The End of Gay Bullying

This paper seeks to study the different aspects and perspectives in relation to gay bashing. It seeks to explore the social problem of LGBT Gay bullying. Gay bashing or gay bullying is a physical abuse against a person who is perceived or known to be gay or from a gay society. The problem of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender (LGBT) has increased in the recent years by a very big margin and therefore needs to be addressed.

Social problem of LGBT

Gay bullying has occurred and continue to occur all over the world. A vice affects the gay community or society negatively. In the past years the discrimination against the gay community was at its peak in early 1940’s and 50’s.It is important to note that the word bushing does not mean physical abuse but it is a verb that means intimidation, threats of violence, slurs and  expletives. In the early 1940’s and 1950’s, many gay people were actually forced out form the Government. The gay people were forced out by the boards which were set up by the presidents’ art that time. (Bloomfield, 113) It was seen as a very inhumane act and the gay people were treated with disrespect. An historian named David k. Johnson, explained that the ‘’lavender scale helped to fan the flames of the red scare ‘This simply meant that the gays and homosexual were often conflated. They were seen as a disgrace to the society and required to be hidden from the face of an immoral society. (Drew, p.14) However, this was very degrading to the social lives of the gay society which comprised of the LGBT. It created a social problem of the LGBT. Johnson attributes that the senator at that time was notorious for his attacks on the LGBT in the government circles. This is because he was pressure by his friend to go ahead and denounce homosexuals in the Government. He is seen by the gay community as a terrorist who helped to fan the flames of the red scare. This simply means that he is seen by the gay community as one who used his position as a senator to ‘’ bash’’ the gay community.

According to the health mental American study which was carried out in 1998, the statistics showed that teenagers faced harassments, violence and threats at an average of 26% every day. A 2/3 of the lesbian’s community has suffered immensely from harassment and violence. 41% of the lesbians have been physically attacked while at least 17 % have received death threats. This lead to an increase in the high rate of suicides amongst the gay society. A 1979 gay and young study found that 40 % of gay man and 39 % of gay women had attempted to commit suicide. The suicide rates were estimated to comprise of 30 % of the gay youth. The reasons for the increase in the suicide rate is attributed to the fact gays have and are facing great bashing from the society and people around them. This is a social problem for the gay community. The gay youth are affected negatively by the bashing which leads them to think of attempting suicide. They see this as a way to end their misery. However, this should not be the case. It is important to note that the LGBT are human beings like all other people and thus need to be treated with respect and dignity. They have a right to be who they are and nobody should bully and bush them for this reason. This is the reason why teenagers or young gay want to hide away or run away from being what they really are. (Rosalie, p.119)

Bullying and Gay Youth

According to the many studies carried out gay pushing in schools is at an increase. Harassment of the gay persons especially the youth has become very common in schools. However, this harassment pots the gay youths at a very high risk. This is because at such an early age the youth are still trying to deal with all the challenges of being a youth and may not be able to handle the challenge of putting with harassment because of being gay.T5he studies have reported that the youth face threats sand violence which they have to bear on a daily basis. The youth are also called names that are used by anti gay activists. Such names include; fagot, queer and sissy. The studies have find that an average of 31% of the gay youth have actually suffered injury at school in the past one year. This can have very serious effects on the particular youths. it can affect their mental and physical health. Some of the youths end up committing suicide. The big question is how their mental state is being affected. Well the gay youths are at a high risk because they are distressed from the direct hatred, discrimination and prejudice that revolves around them all day long .Some of the youth have to endure this hatred and discrimination at their schools and from their neighbors as well. It is important to note that these gay youth do not suffer from distress because of their gay nature but because of the hatred, prejudice and the discrimination from their friends, neighbors and respected members of the society. The gay youth are therefore more likely to commit suicide as compared to other older gays in the society. The prejudice, discrimination and hatred that the gay youths experience in school could end up affecting their education. How can this affect their education? Well, the gay youths are subjected to such intense bullying that some of them prefer not to attend school. They are also very scared and embarrassed of being pointed at out of the crowd and therefore can not report any of the harassments to the school administration. Other times the school administration also contributes to the insults and prejudice against these youth or students who are gay. These gay students tend to skip school because of the stigma involved with being associated or being part of the gay community or society. The gay students also feel unsafe at the schools. This is because they are in constant fear of the risks involved with being a gay in the society. This fear caused the students to shrink back in their studies, in their life as teenagers and in every other aspect of their lives including their mental and physical health. The studies have shown that a big percentage of the gay youths tend to drop out of the schools. This is because they can no longer stand the stigma that comes with the fact that they are who they are. This simply means that the students drop out of school because they can no longer handle the hatred, prejudice and harassment in the schools. This is very unfair to the gay youths. This is because every student has a right to education irrespective of their color, believes or nature. (Kowalski, p.13) Being a homosexual, lesbian or a guy person does not give any one the license to intimidate, harass and injure them. The discrimination and hatred causes the gay youth to feel that they have nowhere to turn to; they feel like they do not deserve to live, they also feel like they are not part of the normal world. This is very unfortunate because no one should be discriminated for their nature. At this point the main question on many peoples mind is how they can help. The best help that one can offer the gay youths and the other gays as well is to offer them a safe and respectful learning environment. They should be treated as equals with all the other students. One can help the youth by being alert to the signs of distress among the gay youths. This is because distress can cause the gay youths to take wrong measures and make wrong decisions such as committing suicide. The other way that one can help the gay youths is by working with the student’s councils and design programmes that will educate on respect school safety and anti bullying. These programmes will help to educate the other students in the school to respect the gay youths and treat them as equals. The third thing that one can do is to ask the school personnel to be strict against any one who is caught or reported to harass, attack or injure a gay youth in the school. These strict regulations will help to reduce the cases of harassments and prejudice in the schools. One could also help to start a gay and straight education programme. This programme can be used to educate, inform and advice the gay students and the straight students on how to live and school together in harmony. This is because being a gay or lesbian does not make any one any less of a human being. Alternatively, being a straight student dies not making the student any better than other students. The gay youths should be encouraged to report the harassments and violence against them to the teachers or higher authorities.

Some of the Cases were created by the LGBT Social Problem

Many gay’s especially young gays have suffered in silence. Most of the harassments have been from the schools they attend and from their neighbors. Many gay youths have turned to drugs .Other gay youths have turned to other vices like drunkenness among many other vices. A large percentage of the youth have ended up committing suicide or contemplating to commit suicide. One of the cases including the gay youths was the case of Luke Hebert. Luke was a student at Florida high school. The shop teacher, Flyoid Binkley warned other students that they would turn soda gay if they stored their sodas in the same place as Luke Hebert did. This must have defiantly caused serious mental and physical effects on Luke. Having the whole school calling one a queer and listening to them laughing at the particular person is not an easy thing to bear. This was simply harassment and prejudice. It is unacceptable for a respected member of the school faculty to speak such hateful and discriminating words. The school faculty and administration should help to quench the fire created by the harassments and not help to ignite the fires. Another tragic case was the story of Carl Joseph Wlaker.Carl was 11 years old. He took his own life because of the constant bullying at his school. The prejudice and the hatred become too much to bear for this 11 year old and he decided to end his miserable life on April 6^th 2009.This was a very sad story that touched many peoples hearts. If only the story would have touched their hearts before Carl committed suicide then maybe his life would have been saved. This only proves the fact that everyone has a part to play in order to end gay bullying. People can prevent such cases from occurring. The walkers have become a living example of the horrible event that many would like to forget .It is so painful to imagine what the 11 year old Carl might have gone through in his school. This is simply an injustice. Carl had a right to live like other normal children of his age. However, this chance was taken away from him by his friends, his neighbor and every other person who is an active member of the gay bullying group that seeks to cause the gay society mental harassments and physical harassments amongst many others.  Bullying should be ended in all schools and in the society as well. The gay society is human beings like other straight people. They all have a right to live, a right to enjoy their lives, a right to live a life that is free form fear and prejudice, they all have a right to education, a right to attend all events without being embarrassed or having to answer many question. The gay people have a right to walk up straight and proud of whom they are. No one has a right to take this from them. (Jo Bott, p.42)

The end of the gay bullying will only see the light of the day if the society and community changes its perception on the gay community. The gay community has in very many words been termed as a sinful and immoral community that deserves to be punished. However, there is a very wrong perception of the LGBT. It is important to note that there are laws that help to protect the gay society. However, these laws do not apply in the schools and colleges. The only way to help end these bullying in the schools all over the world is to design and create strategies that will help to educated, advise and teach the society on how to live together. There is not different between the straight youths and the gay youths. This is because they are all human beings who deserve love, comfort, respect and honor. Other people do not agree with the gay society or support them but they agree with the fact that the gay society should not live in constant fear. They should also not have to put up with bullying in the schools, work places and other social areas. Every one should work at ending this is because ending the gay bullying will help to create a good social environment for the gays as well as the straight people in the society. This will help to keep the gay youth in school and prevent early deaths from suicide and drug addiction. The end of gay bullying is overdue. This simply means that it should have happened many years ago. (Kowalski, p.13) This would have helped to save a lot of young lives like Carl Walker and Luke Herbert. These young lives were taken away due to gay bullying in their schools. The end of gay bullying is the beginning of saving lives and making lives of many gay youth and gay peoples normal in the society. The society should not discriminate against color, kind, and nature or believes of an individual but should adopt a way to live together as fellow human beings. This will be the beginning of the end of gay bullying.

Conclusion

This paper has discussed and explored the different aspects and perspectives of gay bullying. It has also shown the negative effects of gay bullying especially in the younger generation. It has shown how gay bulling has led to the death of many young and innocent gay youths. The paper has also given ways and means that can and will bring about the end of gay bullying.