Bullying has become a national issue that many parents, teachers and kids are not standing for anymore. Bullying a child is wrong, whether because of physical things like their weight or height or internal things like how smart they are, their religion or their sexual orientation.
Bullying can occur in a few different ways: physical bullying (hitting), verbal bullying (name-calling, teasing), social or emotional bullying (exclusion), and the increasingly worse cyber-bullying (negative messages on Facebook or via email and text messages).
The discussion of whether or not bullying is wrong shouldn’t even be a discussion. However, there are people and activist groups in America who believe, and actually admit, that there is justification to bullying or argue rather that it’s not always wrong.
Among all of the sad reasons a child is bullied, being openly gay has quickly become one of the number one causes. Seventy-eight percent of gay (or believed to be gay) children and teens are teased or bullied in their schools and communities, a percentage significantly higher than for heterosexual youth.
According to AlterNet, conservative Christian groups across the country have opposed various anti-bullying measures because they say outlawing bullying is similar to state endorsement of the homosexual lifestyle.
One of those groups — Concerned Women for America — is particularly against the national event, “Day of Silence” (which occurred last April) calling it “an exploitation of public schools to promote homosexuality and gender confusion as moral and normative.”
Yes — the event is now organized through GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) and certainly focuses on helping students who struggle with bullying because of their sexual orientation.
However, the “Day of Silence” started in 1996 by students at the University of Virginia who wanted to create safer schools for all children and teens — period. Since then, it’s become clear that sexual expression causes a large portion of bullying and violence in schools today, which is why GLSEN eventually took over as the organization behind the cause.
As such, the 2008 “Day of Silence” was held in memory of Lawrence King, a 15-year-old eighth-grade student in Oxnard, California who was shot and killed by a 14-year-old classmate because of his sexual orientation.
The Concerned Women for America goes on to say this on their website, “we teach our children by example to be cowardly conformists. It’s time to resist and there’s no easier way to resist than to call your children out of school on the Day of Silence.”
How about we teach our children by example to love each other, no matter what? Ultimately, this is teaching our kids to put standards or limits on accepting their peers. What parents don’t realize is that this plants a harmful seed deep inside the child that will either grow into a pure hatred for those that are “different” from them or the child will realize the mistake and spend the rest of their life trying to overcome those negative feelings.
To have a problem with condoning a belief in public schools is one thing. But, to be against allowing students to express their right to be themselves and not get pushed around, teased or even physically hurt is ludicrous and shameful.
Regardless of the ongoing argument regarding sexual orientation in public schools, parents, children and teachers need to unite — rather than fight — in an effort to end the sad and morally wrong act of bullying.
Denise Day lives in Centennial.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an online-only column and has not been edited.
