I have stated on a number of occasions that the Christian Right in my view endorses bullying in school – as long as no one endeavors to restrict their right to trash and abuse anyone they dislike. The anti-gay diatribes described in the last post illustrate the posion disseminated constantly. When on those rare occasions they are held to account, they immediately move into playing the persecuted Christian martyrs in a fashion that makes my want to vomit. Sadly, the mainstream media does nothing to challenge the Christianists on this issue and the murder of LGBT citizens gets little or no high profile media coverage in contrast to, for example the disappearance of a white teenage girl who foolishly went off alone with strangers in a foreign country. Where’s Nancy Grace’s constant coverage of the murders of 15 year old Lawrence King murder and 17 year old Simmie Williams Jr? Or do they simply not count since they were gays? I’m not alone in this view that these holier than thou self-righteous Christianists bear much responsibility for impeding the progress of anti-bullying initiatives. Patricia Nell Warren at Bilerico Project (http://www.bilerico.com/2008/02/are_we_doing_enough_to_stop_bullying_at.php) has some thoughts on the subject with which I fully agree:
Bullying has been part of school life forever. Teasing targeted anything imaginable, from race or religion to the size of your ears. But bullies always pushed extra-hard on any nonconformity on sexual orientation or gender. Today that push of theirs has gotten horrendously blatant. As the LGBT rights movement grows in national influence, it's no accident that school bullying has gotten so bad. The bullies know they've been given the job of morals police without badges. CHURCH LEADERS AND CONSERVATIVE POLITICIANS DON'T GIVE A DAMN THAT KIDS LIKE LAWRENCE KING ARE KILLED. THEY ACTUALLY OPPOSE THE PASSAGE OF "SAFETY AT SCHOOL" LAWS PROTECTING LGBT STUDENTS, BECAUSE THEY KNOW THE BULLIES ACT AS A DETERRENT TO COMING OUT AT SCHOOL. AND THE BULLIES KNOW THEY WILL OFTEN GET AWAY WITH THEIR CRIMES.
But there's one thing we haven't done yet. We haven't done enough to help the bullied student deal with the problem effectively in person. [W]e need to do more -- far more -- to educate our children about how to handle bullying on their own, if they have to. And it's important to nip harassment in the bud, instead of letting it drag on for years, like I did. WHEN A STUDENT HAS ENDURED YEARS OF TORMENT, AND SLID ALL THE WAY DOWN THAT SLIPPERY SLOPE INTO COMPLETE LOSS OF SELF-ESTEEM, INTO GOING HOME AND COMMITTING SUICIDE, IT'S TOO LATE. When the gun is finally aimed at your head, as it was with Lawrence King, it's too late.
Bullying has been part of school life forever. Teasing targeted anything imaginable, from race or religion to the size of your ears. But bullies always pushed extra-hard on any nonconformity on sexual orientation or gender. Today that push of theirs has gotten horrendously blatant. As the LGBT rights movement grows in national influence, it's no accident that school bullying has gotten so bad. The bullies know they've been given the job of morals police without badges. CHURCH LEADERS AND CONSERVATIVE POLITICIANS DON'T GIVE A DAMN THAT KIDS LIKE LAWRENCE KING ARE KILLED. THEY ACTUALLY OPPOSE THE PASSAGE OF "SAFETY AT SCHOOL" LAWS PROTECTING LGBT STUDENTS, BECAUSE THEY KNOW THE BULLIES ACT AS A DETERRENT TO COMING OUT AT SCHOOL. AND THE BULLIES KNOW THEY WILL OFTEN GET AWAY WITH THEIR CRIMES.
But there's one thing we haven't done yet. We haven't done enough to help the bullied student deal with the problem effectively in person. [W]e need to do more -- far more -- to educate our children about how to handle bullying on their own, if they have to. And it's important to nip harassment in the bud, instead of letting it drag on for years, like I did. WHEN A STUDENT HAS ENDURED YEARS OF TORMENT, AND SLID ALL THE WAY DOWN THAT SLIPPERY SLOPE INTO COMPLETE LOSS OF SELF-ESTEEM, INTO GOING HOME AND COMMITTING SUICIDE, IT'S TOO LATE. When the gun is finally aimed at your head, as it was with Lawrence King, it's too late.
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