"One Town's War on Gay Teens"

WARNING: This article deals in detail about bullying and suicide. It's an extremely upsetting read, but I think it's important to read it:

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/one-towns-war-on-gay-teens-20120202

I'm crying out of rage right now. The trivialization, the 'excuses' for the absolutely vile treatment of the kids are disgusting, and I wish I was surprised by this kind of behavior.

Staff, if this is in the wrong section, or if this is inappropriate, or if this should be merged with something else, my apologies. I just felt that this should be out there.

 

While I don't agree with homosexuality at all, this is not the way to handle it. Ever. I'm embarrassed that my fellow Christians think it's okay to act like this. These kids need help, not torture.

 

They don' t need anything, certainly not condescension. That' s a form of moral torture you know ? It' s actually worse than a plain insult. It' s an insult that doesn' t even realize it' s an insult, it' s too busy hiding behind self-righteousness to notice.

 

What??? I didn't mean to offend anyone. I just mean they don't need all the insults and stuff, and they need teacher's help and stuff to make it stop.

 

Ah, okay, I thought you were implying they needed help about being gay. My bad.

 

No, no. I merely meant they need teachers and parents backing them up, not just ignoring it. :) That's all.

 

This is a a common problem in the education system, teachers ignore plights of there students. On any level, on any subject, this is maddeningly unacceptable.

Teachers are at fault, the Board is at fault, the Church is at fault, the bullying Students are at fault.
The teachers should have the welfare of students above all else, no matter what the board says whether they agree or not with them, one of the universally accepted priorities that teachers uphold is their students welfare.
The Board is at fault for putting in place policies that both ignore the priotrities of students learning above all else and further confusing the situation on the acceptance of the diversity tin their community.
The Church is at fault because they not only promoted neutrality on an argument that needed to be discussed openly, but even after the suicides of students in their local area over sexual preference they attempted to blame the students lifestyle as the cause of the suicides.

I can't even blame all the bullies for this. They've been influenced by a community that rejects sexual diversity, and doesn't discipline them to stop that behaviour meaning it is instead encouraged. Not to say they weren't majorly at fault for their actions, but young people easily influenced by the community have little to no chance to be able to know right from wrong in this situation.

America, a country filled with diversity, both where love and hate mingle together to create chaotic results. Both the best and worst of what the world has to offer.

 

It is really sad, though, that the Church can't seem to find a middle ground on this subject. Unfortunately too many churches take this stance, when the Bible calls us to love EVERYONE.

 

I believe that anyone that does not fit society's cookie cutter ideal of a perfect individual seems to be ridiculed. So you're not a white, straight male that enjoys sports, supermodels, and war movies? Then you're a minority. You're a girl who doesn't enjoy what society deems you to enjoy? You're a tomboy or a butch lesbian. You're a man who dresses nicely and grooms himself too much? You're either metrosexual or in the closet.

And why does it matter if a kid is gay, straight, or asexual? Does it it affect their grades? It might just be me but sex was the last thing on my mind even during high school and college. If a kid has the courage to say what their orientation is, then that should be all that matters. So what if they don't fit into the ideal cookie cutter that society has deemed 'right'? I wish I had figured out what my orientation was when I was that young instead of thinking there was something genuinely wrong with me.

I think what everyone needs to do is just open up their minds a bit. If we didn't pay so much mind to orientation and just saw people as people.

[Forgive me if I seem to be ranting. This is a topic that...just frustrates me.]

 

It frustrates me too. Just probably for diff reasons. But I totally argree with "If we didn't pay so much mind to orientation and just saw people as people."

 

The entirety of all Churches together have to legally be neutral on the matter, they can't be actively against anything relating to this since it's seen as persecuting and prejudice.
It gives individual Church groups/organisations 'free reign' over the ability to choose what they wish to do in their community. As such, areas are more liberal or conservative over this subject, and as such on an unofficial level, they choose what the group should believe.
It's a form of politics, to input your religious agenda so your thoughts can be put in place as the general consensus.

The only thing I think that Christianity should follow, is not the words of the Bible but the words of Jesus. He was the one who said God loved them all, he who took beggars, prostitutes, criminals, social outcasts, infirm and even homosexuals into his flock of followers. He rejected no one, he believed them all deserving of love, all deserving of a better life.

His life is the example Christians should follow, and not the diluted knowledge that some zealots produce these days, claiming there words to be the words of God.

 

Bible= Jesus. God= Jesus. And the people who do what this town did are just not sure what they're supposed to do, which is what Jesus did.

 

I told you about faith.

And I will be telling you forevermore.

In other words, they need it to be treated like racial harassment and other kinds of bullying? The way you said it made it sound like you thought it was an illness that can be cured; that they should "get help" for being gay.

Jesus did many things, including getting killed. I would not suggest it if I were you. One should remember to follow what he preached rather than what he practiced, because what he practiced was far more subtle and circumstantial than what he taught you to do.

As stated in previous threads, the Bible is neither Jesus nor God. There is no reason to believe that the book you read and reference in church is the same as the 'word' a hypothetical god intended. It is not even a matter of faith; there truly is no reason. See these posts for a more detailed argument. Putting your faith in people is a bad idea even within your own reality tunnel.

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On a side note, I would like to point out one thing in particular for the fundamentalists among us. My parents did and to my knowledge still do subscribe to Focus on the Family, a company that funds and lobbies for various conservative agendas and created things such as Adventures in Odyssey, a radio drama that I loved as a child. They played a large part in this case. These are quotes from the article.

Focus on the Family is anti-gay in nature, supports patriarchy and spanking of children (James Dobson personally suggests grabbing at the back of the neck), views homosexuality as a psychological disorder that can be cured, and funds things like this. Please be wary. When they say "Focus on the Family", they mean "Focus on eliminating anything but a Christian family".

Au revoir...

 

So what you're saying is, just because the people in that town, in that school district didn't know what to do, it was okay that they didn't because your Jesus did? Yeah, that's real nice.

What ticks me off about this is that the teachers, the faculty, don't do anything because they're afraid to be fired from their jobs. If there were enough of them opposing what was happening, then they could actually have a chance at getting through to the board of education in this district - teachers, in essence, are supposed to be beacons of students, they are supposed to be wiser, more mature, and open-minded, they're teaching for the sake of having a student learn something, to know what's right and wrong [granted the education system of the United States teaches only what it wants its students to know - the winners write the history books], and to help the students overcome issues.

Another thing I would like to say is, if you hear that a person has threatened to kill themselves, don't shrug it off as a silly joke, especially if it bothers you after the fact, you could be the difference between saving a life and them becoming another statistic, because to the federal government of this country, that's all deaths are, statistics.

I had more to say, but I can't remember . . . -_-'​

 

^ This, so much. I would have given you rep for this, but apparently, I need to spread some around before giving it to you again.

I agree, though, it's people like this who give Christians such a bad name. Yes, I dissagree with homosexuality. But for pete's sake, people, harrassing students for believing differently is not only intolerant, but stupid and quite frankly, just plain mean on so many levels. You'd think less people would have to die for their cry to be heard. I got sick reading this story, just like what happened when I read about Matthew Shepherd. I am so sick of intolerance, it just makes me mad. Especially when the intolerant party is christian. If you're going to claim the faith, read the bible a bit, eh?

Sigh... it's so hard to be a Christian these days, when these are the people who show the world what it means to be "christian." You would not believe how many times I and people who believe the way I do are grouped together with people like these and like (as Tale mentioned) Westboro Baptist Church. When they are the ones the public looks at, the entire church gets labeled as being like them. I am so sick of labels, I want to be me, why can't people look at me, and ignore all the junk that other "christians" do? Stop claiming to know me because you know Michelle Bachmann. We are not the same.

I feel like I can somewhat relate to these kids, though, not because I'm homo or bi or anything, but because I'm different. I am soooo not the stereotypical girl. I play video games, and not just a little bit. I don't wear make-up, and not because I'm not allowed. I have make-up, I just never wear it. I like rocks and dragons, and I prefer to spend my time climbing trees or studying karate or (lol) even lightsaber dueling. Because of this, people avoid me. Until very recently, I didn't have any friends. At all. Even now, all the friends I have outside of KHV are guys. Girls still avoid me like the plague. I've never been bullied, mainly because I've always been homeschooled, but I know what it's like to feel abnormal. In a society where "acceptable" is determined by media, and media depicts people in a certain light, those who are different get left out of the mix.

I won't lie, I've thought about suicide more than once in my life. In fact, sometimes the thought still creeps into my head, whispering about how easy it would be. That's one reason I love this site, however. Now that I've been accepted by so many people on this site, it's a lot easier to ignore those thoughts. Now when I'm feeling alone, I think about all my friends here, and how much I would hate to leave them, and I immediately feel better. I want to try my hardest to show the same acceptance to everyone I meet, so they'll be able to think of me when life is hard for them, and that, I believe, is what true christianity ought to be about. That's what Jesus did, he went to the houses of the "sinners," the alone and unnaccepted. The religious leaders of the day, he called them hypocrites. I don't want to be a religious hypocrite. I want to be like Jesus, and accept those that society deems unacceptable.

 

I believe you have missed the point of the article (though I could be wrong). The article portrayed bullying with much emotion, but you seem to have missed the overall message. The point of the article was that evangelicals moving to get 'gay agenda' out of schools is what led to the increased suicides. You are meant to acknowledge that the church's actions are what caused this problem, and not any individual case of actual bullying.

 

I'm crying right now out of rage as well.

This is what pushes me to destroy labels and be more open.

I'm a big defender of LGBTQ teens and people in general and to see this happen to them makes me sick.

Instead of listening to your so-called leaders THINK. I say that everyone deserves happiness and the right to pursue it be they hetro, homo, bi or whatever and be treated as equals not as them being sick or as abominations.

To quote Mike, "Live life for yourself."

 

This sort of thing infuriates me! How can people be so discrimitory toward certain people? With Christians, who are taught to "love thy neighbour" as the second most important commandment, seem to just throw that away in disgust sometimes. They focus more on the fact God didn't intend gay relationships so they condemn homosexuals when they are forgetting to "forgive", also a very important commandment.

Alas, this isn't just Christians, it's bullies and passive people like the teachers in that article. With bullies it's normally a cause and effect- they were bullied and so they will bully etc. I hope that one day all this stops and we can live in this world without having to push people down in order to make ourselves feel good or just bully those less fortunate then us. Racial actions were stopped so maybe there is hope.

 

This is just disgusting. I wasn't able to get past the first page without feeling utter disdain for these people. My best friend's name is Samantha and when I read about that poor girl who committed suicide, I could only picture her in that scenario.

This type of thing should be completely abolished, as it's horrible for everyone involved. Doing this to someone just because of their sexuality is downright cruel and unnecessary. If these people were truly Christian, they wouldn't do this type of thing to teenagers.