Anti-Gay Bullying - One Mother's Letter to Obama

As The Advocate and other news outlets have reported, President Obama - who I often refer to as out faux fierce advocate in the White House - will be holding an anti-bullying conference on March 10, 2011. The Advocate notes that Melody Barnes, the chief domestic policy adviser, announced the conference last week on a call with reporters. She said that participants would have the opportunity to speak with President Obama and high-level administration representatives about bullying and ways to prevent it in their communities. Not every parent who has lost a child to anti -gay bullying, however, will have an opportunity to speak with the President. One excluded parent is Alise Williams of Yorktown, Virginia, whose son Christian Taylor (pictured above) was driven to suicide by anti-gay bullying last Memorial Day weekend. The irony is that Alise's husband is in the U. S. military deployed overseas to protect the interests of American citizens - meanwhile his stepson was bullied to death because of religious based discrimination. She has shared her letter to the President Obama with me. Here are some highlights from Alise's letter to President Obama:
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I am not going to call in a favor because my husband is in the Army, or because my son was a DOD dependant, because quite frankly while my son is precious to me and he lived as a military child, EACH and EVERY child who has been the victim of bullying is of utmost importance to myself, my family, and their parents. When each parent who's child took their life due to bullying has a birthday or anniversary of their death - whether it is 1 month, 6 months, or 10 years later - we parents who belong to this club we DIDN'T sign up for but just HAPPEN to belong to, support each other. We check in and we get concerned if we don't hear from them. When you lose a child it throws you into another world, and if you have other children it is 10 times worse because then you worry every day about them and their safety.
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My husband was in Korea and asleep the day Christian took his life. He woke to me screaming into the answering machine at 4:30 AM Korea time,that Christian hung himself - you HAVE to come home, I cant do this alone.....
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More recently, when William, my 14 year old was shoved up against the wall and called gay, I followed the school procedure to report it. Nothing happened AGAIN! Even though in the school division's OWN student code of conduct handbook, the punishment mandated was 1 to 10 days non-discretionary suspension. . . . The Army is compassionately reassigning us to another state and school , . . .
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The only support the Government has given myself my kids and my husband is our unit in Korea who saw that we needed to be quickly reassigned away from here because the loss of even ONE child to bullycides is too much. I take a huge offense to your non-response when on last September FIVE kids died due to bullying, . . .
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This problem is going to continue to grow until you and your staff - and Congress - get real and realize that this is a very serious problem and it needs to be dealt with swiftly and in a timely manner. . . . . as I said before, I don't want special treatment because every child that we have lost is precious and the most special, loving caring souls we have lost.
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On the 15th of March, I will go to the Airport around 10:00 AM and go to the gate and meet my soldier and bring him home to a house that once again we are packing up and moving from due to bullying - to protect our kids.
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Respectfully Yours,
Alise Williams

Wife to SSG Andrew Juntti
US Army 1-38 Charlie Co
Camp Casey, Korea
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Unfortunately, the York County Schools seem utterly indifferent to bullying when the victims are attacked because of their perceived sexual orientation. Sadly, that mindset is in keeping with the demands of "godly Christians" who want to have the right to abuse and denigrate others merely because they don not subscribe to twisted Christianist religious beliefs. It makes me sick and ought to make Obama sick as well. Would that it would cause him to actually do something other than give lip service.