others to do it.

Also,  we have to get into our schools and DEMAND  support and a NO TOLERANCE policy of bullying. We also need to make sure education and support is made.  Enough is Enough.

Read these  articles :

Give ‘EM Hope

The Suicide of Billy Lucas

The Suicide of Asher Brown

Organizations to check out:

The Trevor Project
We are the Youth

Related Articles

• Bullying To Death Needs To Stop (lezgetreal.com)
• Gay 13-Year-Old, Bullied to Death in California (gayrights.change.org)
• CA Police Will Not File Charges In Case Of Boy Bullied To Death For Being Gay (lezgetreal.com)
• Something Worth Supporting: The ‘It Gets Better’ Project (geardiary.com)