Eliminate 'bullycide' now

Bullying should never happen

A few weeks ago I brought up this subject around a group of straight people that were friends of mine.  When I mentioned how awesome I thought it was that they were considering this program, they all jumped down my throat.  They told me kids just need to have thicker skins.  That bullying helps shape their live, because of what they have learned.

After explaining, all the suicides and depression that went along with bullying, they still would not budge on the subject.  If my friends that love me won't change their views, then the freepers never will either.

It is indeed a sad world we live in.

Randy

---

by: floridarandy @ Sat Apr 04, 2009 at 11:13:27 AM CDT

I Relate

Having been bullied through school myself for being too nerdy, too fat and too black for some of my peers to handle, I relate to the "you just need to toughen up" thing. I heard it through my entire childhood. I hear it now.

There's this pervasive, disgusting concept that bullying is somehow integral, a necessary experience without which people cannot get to adulthood fully formed. To me, that's classic excuse making, especially since the way to "avoid" bullying is never to remove the bullies or somehow deal with their behavior, but for the bullied to "conform" and stop being themselves, even when that's impossible, or when they're being bullied for things that they aren't.

I don't know how to make this situation any more clear to people who ascribe to this "toughen up" school of thought. More stories from the kids who are currently living with it? All the adults who sat at the verge of suicide (or maybe even tried it) because they'd just had enough?

---

by: TR @ Sat Apr 04, 2009 at 13:04:02 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

even if these "toughen up" people are you friends,

who otherwise love you, I feel words against them that I'd rather not print here, out of respect to you floridarandy.

I'm sorry. Proof that civil rights CANNOT stand on the sentiments of public opinion. Whether popular or not, certain inalienable rights must be protected, and may God have mercy on those who believe otherwise.

---

by: h3986 @ Sat Apr 04, 2009 at 14:47:15 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Thanks!

I just found the comments from my post after all these months.  I know longer have any contact with these people.  I just could not look them in the face any longer when they feel like they do.  

---

by: floridarandy @ Wed Jun 03, 2009 at 18:59:10 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

That adults don't get bullying of any type is no shock

Since first encountering the professional work as a teenager, I have seen how workplace bullying places in all industries and companies large and small.  It's generally passed off as "circling the wagons" or "isolating problem co-workers," but such workplace bullying involves a group action to create a hostile environment where the victim's opinions are suppressed and contributions minimized.  I've seen it played out as a teacher, a banker, and an IT consultant, even as a volunteer within service agencies.

---

by: greatwhitebear @ Sat Apr 04, 2009 at 11:49:26 AM CDT

This is an old and oft repeated story

This happened to me in rural Texas in the late 80's. I didn't fit in, and someone started calling me gay, and then it spread all around. My life was hell. My grades, once straight A's, dropped. I started skipping class. Eventually the constant bullying drove me to quit school. No one could protect me, the administration refused, my parents had no idea how to handle it. I got a GED and went on to College, but it was a lot harder without finishing high school. And there was all this regular high school stuff that I missed. Not to mention the years of anger, depression, and low self esteem I suffered.

My heart breaks for every one of these kids. I remember how hopeless it seemed. When you're a teenager, you don't understand that High School is not life, that it will end.

These people who implicitly or explicitly approve of violence against any child are vicious.

---

by: Stratonike @ Sat Apr 04, 2009 at 11:53:39 AM CDT

Christian Love at work,

  This is one of the main reasons I do not want my daughters to have anything to do with religion.  To use the christofacists words, Religion is Evil

 This is a sad state of affairs when preventing teenage suicides should be Job #1.  Religious folks are agaist it.  I would say they are aiding in the promotion of child abuse.

  This deals with Emotional Abuse, Abuse that gets overlooked, but it is what drives teens to suicide.  I have read to many stories on this topic.  And yet these religious fucktards just want to let it keep happening, claiming it is all part of the Homosexual Agends.

 Here are three  None had anything to do with being LGBT.  Here are some scary facts about suicidehttp://www.crisisclinic.org/suicide_pre3.html,

When is comes to suicide, the facts are startling...
Every 42 seconds someone attempts suicide

Every 18 minutes someone dies by suicide

Nationally, an average of 80% of suicides are men

The highest suicide rates in the U.S. are found in white men over age 18

Five times as many men than women commit suicide; however, women attempt suicide 2-3 times as often as men

Approximately 57% of U.S. suicides are committed with a gun

The number of deaths from suicide each year is approximately the same as the number of deaths from AIDS

More than 90% of people who kill themselves have a diagnosable mental disorder, commonly a depressive disorder or a substance abuse disorder

The suicide rate in young people has been increasing dramatically over the last few decades.

In the United States, there is an average of one suicide among the elderly every 90 minutes

In Washington State, suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death for among 15 to 24 year olds.  Current trends indicate that it may become the leading cause of death among this age group in 2005.

In Washington State, an average 1 out of 5 teens considers suicide and 2 teens commit suicide every week.

Between 35% and 40% of adults who commit suicide have some significant physical illness

 Every 42 seconds, that is 85 per hour.  Try and tell me that all 85 are part of the Homosexual Agenda.  One out of Five teens considering suicide.  Going by the religious bigots, that must mean that 20% of teens are gay and only the gay teens commit suicide.

 Good hearted christians for ya.  Christian love, I will pass.

If I make sense? it was quite by accident.

---

by: HappyCat @ Sat Apr 04, 2009 at 12:01:53 PM CDT

Hey, boys will be boys.

Christians will be Christians.  Republicans will be Republicans.  Slime molds will be slime molds.  What are people complaining about?  It's all part of God's loving plan for His children.  Right?

Cynic, n.  A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.  
-Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

---

by: QScribe @ Sat Apr 04, 2009 at 16:05:59 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Eric's story is so sad

The Mohats are really heroic for engaging the issue in a public way after suffering such a loss.  I fear they're opening themselves up for more heartbreak--having the memory of their son and their own character savaged by cruel heartless bastards who think emotional sensitivity is the ultimate human flaw.

"Our Liberties We Prize and Our Rights We Will Maintain" -- Iowa state motto

---

by: Sportin' Life @ Sat Apr 04, 2009 at 12:36:16 PM CDT

It is sad

The Mohats don't want money. They want the school system to address the issue so that other families don't lose their children like they lost their son.

---

by: khughes1963 @ Sat Apr 04, 2009 at 20:31:52 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

A few rambling thoughts...

I went to high school in the late 1970s and there were several gay and lesbian kids who were popular. Like me, they were rarely bullied.

A gay boy in my class was voted most popular and he won the school talent show our junior year by singing "Sweet Transvestite" in full Frankenfurter drag. He often came to school dressed in special holiday costumes. He was about 6' 3", very handsome and athletic. Everyone loved him.

I remember one male teacher got ticked off at him one day and called him "sweetie pie" in a lisping voice in class. Several female students demanded that the teacher apologize and he did. The girls actually stood up and said they were going to go to office to report him.

There was also a boy who was openly bisexual. He had long blond hair and played guitar in a local rock band. I never saw anyone pick on him either. People would just whisper "he's bi, you know" as if it was something really cool and subversive.

I think it is probably the same today. There are a few gay and lesbian kids who aren't bullied because they are popular, attractive, wealthy, etc.

I quit socializing with the kids in school as soon as I could drive. I started driving to L.A. and hanging out with older youths and going to clubs. Then, I stated dating one of my teachers. I grew up very fast and kind of left my peers behind.

Also, there is a big difference between being subjected to an occassional "taunt" and being bullied on a regular basis.

Bullying includes being shunned, pranked, beaten, and many other actions. So, while it is good to eliminate the taunts, we must also make sure that kids are educated to be more accepting of others who are less attractive, athletic, outgoing, etc.

I was fortunate because I am an identical twin. This gave me a different kind of status in school. I was viewed as "one of the twins" and everyone (teachers and students) knew who we were. People rarely bully the school twins, I think in part because it is always ends up being two against one. Also, being a twin made me special and overshadowed everything else -- such as being gay.

BTW, one of the things I really regret from my youth is participating in teasing a boy who had severe acne. His name was Benny and I started singing "Benny and the zits" (to the Elton John tune) as a taunt and it stuck. People teased him by singing that for years. I see him on occassion when I go back home. It has been over 30 years since I did that I still deeply regret it.

When you look for the bad in mankind, expecting to find it, you surely will.

- Abraham Lincoln.

---

by: Fritz @ Sat Apr 04, 2009 at 13:35:27 PM CDT

And then there are nutters

like "Dr. Judith Reisman", who compares GLSEN to "Hitler Youth"...

No one should be bullied, least of all a child in school.

Click HERE and sign up: Campaign For Military Partners

Click here for DADT photobook

---

by: Louise @ Sat Apr 04, 2009 at 16:08:46 PM CDT

You'd Think

You'd think something like this -- legislation to keep kids safe in school -- wouldn't be hard to pass, but the homo/transphobic wingnuts, obviously find no problem with children who are non-gender conforming getting their asses kicked over and over while teachers and administrators look the other way.

Unfortunately, it seems that anytime some people hear of or see the words "sexual orientation" attached to any piece of legislation, they immediately believe it's part of the nefarious "homosexual agenda" or gays ultimately trying to "recruit children into the homosexual lifestyle" thanks to the conditioning of Perkins, LaBabs, Barber, Dobson, et al.  

---

by: Jon Michaels @ Sat Apr 04, 2009 at 16:44:56 PM CDT

How about the ACLU of Texas?

A hearing for HB 1323 (relating to bullying and harassment in public schools and including language for gender identity and expression) was held 3/31/09.  According to the Texas Legislature's official website, Equity [Equality] Texas and Bullypolice.org testified for the bill and the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas testified against it.
http://www.legis.state.tx.us/t...

The bill is pending in committee.

I have just sent an email to the ACLU of Texas asking why they oppose this bill.

---

by: Cathy Cat @ Sat Apr 04, 2009 at 18:33:07 PM CDT

"bullycide"

I'd love to see that term get some traction.

---

by: Emproph @ Sat Apr 04, 2009 at 21:42:38 PM CDT

It's not just suicide...

It's also those who seek vengance on bullies (like Columbine).  Some bullies wouldn't know until it's too late.  Bullying needs to stop, not just to protect the target, but to those around.

---

by: Blood From Machines @ Sun Apr 05, 2009 at 03:22:30 AM CDT