Bullying. Queer. Suicide.
Three teens have committed suicide recently. Why? Because their classmates bullied them relentlessly about [perceived, in one case] sexual orientation. A fourth teenager killed himself after his college roommate videotaped (and put on the internet) him making out with a guy in his dorm room.
I'm addicted to America's Next Top Model. (Stay with me here. I promise it's related.) On last week's episode, the model wannabes did an anti-bullying photo shoot where they had to choose a word that people used to bully them. That word would be painted all over their bodies.
One contestant, Kayla, chose the word "queer." Even the thought of having it written on her skin made her break into tears. In the video posted below, she confesses that she was bullied so much about her sexuality that she had to leave school in tenth grade.
People, what do we do about this? Something has to be done. This isn't a political issue. This isn't a religious issue. As a human being, regardless of your personal beliefs about homosexuality, you have to agree that this is wrong. So deeply wrong that it makes my brain go numb and blank while trying to figure out what to say here. I just know that as a community, we've got to come together to stop this kind of thing from happening again.
How many children have to die before we, collectively as a society of human beings--not democrats, not republicans, not christians or atheists or muslims--stand up and say, "No more"?
I'm addicted to America's Next Top Model. (Stay with me here. I promise it's related.) On last week's episode, the model wannabes did an anti-bullying photo shoot where they had to choose a word that people used to bully them. That word would be painted all over their bodies.
One contestant, Kayla, chose the word "queer." Even the thought of having it written on her skin made her break into tears. In the video posted below, she confesses that she was bullied so much about her sexuality that she had to leave school in tenth grade.
Click to viewPeople, what do we do about this? Something has to be done. This isn't a political issue. This isn't a religious issue. As a human being, regardless of your personal beliefs about homosexuality, you have to agree that this is wrong. So deeply wrong that it makes my brain go numb and blank while trying to figure out what to say here. I just know that as a community, we've got to come together to stop this kind of thing from happening again.
How many children have to die before we, collectively as a society of human beings--not democrats, not republicans, not christians or atheists or muslims--stand up and say, "No more"?