Smear The Queer: Gay Bullying Isn't Right

My earliest memories of being bullied because I was gay was third grade. That's when I found out the word gay really was: happy. I walked onto the playground and told my peers that I was gay. This is because I asked my mother what gay meant that morning. Instead of giving me the definition that is useful in my vocabulary today, she gave me the 1950s definition.

This continued until the sixth grade. One instance that I do remember with great detail was when I was walking back from gym class, rushing to class in the trailors outside of school. An 8th grade kid with the 6th grade "class clown" (not really that funny thats why it's in quotes) opened up my locker. The 8th grade kid had the same locker two years ago and remembered the combination. The class clown yelled out "He has tampons in his locker." If I would have gone back in a time machine I would have said "Well, your mom told me she was pregnant with my baby and didn't need them anymore." Unfortunately, I didn't develop my humor yet so I just let it go. The kids didn't let up and by the end of the day not only did I have tampons in my locker, but forever reason Aunt Flow gave me a surprise visit too. Keep in mind I went to the same gym class, used the same locker room, and used the same bathroom as this kid. But yet I had a vagina and I was on the menses.

My mother knew I was teased and said that I have to deal with it. I would come home and cry about how the kids would tease me. And I would cry and ask my mother if I could go to Penn Manor. She said "I'm not going to pay for that. That is a different district." Next to living with my father and our relationship, my experience with gay bullying it contributed to my humor. My use of sarcasm was a defense mechanism. I remember the kids in 8th grade calling me faggot and gay. I responded, "I prefer fudge packer."  So I want to say thank you to the class of 2007 who went to Wheatland Middle School and the class clown who teased me and said that I had a vagina and that Aunt Flow gave me a visit. She was actually pissed she had to visit me. Two sisters whom I live with and she had to visit me that week (he know who he is).

Unfortunately, this isn't the outcome for teens today. Gay bullying is on the rise. Let me give you some stats from the Mental Health America:

1. a study found that thirty-one percent of gay youth had been threatened or injured at school in the last year alone.
2. Gay and lesbian teens are at high risk because ‘their distress is a direct result of the hatred and prejudice that surround them,’ not because of their inherently gay or lesbian identity orientation.
3. Gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth are two to three times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual counterparts.
4. Gay teens in U.S. schools are often subjected to such intense bullying that they’re unable to receive an adequate education. They’re often embarrassed or ashamed of being targeted and may not report the abuse.
5. GLBT students are more apt to skip school due to the fear, threats, and property vandalism directed at them.
6. One survey revealed that 22 percent of gay respondents had skipped school in the past month because they felt unsafe there.
7. Twenty-eight percent of gay students will drop out of school. This is more than
   three times the national average for heterosexual students.
8. GLBT youth feel they have nowhere to turn. According to several surveys, four out of five gay and lesbian students say they don’t know one supportive adult at school.

What can we do to help?
In my last post Homophobia is the New Boogieman one of my points were that education starts at home. I don't have children and I would never want to do that to another human being. But what you teach your child is a reflection of your attitudes and your beliefs. If you believe that being gay is a bad thing, at a young age like kindergarden, kids are like a sponge. Looking for signs too. If your child is acting weird or out of the ordinary question them to see whats wrong. Get in touch with the teacher, involved with your child's education. Also, encourage teachers to enforce the zero tolarance policy for gay bullying and for bullying in general. Have a meeting with the other parents and discuss the issue of bullying in schools.