Bullying Is A Crime

Most people in the LGBT community have suffered bullying whether as a teenager or as an adult. People don’t hit 21 and automatically grow up. And this week another of our community has been lost to suicide due to bullying, Jamey Rodemeyer, aged 14, from Buffalo NY (This was the first article I read). He isn’t the first this year to take his life and sadly he won’t be the last.

Bullying is exercising hatred, plain and simple.  Obtaining joy out of making someone else's life miserable is sadistic and petty. How does a person's sexuality or lifestyle intrude on the rights of others? Is being gay really that evil? Does being gay really take away from your life in any way, shape, or form? Obviously the answers to those questions are no. So why does being gay suddenly entitle some to act out on their hatred?  It does not. 

Yet it is this hatred, and evil acts to support hatred that makes it seem as if ending one's life might be better than actually living it. When life is so hard that someone is willing to end their own just to get some peace and quiet away from the torture and bigotry, then something is seriously wrong. So many things right now are trying to be done to end the bullying and suffering. Yet it is persisting.  

Golden Rule:  Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. 

The disgusting thing is that in the cases of schools and workplaces, people are aware that bullying goes on. Very often it isn't particularly subtle, with more than one person involved. Yet so few people are willing to do anything about it, from students and co-workers, to teachers and bosses. Some of us fear the repercussions of getting involved, telling ourselves if it's not happening to us, then it's not our problem. Some of us don't care for the simple fact that it's not happening to us. It is because of this attitude that needless deaths occur, whether through suicide or homicide (as I am sure no one has forgotten Columbine.) Both of these extreme actions are taken because no one is there to help a person up when they have been kicked down, instead choosing to stand idly by and do nothing. I don't condone either of these actions. They both destroy many people's lives.

People need to be made accountable for their actions, and understand the full ramifications of their actions, from the bullies to teachers and school boards, along with business establishments where bullying occurs.

We all have the power to end bullying, simply by standing up and saying "NO", even when we are not the oppressed. It is a tragedy that due to deaths like Jamey's that people make people stand up and notice the issues that plague many people, both young and old, everyday.

No matter the manner in which is is carried out BULLYING IS A CRIME. Just because it may not leave a physical mark doesn't mean it's okay or that it doesn't leave someone undamaged.

Say NO! to bullying.
Say NO! to hate.

If you are being bullied or know someone that is being bullied, talk to someone you trust, either a friend, parent, teacher, or anyone you know that will take the time to listen to you.

Also please check out our new resource page here, which we are still in the process of expanding.

Remember, you are not alone.

Note: Thank you to Greg Fisher for his contribution to this article.