Time To Deal With Bullying, Period

I'm happy the stories about the 7 kids who took their lives because of bullying has triggered a much needed national discussion on the issue.   They also hit close to home for me because I was on the receiving end of bullying for several years starting in second grade.

The frequency of it dropped after a third grade fight in which I was forced to take on three kids at recess.   When I appealed to a teacher for help, she refused to intervene and added, "your sissy behind needs your butt beat."

The only butts that got beat that day were my tormenters.   As a TK I was so taken aback by her response and pissed off about it that before I hit the playground I'd already figured out I needed to reduce the three-on-one fight to a one on one battle with the person who instigated it in the first place. 

I kicked two of my tormentors in the family jewels and hit both in the stomach to take them out of the fight, then focused my anger at the teacher's comment on the last tormentor standing to the point I gave him a black eye and busted lip.

I came out of the battle unscathed but guess who ended up in the principal's office that day for a fight they didn't start?   The only benefit of that fight was for the rest of the school year no one else messed with me.

Being on the receiving end of bullying was a jacked up experience for me and my memories of it are rooted in the 70's. I can't imagine what it's like in 21st century America with Facebook and Twitter around to amplify the abuse and make it worse. 

Class size and whether you are in a public or private school environment doesn't matter either.  I've heard of bullying incidents happening at private 'Christian' schools as well, and as we have seen this week, persistent bullying can lead to tragic consequences for the person being targeted by bullying behavior as well.

Those painful personal experiences are why I support bills such as the Dignity for All Students Act  and the Student Non Discrimination Act of 2010 that address the underlying discrimination issues or anti-bullying bills like DASA that cover gender identity and sexual orientation.   It is perceived transgressions of the gender binary that trigger much of the bullying of students in the first place, and there are other factors that play into this as well. . 

The bottom line on why it needs to be dealt with is because it has a deleterious effect on the educational process.  If a kid is worried about whether they are going to get messed with at recess, on the bus, in gym class, at lunch or beat up before or after school, the last thing they are going to be focused on is the lesson of the day their teacher is trying to impart to them or their homework.

They also aren't going to be looking forward to going to a building that for them represents a personal house of horrors.

Texas Dem Legislators Refiling Dignity For All Students Act

I know some of y'all outside the Lone Star State's borders look for any excuse to irrationally hate on Texas since your anger with Junior's misadministration runs deep.

News flash for y'all:  There are liberal-progressive politicians in Texas, and not just in Austin.   

In the wake of middle school student Asher Brown's suicide, Texas State Reps. Garnet Coleman (D-Houston) and Jessica Farrar (D-Houston) released a joint statement on Friday announcing their intention to once again file the Dignity for All Students Act when the 2011 Texas Legislature comes into session in January, saying that “recent news reports have highlighted the necessity for such legislation.”

 "Every student has the right to a public education, and every student has the right to a safe learning environment," said Rep. Coleman.  'My heart breaks for Asher Brown and his family, and every victim of bullying that has to go to school in fear.   I have filed this bill every legislative session since 2003.  It is high time that we passed this bill before any more children are bullied to suicide or life changing emotional stress."  

'There are too many painful stories and tragic endings," said Rep. Farrar. "When schools turn a blind eye towards discrimination and harassment, we have failed.  The Dignity For All Students Act will help set a tone in Texas that no type of discrimination will be tolerated in this state.  


The Dignity for All Students Act would prohibit discrimination and harassment in public schools on the basis of ethnicity, color, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability, religion or national origin.  It would also prohibit discrimination based on association with a person, and protects both the parents of students and whistleblowers who may report incidents of discrimination or harassment.

Here's hoping that when the 82nd Texas Legislature gets cranked up for business that the long needed law finally passes and whoever is governor signs it..

I think it'll have a better chance of becoming law with a Gov. Bill White in office than Rick Perry.

Just Because A Campus Claims It's GLBT Friendly Doesn't Mean It Is

As transpeople continue to transition as early as age six, it means that some access issues and battles are now being fought out at the middle school, high school and college level.

A comprehensive survey of  LGBT students, faculty and staff at America’s colleges campuses was recently done and unveiled at at September 23 briefing hosted by the openly gay members of Congress on Capitol Hill.

What the survey does is blow up some myths about 'GLBT friendly' campuses.

The 2010 State of Higher Education for LGBT People reports on the experiences of nearly 6,000 students, faculty, staff and administrators in all 50 states. It shows significant harassment of students and a lack of safety and inclusiveness, even among those supposedly "welcoming" institutions.

And on the very day this survey was being unveiled, after a series of anti-gay incidents, students belonging to the University of Rhode Island's Gay Straight Alliance and GLBT Center staged a sit in to demand that the URI administration take immediate steps to protect LGBT students, employees and faculty on campus.

Here were the survey’s key findings:
• A quarter of respondents reported experiencing harassment. More than 80 percent of those said sexual orientation was the reason.
• Just under 40 percent of transgender respondents reported harassment and 87 percent of them blamed their gender identity or expression.
• A third of those surveyed have seriously considered leaving their institution because of the challenging climate.
• More than half said they hide their sexual or gender identity to avoid intimidation.
• More than a third reported they fear for their physical safety.

Not surprisingly, TBLG/SGL students and LBGT student of color felt even less safe because of the double whammy of racism and homophobia/transphobia.

Campus Pride's executive directer Shane Windemeyer noted in an interview with edge Boston that less than 600 colleges and universities have non discrimination policies hat include sexual orientation, and that number dwindles to less than 200 that have non discrimination policies that include gender identity and expression.

So this survey tells us that we have much work to do in order to make our college campuses safe and comfortable learning environments for GLBT students.

That needed to happen on HBCU campuses for LGBT/SGL students yesterday, but that's another post..

The reality is haters, TBLG people aren't going away or back into the closet.   Deal with the reality that we exist and the fact that TBLG students want the same things out of our college experience that you do. 

All we want is the ability to enjoy our college experience in as stress free a manner as possible, live our on campus lives without being harassed or assaulted and walk off the campus with our heads held high and a degree in hand.
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Commenting on GetEqual's FB Page

One of the things that has irritated myself and many non-white TBLG people is the increasingly nasty rhetoric aimed the Democratic Party and the borderline bigoted and sometimes racist rhetoric aimed at President Obama coming from LGBT peeps frustrated about the stalled GLBT political agenda.

GetEqual is one of the orgs trumpeting their direct action confrontations interrupting President Obama's speeches and protests on issues such as DADT, marriage equality and ENDA    

But something we have noticed in the African-American LGBT/SGL community and discuss is that predominately white dominated GetEqual and many of the people visiting their FB page are only focusing their anger on the Democrats instead of targeting their real oppressors in the Republican Party.

Since there's been some chatter in the GLBT Afrosphere about this glaring imbalance in GetEqual's focus in terms of their direct action efforts, decided to stroll over to their FB page this morning and ask the question they've been tap dancing around.

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Monica Roberts so when is GetEqual going to do more protests of their GOP oppressors?

56 minutes ago · 

GetEQUAL Right now, they all look alike to us.

47 minutes ago ·

Monica Roberts Not to me or the AA GLBT community...The GOP are the ones that have used the GLBT community as a political football for 20 years.. So why no protests on them unless GetEqual, you aspire to BE like the GOP?

Monica Roberts The GOP are ones who have people in their senate offices shouting 'Kill the gays' Why no bumrushing of Sen Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) office?

GetEQUAL Sen. McCain is a Republican. Our last two posts have BEEN about Republicans. RE: Saxby - We would love to, but with only 5 employees, none of which live in GA., our hands are full at the moment. Are you offering to organize a contingent to do just that, because it's a worthy cause!

Monica Roberts Saxby Chambliss does have a Senate office in Washington DC.

I'm pointing out that your direct actions in the eyes of many in the AA GLBT community have been too one sided. Until that balance changes to where GetEqual is doing more to highlight the fact that it is the Republican Party that have been the obstacles to (GLBT equality and enable) the oppression of the GLBT community instead of hate on a president that is still very popular with my AA community, why should I lift a finger or spend any time to help an org that is deliberately ignoring that point?

GetEQUAL ‎@Monica - we understand what you mean. @Chris in the post above explained why we have taken this path at the moment. We feel that pestering Dems is our only chance before the mid-terms. (Then, all bets are off!) If you have suggestions ...on how we can do better, please send them in to info@getequal.org . All thoughts are welcome.

On a side note - we're ALL Democrats! Disappointed Dems though.

Monica Roberts And I'm a Democrat too...but I also see the Republican intransigence component of why the GLBT political agenda is stalled and attention has to drawn to that point.

What has to happen is GetEqual has to be just as hard on the GOP as it is on the Democratic party. I'm not saying back off on the Dems, keep putting the pressure on,. All I and the AA GLBT community are asking for is balance in your efforts. 



All attacking President Obama does is while it make white gays happy, it pisses off Black gay peeps and makes our job to try to garner support for GLBT rights issues inside our community, when we already have to battle sellout fundie Black hate ministers, more difficult

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The point that I and the non White GLBT community is making about GetEqual and other GL orgs is that they have been less than evenhanded in their protests, and their monoracial leadership makeup probably is a factor in why that has been the case.  .  

It has not escaped our attention that the GOP and its inside the Beltway leadership is overwhelmingly monoracial as well.  Because protests draw media coverage, it is important that the GOP be hit with them as well to get it into the MSM chattering class discussion that the GOP has been an obstacle to LGBT progress.    The lack of protests aimed at the GOP is leading to the ludicrous perception in some quarters of the GLBT community that the Republican Party is 'more friendly' to GLBT.issues.  

Yeah, right.    The current GOP fights to take rights away, not expand them.  The sooner people in the GLBT community get that through their thick heads, the better.