"When Matthew Shepard died, that's when folks really started to pay attention to what was happening in the lesbian, gay, bisexual community outside of AIDS, and really focusing on youth," says Laura McGinnis, communications director for the Trevor Project, a suicide-prevention group.
Allies of gay youth compiled research showing gay teens are overwhelmingly more likely than heterosexuals to face harassment at school. The most recent figures from GLSEN reported that 84.6 percent of LGBT students are verbally harassed. A third of gay kids had skipped school within the past month because they were afraid of their classmates.
A Northwestern University researcher just published the first longitudinal study on LGBT youth and suicide. It found that victims of bullying were two and a half times more likely to attempt suicide or hurt themselves. It also showed that even when the kids had supportive figures in their lives, harassment still correlated strongly with suicidal thoughts.
"The vast majority of LGBT youth in our sample had experienced some kind of victimization," says Dr. Brian Mustanski, the study's lead author and director of the Impact LGBT Health and Development Program. "People had spit on them or yelled at them, threatened or physically attacked them."
By the time the suicides of September 2010 arrived, the correlation between gay bullying and self-harm was becoming too obvious to ignore.
"We should no longer accept the idea that bullying is a rite of passage for young people," says Carolyn Laub, founder and executive director of the Gay-Straight Alliance Network. "What we know from years of practice on the ground is that anti-LGBT bullying and harassment and name-calling are learned behaviors, and they can be interrupted and stopped."
What gay students go through isn't bullying as it's conventionally understood.
"Those kids have not been bullied; they've been harassed," says Dr. Susan Strauss, author of Sexual Harassment and Bullying: A Guide to Keeping Kids Safe and Holding Schools Accountable. "It requires the schools to respond differently. It's important for parents to know that if the school doesn't respond, they can file charges with the state's Department of Civil Rights."
In one GLSEN survey, a scant 9 percent of school principals believed anti-gay bullying was happening "often" in their schools. Nearly all of the schools had anti-bullying policies in place, but only 46 percent specifically mentioned sexual orientation. Similarly, 49 states have anti-bullying laws on the books, but only 14 of them include protection based specifically on sexual orientation or gender identity.
"You can craft that in such a way that the school has the ability to really step in with any bullying it sees, and at the same time put other schools and students on notice," says Sarah Warbelow, state legislative director with the Human Rights Campaign. "There are certain types of bullying that occur more frequently and are a huge problem, and we won't ignore it."
It's not just a matter of semantics. A growing body of research shows that students who attend schools with "enumerated" gay bullying policies heard fewer slurs and were one-third less likely to skip class. A California Safe Schools Coalition report found that kids felt safer in school when they knew they had access to information about LGBT issues.
"We know that there are things that happen in a school that make it less likely for these kinds of behaviors to be enacted," says Dr. Stacey Horn, a professor of educational psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
That makes laws that attempt to cover up the gay bullying problem all the more insidious. States that have "no homo promo" laws on the books have significantly fewer Gay-Straight Alliances. This year, "don't say gay" laws gained traction in Tennessee, Utah and Missouri — they would make any mention of homosexuality in school impermissible.
And there are troubling new programs that schools use to block potentially life-saving information. In Camdenton, Mo., a school district fought back when the ACLU's Don't Filter Me campaign asked it to dismantle web-filtering software that prevented access to educational LGBT websites such as Campus Pride. In the ensuing court case, a federal judge ruled, "Camdenton's Internet-filter system stigmatizes, or at least burdens, websites expressing a positive view toward LGBT issues."
Camdenton may not be the worst of it, according to Chris Hampton of the ACLU's LGBT Project. "We got tons of reports of this going on all over the place," she says. "We even found a few schools that blocked us, while 'pray away the gay' websites are accessible."
In the Internet age, bullying doesn't stop when kids leave school — it continues online.
Take Zach King, for example, a 15-year-old boy from rural Ohio, who was beaten so badly in a high school classroom that two of his teeth were chipped. But it wasn't until King got home and logged in that he realized the beating had been recorded with a cellphone camera.
"It was posted to his Facebook wall," says Becky Collins, Zach's mom. "The wording was worse than the actual fight: 'Ha-ha, my cousin beat the fuck out of Zach King.' "
There's surprisingly little research on LGBT youth and cyberbullying. One small study out of Iowa State University found that of 444 mostly LGBT students, 54 percent had been cyberbullied in the last month — and 26 percent of those who had been bullied experienced suicidal thoughts as a result.
The future looks: a) 3 seashell b) Taco Bell as the sole franchise. c) Gay bullying not gay people. IMHO, the current society is encouraging to weak the people. When i was a kid, i was kicked in school but also i kicked some guys, and everybody considered it as normal. Now, if a kid is kicked or kick then it is illegal, lawyers are put in motion, the kid receive mental help (including countless of therapy and drugs) and so on... sheesh guys. It is the land of hipocrisy.
as Crystal implied I'm alarmed that some people can profit $9347 in 1 month on the computer. have you seen this website lazycash42.c()mlazycash42.c()mlazycash42.c()m
So you know for sure what was on Tyler Clementi's mind when he jumped off the bridge --- just like the psychic jurors. Let's reverse the situation of the "victim" and see if all the media hype would be there about this case. In fact, there would be no case. If there is anything I learned from this is how unevenly the laws are applied depending on the race & ethnicity of people.
Make no mistake about who Romney is- anyone who assaulted and bullied a gay student in high school is a person of irrefutable bad character. We all know basic character is in place by high school. His "tolerance" is ambition. Put rich, privileged, homophobic and socially backward in a person and you get Romney.
Make no mistake about Romney's disdain for gays. We all know basic character is apparent by high school. This guy is an intolerant ambitious homophobe.
James, if gay-bashing is called 'tough love' nowadays, I think tough-love of the 70's has run its course. There is nothing right about any bashing at all. Not toward anyone for any reason.
Christian churches exist to teach people about Jesus and how he lived, guiding the congregation to live likewise. Ministers, just as all humans, are not perfect,..we have all sinned, meaning 'missing the mark.' Ministers, as such, are vested by the Church to be guiding members to be followers of Jesus Christ, who taught the message of Love.... of kindness, honesty, helping others, giving, not taking. Remember 'WWJD'? Jesus did not teach stoning..."Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." Ministers, just as all humans, are not perfect,..we have all sinned, meaning 'missing the mark.' If a minister is teaching mockery, hate, punishment, to steal., lie, curse, kill,....and encouraging you to teach your children likewise, then the minister has lost the way and needs help. CHRISTIANS, STAND UP FOR JESUS' TEACHINGS!
"Gay-bullying" has been encouraged by churches for decades. They see it as "tough-love". The idea is that if you give someone enough trouble over their sexual orientation, they will give up their homosexuality hobby. It has never worked.
Very good article with well-researched facts. The only improvement might be to have included that Matthew Shepard was beaten and left hanging on barbwire to die. (If someone did not know what had happened--this is an important detail.) Thank you for writing an outstanding account of the very real problem of our youth killing themselves because of harassment--just for being themselves. It IS a Civil Right matter.
The Tyler Clementi story reveals how the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. There was no evidence that Ravi disliked Clementi or that he had anti-Gay bias. People do not care what kind of person Ravi is because they project on to Ravi the type person they want him to be. For them, Ravi has to be a nasty person who hates others. There was no evidence of that. This myth about the evil Ravi is harmful to the Gay community.
Being exposed brought so much shame upon Clementi and his anger and hostility turned inward and like many Gay teens, he killed himself. Ravi did not harrass Clementi into suicide. Our society, especially our Churches, are the real culprits. We have vile people like the Santorumites actively spreading anti-bigotry, telling Gays they are inherently evil and they should kill themselves. Santorumites are elevated to the highest status in our society. Romney, as we learned, is a Santorumite also. Yet, he still runs for President. If it turned out that Mitty were Gay, that would end his candidacy.
Our culture of shame is what drove Clementi to suicide. If he had been a freshman who was nailing the senior cheerleader, he would have been Big Man on Campus. Our culture reflects us and we do not want to admit our role in Clementi's death. Take the MATTer into your hands and see if you have BEN there yourself -- what about the famous Gays who stay in the closet. What responsibility do they owe?
Just as the Santorumites persecute Gays, too many others are persecuting Ravi -- If Ravi had grown up in Bible Belt America, then I would say he knew or should have known that the video would harm Clementi. But as I understand the situation, Ravi is from India. It may never have occurred to Ravi what a vicious society we have in America.
The Gay Community should change its approach and start outing people -- it is literally life and death.
Find everything you're looking for in your city
Find the best happy hour deals in your city
Get today's exclusive deals at savings of anywhere from 50-90%
Check out the hottest list of places and things to do around your city
