Be Part of the Solution
LGBT and suspected LGBT young people have been completing suicide in astounding numbers in the past few weeks. They were driven to that extreme step after being systematically bullied, humiliated, and assaulted by their peers. Where did their peers learn it was okay to bully people based on their (actual or perceived) sexual orientation? There are a few answers to that question.
They learned it from you family members and friends of family they heard mocking LGBT people.
They learned it from you ministers who claim being LGBT is "sinful" or "an abomination".
They learned it from you politicians and community organizers who successfully pass discriminatory legislation that denies same-sex couples the right to legally marry.
They learned it from you federal legislators who do not recognize sexual orientation as a protected status in laws against hate crimes.
They learned it from you military people who force LGBT women and men to choose between openly acknowledging the person they love and serving and protecting the country they love.
You may not mean for your participation in any of these activities to be taken as a license to humiliate, assault, and murder LGBT people. You may say you do not have a problem with the LGBT person as a fellow human being, just with their sexual orientation being "sinful", "an abomination", or "unnatural". But the kids who bullied, humiliated, and assaulted their peers are not able to make that distinction. They hear you say those things, pass those laws, and preach those sermons, and they feel validated in bullying, humiliating, and assaulting whatever peers they perceive as LGBT. In their minds, if who the LGBT person is warrants your words and actions, who the LGBT person is warrants their abuse. They know their behavior is nothing more than the physical manifestation of your words and laws.
Why don't you?
Those mocking statements, those sermons, those laws, those federal silences all have nurtured an environment where LGBT youth are not safe to live their lives in peace and with all of the respect due to a fellow human being.
So, what are you going to do to put to rest the monster you created?
I'll tell you what I've done. Because, I am ashamed to say, I helped create that monster in years past, too.
I repented of the many times in my youth when I participated in mocking conversations about my fellow human beings who were or were thought to be LGBT.
I no longer affiliate myself with organizations, religious or otherwise, that are not open and affirming to all people, regardless of their sexual orientation.
I support marriage equality for same-sex couples.
I support the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, so all military personnel and their families can have their humanity AND their dedication to our country acknowledged and respected.
I respectfully speak up when I hear people mock and use slurs in reference to LGBT people.
Whenever possible, I support organizations such as GLSEN: the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (www.glsen.org), to affect positive change in schools.
Your turn.
They learned it from you family members and friends of family they heard mocking LGBT people.
They learned it from you ministers who claim being LGBT is "sinful" or "an abomination".
They learned it from you politicians and community organizers who successfully pass discriminatory legislation that denies same-sex couples the right to legally marry.
They learned it from you federal legislators who do not recognize sexual orientation as a protected status in laws against hate crimes.
They learned it from you military people who force LGBT women and men to choose between openly acknowledging the person they love and serving and protecting the country they love.
You may not mean for your participation in any of these activities to be taken as a license to humiliate, assault, and murder LGBT people. You may say you do not have a problem with the LGBT person as a fellow human being, just with their sexual orientation being "sinful", "an abomination", or "unnatural". But the kids who bullied, humiliated, and assaulted their peers are not able to make that distinction. They hear you say those things, pass those laws, and preach those sermons, and they feel validated in bullying, humiliating, and assaulting whatever peers they perceive as LGBT. In their minds, if who the LGBT person is warrants your words and actions, who the LGBT person is warrants their abuse. They know their behavior is nothing more than the physical manifestation of your words and laws.
Why don't you?
Those mocking statements, those sermons, those laws, those federal silences all have nurtured an environment where LGBT youth are not safe to live their lives in peace and with all of the respect due to a fellow human being.
So, what are you going to do to put to rest the monster you created?
I'll tell you what I've done. Because, I am ashamed to say, I helped create that monster in years past, too.
I repented of the many times in my youth when I participated in mocking conversations about my fellow human beings who were or were thought to be LGBT.
I no longer affiliate myself with organizations, religious or otherwise, that are not open and affirming to all people, regardless of their sexual orientation.
I support marriage equality for same-sex couples.
I support the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, so all military personnel and their families can have their humanity AND their dedication to our country acknowledged and respected.
I respectfully speak up when I hear people mock and use slurs in reference to LGBT people.
Whenever possible, I support organizations such as GLSEN: the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (www.glsen.org), to affect positive change in schools.
Your turn.