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Albert Lea High School Newspaper

THE AHLAHASA

Albert Lea High School Newspaper

THE AHLAHASA

Albert Lea High School Newspaper

THE AHLAHASA

Acceptable Intolerance

Acceptable Intolerance

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Who ever came up with this phrase, clearly had no idea how horribly painful words really can be. “Fag.” “Queer.” “Homo.” Words uttered, with the intent of being used as an insult every day in schools all across the nation. Over the past three months, at least six kids have committed suicide because of the constant, unbearable bullying they suffered in school. An 11-year-old boy named Tyler Wilson was bullied, beaten and had his arm broken, because he was a cheerleader, something his tormentors thought was a “gay thing to do.” Tyler Clementi, a freshman at the University of Rutgers, committed suicide after his roommate allegedly broadcast Tyler’s sexual encounter with a man in his dorm. Later on, Tyler confronted his roommate and posted this message on his Facebook status: “Jumping off gw bridge sorry.” He was 18 years old. Asher Brown, of Houston, Texas, was harassed by a specific group of students constantly. The day before his suicide, he was tripped by one of them down a flight of stairs in school. On the day of his suicide he told his stepfather he was gay. He later went into his stepfather’s bedroom, pulled out his 9mm Beretta, went into the closet and shot himself in the head. He was 13 years old. His parents claim they repeatedly complained about their son being bullied, but feel like their complaints were ignored. School officials claim they were not contacted by anyone about Asher being bullied. This has been an unfortunate coincidence for many kids across the nation. Because of suicides being induced by bullying, 43 states have adopted antibullying legislation, whose aim is to “doubly protect” Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered (GLBT) children. Unfortunately, religious fundamentalist groups are trying to derail this historic legislation, because it’s aimed toward enhancing and reinforcing gay rights. By slandering the agenda of these new anti-bullying laws, it saddens me to know these people will try and derail the protection of GLBT children because of their intolerant belief that homosexuality is an abomination. Clearly, bullying is a childish and cowardly action, but for full-grown adults to wage a campaign to allow turning a blind eye on anti-gay bullying is setting a horrible example for current and future generations. It’s the equivalent of giving the finger to our founding fathers for including “All men are created equal” into our constitution. As an openly gay teen, bullying is something I have first-hand experience. I’ve been bullied for countless stupid things, as has everyone, but nothing is more hurtful than when people use the fact I’m gay against me. It doesn’t hurt my self-esteem, nor does it depress me, but knowing that people can be so prejudiced and hateful simply because I’m gay is terrible. Most of these people don’t even know me; they only know I am gay. And quite frankly, it sometimes makes me wish I wasn’t gay. Sometimes I think it would be much easier to be straight. However, I finally realized everyone is always going to find something stupid and trivial they hate about you, and when kids refuse to even learn who you are because of your sexual orientation it doesn’t bother me because it’s a ludicrous and bigoted frame of mind. So, I pity them. I understand bullying is an unfortunate part of life, but we still must do everything we can to make sure kids feel safe. Kids are routinely beaten up, harassed and even stalked online through Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites. No matter where kids go it is impossible to get away from bullies. Even in the media, there is anti-gay sentiment everywhere. Every day you see something about antigay protests, Proposition 8, Anti-Gay bullying, backlash against gay television characters, pastors and other religious leaders irrationally spewing and slandering gays, gay marriage, etc. Why is this acceptable? Obviously, everyone has the right to free speech and to believe what they want, but we don’t stand for racism. Why, then, is some intolerance unacceptable, yet other intolerance, is tolerable? We don’t stand for racism, so why stand for anti-gay anything? I implore everyone reading this to think about the words you say, the jokes you make and the actions you take. If you see someone bullying another person, for any reason, say something. Defend them. You just might save their life.

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