Tag Archives: Bullying

October 17, 2013

In their own words: Why students, educators support LGBT youth and #SpiritDay

By Joe

Spirit Day, this October 17th, is about uniting in solidarity with LGBT youth everywhere by standing against bullying. A few of the students and educators participating this year are making their voices heard, explaining why it’s important to support the youngest members of the LGBT community through grassroots initiatives.

GLSEN has found that of the many students who reported not having supportive staff members at their school, more than three-fourths of them feel unsafe in their school. GLSEN further reported that in the past year, 81.9% of LGBT students were verbally harassed because of their sexual orientation and 63.9% were verbally harassed because of their gender expression. GLAAD recently brought you the stories of the tragic results of bullying for teen girls in Florida and Nevada.

High schools, colleges, and graduate schools throughout the country have signed on as Spirit Day partners. A few of them have spoken with GLAAD about their interests in going purple and raising awareness about anti-LGBT bullying.

Jennifer Carruth, a student at Mississippi State University, is a member of her school’s Safe Zone Advisory Board and president of the LGBTQ and Ally Service Sorority Delta Omega Lambda. Speaking to the importance of ending anti-LGBT bullying, she told GLAAD, “There are so many tragic endings that can be prevented if allies would raise their voices and protest bullying, educate others on LGBTQ issues, and advocate for LGBTQ youth… No one should have to live a life of fear and isolation because they are afraid to be who they are. Everyone deserves the right to shine, enjoy life, and be their true self.”

Spirit Day is an opportunity for a diverse range of communities to come together in their support for LGBT youth. Stonehill College, a Massachusetts school rooted in Catholicism, is one such example.

Mary Charlotte Buck, Student Government Associations’ Executive Board Vice President and an ally to the LGBT community, played an integral role in partnering Stonehill with GLAAD for Spirit Day. Mary Charlotte, who has an extensive background in working with teenagers, sees an important link between her school’s traditions and allying with the LGBT community. She said, “I think respecting, honoring, and loving the inherent dignity of all people is one of the most important aspects of our Catholic Identity, and I’m psyched we’ve chosen to recognize such a great day and cause! I’m proud to say we’ll be joining the schools supporting this day.” Faith based organizations from a variety of religions and denominations are going purple this year.

Faculty and students at Connecticut College, which recently ranked as one of the top 25 LGBT-friendly schools in the country, are going purple this year, too. Carol Akai is an Assistant Professor with the school’s Human Development department who specializes in children’s developmental psychology. She provided GLAAD with her professional opinion on supporting LGBT youth.

“One of the most compelling aspects of human development is our enormous capacity for change,” said Professor Akai. “As a society, we are at the beginning of what I hope is a paradigm shift toward the insistence of just treatment for individuals with LGBTQ identities under every circumstance.”

Spirit Day is about creating a safe and supportive environment in which all kids, teens, and young adults are given the opportunity to flourish. Educating people on the daily struggles of our community’s vulnerable members is the key to ultimately strengthening our at-risk members as well as the cause at large.

Spirit Day initially launched four years ago when Brittany McMillan, then a high school student in Canada, took to Tumblr to promote remembrance of the young lives lost as a result of bullying. Now, Spirit Day has grown into an international movement and is a testament to young people’s transformative powers as agents of change.

Professor Akai added, “As today’s college students become scholars, I hope they will combine their academic knowledge with their generational influence to affect widespread change that replaces intolerance and ignorance with kindness and complex understanding.”

There’s still time for you and your school to get into the spirit by:

Turning your Facebook, Twitter and other profile photos purple atwww.glaad.org/spiritday and spreading the word by using hashtag #SpiritDay
Wearing purple on October 17th and encouraging classmates or coworkers to do the same
Uploading photos of you wearing purple to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr using hashtag #SpiritDay and Spirit Day graphics
Downloading the Spirit Day App
Educating your friends and family about bullying and the LGBT community
Getting your school, GSA, organization, etc. to become a Spirit Day partner

Time is running out to go purple on Spirit Day as a participant and partner, and to join the Facebook event! Sign up today and spread the word.

Leave a comment | tags: Bullying, Connecticut College, Facebook, Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, LGBT, Spirit Day, Stonehill College, Twitter | posted in Education, Inspiration, Pride

October 16, 2013

Spirit Day: Go Purple on October 17, 2013 for #SpiritDay

By Joe

I could not decide if I should post this tomorrow or today, but then I decided that if you are like me, you might plan your wardrobe at least a day in advance, so I decided to give you a head start.

Millions wear purple on Spirit Day as a sign of support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth and to speak out against bullying. Spirit Day was started in 2010 by high school student Brittany McMillan as a response to the young people who had taken their own lives. Observed annually, individuals, schools, organizations, corporations, media professionals and celebrities wear purple, which symbolizes spirit on the rainbow flag. Getting involved is easy — participants are asked to simply “go purple” on October 17th as we work to create a world in which LGBT teens are celebrated and accepted for who they are. Learn more & go purple at www.glaad.org/spiritday.

Since I began teaching, whether as a professor’s teaching assistant, a substitute teacher, college instructor, or currently, as a high school teacher, I have always had LGBT students who feel more comfortable around me than their peers or other teachers. Most of those students have never known whether I am gay or not, but there is an intuition that allows us to find each other (most call it gaydar). Some have come to me and confided in me; others are just more relaxed around me. I always do my best to make sure that I have a welcoming atmosphere for all of my students, and I fight bullying at every turn.

When I was a student in high school, I had no one with whom to discuss issues such as sexuality or feelings of same sex attraction. Though by college, I was pretty sure I understood those feelings and in my early grad school years I came out, I wish I had been able to go to someone with whom I could discuss these issues. Being alone with my internal struggles, I began in my teenage years battling depression, which I still battle today. As I have said before on this blog, my depression got to the point that at 16 I took a handful of prescription medicine to end the suffering. I thank God each day that my stomach rejected those pills and over several hours I vomited them out of my system. I was incredibly lucky and stupid. Too many LGBT youth are not as lucky as I was, and we lose them to suicide each year.

By wearing purple tomorrow, you will be showing your support for the LGBT youth in your area. Most people won’t even realize why you are wearing purple, but as tech savvy as youth are today, the LGBT youth you come in contact with will most likely be aware of Spirit Day, so the subtlety of wearing purple will not go unnoticed by them. Sometimes that little bit of encouragement is all it takes for a kid to know that everything is going to be okay and that it does get better. Because of the politics of my school, I can’t be out, but I can be supportive in more subtle ways and make their school experience, at least in my classroom, a little better.

Getting involved is easy: Wear purple or go purple online on October 17th and help create a world in which LGBT youth are celebrated and accepted for who they are.

Four Years of “Going Purple” (hrc.org)

3 Comments | tags: Bullying, High School, Homosexuality, LGBT, October 17th, Rainbow flag (LGBT movement), Spirit Day, Youth | posted in Education, Pride

September 11, 2013

Bad Teacher

By Joe

The 2011 movie Bad Teacher was about an immoral, gold digging Chicago-area middle school teacher at the fictional John Adams Middle School who curses at her students, drinks heavily, smokes marijuana, and only shows movies while she sleeps through class. However, all of that does not compare to the story I read the other day about a South Carolina teacher.

The teacher is alleged to have bullied the student starting in early April. The student’s mother alleges that the teacher repeatedly belittled her son in front of his peers, calling him “gay,” “gay boy,” and other names. The teacher repeatedly told the student’s classmates that the student was in a homosexual relationship with another classmate, the suit states.

The mother alleges that the teacher encouraged and asked other students to pick on her son during class. She alleges that her son was made to feel that he could not report the bullying to school administration. The student was also made to feel he could not appeal to any of his classmates because of the resulting alienation and isolation that the situation created.

The student’s mother filed a lawsuit on her son’s behalf against the Charleston County School District alleging that a high school teacher bullied a male student by repeatedly telling the class that the student was gay. The unidentified student, referred to in documents as John Doe, was a student at West Ashley High School, according to the complaint.

On the West Ashley High School web site, the teacher identified in the suit is listed as a member of the math faculty. The suit against the school district says that the emotional stress created by the teacher’s conduct caused the student to become physically ill. The student attempted to commit suicide by hanging himself as a result of the bullying, according to the complaint. The student has allegedly suffered severe emotional and psychological damages and has been forced to withdraw from school. He is being home-schooled. He is also receiving mental health counseling, according to the suit.

A spokesman for the school district said he could not comment on pending litigation. The suit alleges that the school district failed to properly hire, train and/or supervise the teacher. According to the complaint, the school district’s negligence entitles the defendant to an award of past, present and future damages sufficient to properly compensate him for the pain and suffering, the mental anguish, the permanency of his injury, the loss of enjoyment of life, the alienation of his lifestyle and his past and future medical bills.

If the allegations are true, they are beyond disturbing. I’ve known of parents to complain that a teacher was “picking” on their child and treating them unfairly, and it is usually groundless because the student either perceived he was being singled out or because the student was covering for his own misdeeds. I’ve had allegations of singling out a student before, but the complaint is generally because I told the child to behave and the students reaction was, “But everyone else was doing it.” However, the allegations against this teacher goes far beyond anything I have seen before.

As a teacher (and if you’ve been reading my blog for a while) you know, that I have no tolerance for bullying of any kind. My former headmaster actually encouraged bullying saying that “it helped students conform.” Our current headmaster has a zero tolerance for bullying, which is a relief. His policy is immediate expulsion, as it should be. This South Carolina case seems even worse to me because it is the teacher, and it seems to have been taking to extremes because, most likely, the student did not “conform.” A student with bad behavior is one thing, but one who may be socially awkward or “non-conforming” in some way should never be singled out. We are all unique, and it’s one of the great characteristics of humanity. We should not be punished for our uniqueness.

Experts have linked school bullying to an increased risk for mental health problems, substance abuse and suicide. Students who are victims of bullying are also at risk for poor academic achievement on standardized tests. They are more likely to feel isolated, to participate less in school activities and to miss, skip or drop out of school, according to stopbullying.gov, a website that provides information on the issue from various government agencies. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) youth and those perceived as LGBT are at an increased risk of being bullied, the website says.

If the bullying by the teacher has reached such a level that the student was withdrawn from the school, had to seek counseling, and for a lawsuit to be filed, then I suspect there is a great deal of evidence to supports the student’s and his mother’s claims. I. This case, I feel, that the appropriate response from the school district should be suspension of the teacher until an internal investigation is concluded. If the allegations are true, and for some reason (i.e. personal intuition) I suspect they are true, then the teacher should be fired and his teaching credentials revoked.

I hope and pray that the allegations are false, because it is inconceivable to me that a teacher would do this to a student. Teachers are protectors of our students. Teachers are there to provide an education. Teachers are their to encourage students. What this teacher is alleged to have done is none of these. I may not like some of my students, but it is because of their apathy and misbehavior, nothing else.