The disturbing trend in the news lately has been pretty clear.
Young gay students bullied so badly they took their own lives.
Now of course, there have been responses. There is outrage. There are memorials. But people seem to be missing the key here.
It's one word: Unacceptable.
In this country, when prejudice and hatred is an issue of race and/or gender, there is a definitive answer to the discrimination:
It's unacceptable.
Yet when people are targeted for their sexuality, it becomes a "grey area." A "controversial topic." A "hot button issue."
Why?
Why should it be any of those things?
If a bunch of kids tormented a girl because she was a girl or an African-American kid because of his race, it would be stopped.
Let's not mince words here: It would be put to a stop.
Yet we are now witnessing an epidemic of gay students existing during what is supposed to be an enlightened and progressive time in our country, and they are being targeted and attacked.
And still we hear that it's "negotiable."
We can't teach tolerance in schools because the major religions in this country tell us being gay is wrong. If we teach students to have respect for their gay classmates, we're infringing on their religious freedom.
Oh really?
In some religions, women are treated like property and abused for indiscretions. Pretty much every religion believes that women are less than men. We don't honor those religions. One of the things I like about this country is that we say "Feel free to be crazy when you're worshipping wherever it is you worship, but don't think you're bringing that attitude into a school where actual intelligence is valued over dressed up fairy tales."
Instead, we have compartmentalized this country into sections where religious zealots have taken over and taken the "Wild Wild West" approach to tolerance.
"Well, we can't legislate hanging the queers, but we can certainly go after them psychology until they just kill themselves off."
Now, I'm not trying to say that African-Americans or women or other minorities have it easier than gay people in this country, but the one difference is that we have collectively, as a country, said--
It is NOT okay to discriminate against these people.
In these cases, tolerance is not negotiable.
Well, I don't think it should be negotiable for gay people either.
I think we need to start teaching and enforcing respect for people of different sexual orientations in schools, and if certain religious groups object we tell them that dying kids today take priority over ancient scripture written thousands of years ago.
I think if bullying is going on in schools, the result needs to be expulsion. Kids do not care about detention. (Have kids ever cared about detention?) They don't care about suspension. Kids respond to high stakes. Let them know, if you discriminate, you're out.
Not negotiable.
If we teach kids in school today that being homophobic only gets an hour's detention after school or a few days at home to watch tv, what exactly do we expect these kids to grow up thinking and believing?
Show them a photo of the Klan, or the Nazi's, or any extremist group that promotes hate and say--"If you bully someone because of who they are, over something they can't change, you are no different from these people."
That ought to snap a few perspectives into place.
I think if we let there be a pause, a beat, a second, a moment, a stutter, every time a politician, or a celebrity, or even the guy they decide to interview on the news talks about tolerance so they can carefully word their statement to let people know that yes, they feel sorry some gay kid died, but they still think he was wrong for being gay--then what we have on our hands is a lousy, worthless contract.
It is a contract that says just don't kill me, and we're cool.
Unacceptable.
Up to this point, when it came to gay rights, everything was negotiable.
We put a President in the White House who flip-flopped on gay rights, because he knew he didn't need us to win an election because too many of us don't vote, which by the way, is shameful. And we let him flip flop, because we HOPED he would come through for us once he was in office.
Well, there has been progress, but progress isn't enough when we lose three kids in under a month.
Strangely enough it's our President I quote when I hear Harvey Milk's inspirational phrase "You gotta give 'em hope."
As President Obama has said, "Hope"--though wonderful--"is not a plan."
We need a plan.
We have to say that tolerance is not negotiable.
Not anymore.
Young gay students bullied so badly they took their own lives.
Now of course, there have been responses. There is outrage. There are memorials. But people seem to be missing the key here.
It's one word: Unacceptable.
In this country, when prejudice and hatred is an issue of race and/or gender, there is a definitive answer to the discrimination:
It's unacceptable.
Yet when people are targeted for their sexuality, it becomes a "grey area." A "controversial topic." A "hot button issue."
Why?
Why should it be any of those things?
If a bunch of kids tormented a girl because she was a girl or an African-American kid because of his race, it would be stopped.
Let's not mince words here: It would be put to a stop.
Yet we are now witnessing an epidemic of gay students existing during what is supposed to be an enlightened and progressive time in our country, and they are being targeted and attacked.
And still we hear that it's "negotiable."
We can't teach tolerance in schools because the major religions in this country tell us being gay is wrong. If we teach students to have respect for their gay classmates, we're infringing on their religious freedom.
Oh really?
In some religions, women are treated like property and abused for indiscretions. Pretty much every religion believes that women are less than men. We don't honor those religions. One of the things I like about this country is that we say "Feel free to be crazy when you're worshipping wherever it is you worship, but don't think you're bringing that attitude into a school where actual intelligence is valued over dressed up fairy tales."
Instead, we have compartmentalized this country into sections where religious zealots have taken over and taken the "Wild Wild West" approach to tolerance.
"Well, we can't legislate hanging the queers, but we can certainly go after them psychology until they just kill themselves off."
Now, I'm not trying to say that African-Americans or women or other minorities have it easier than gay people in this country, but the one difference is that we have collectively, as a country, said--
It is NOT okay to discriminate against these people.
In these cases, tolerance is not negotiable.
Well, I don't think it should be negotiable for gay people either.
I think we need to start teaching and enforcing respect for people of different sexual orientations in schools, and if certain religious groups object we tell them that dying kids today take priority over ancient scripture written thousands of years ago.
I think if bullying is going on in schools, the result needs to be expulsion. Kids do not care about detention. (Have kids ever cared about detention?) They don't care about suspension. Kids respond to high stakes. Let them know, if you discriminate, you're out.
Not negotiable.
If we teach kids in school today that being homophobic only gets an hour's detention after school or a few days at home to watch tv, what exactly do we expect these kids to grow up thinking and believing?
Show them a photo of the Klan, or the Nazi's, or any extremist group that promotes hate and say--"If you bully someone because of who they are, over something they can't change, you are no different from these people."
That ought to snap a few perspectives into place.
I think if we let there be a pause, a beat, a second, a moment, a stutter, every time a politician, or a celebrity, or even the guy they decide to interview on the news talks about tolerance so they can carefully word their statement to let people know that yes, they feel sorry some gay kid died, but they still think he was wrong for being gay--then what we have on our hands is a lousy, worthless contract.
It is a contract that says just don't kill me, and we're cool.
Unacceptable.
Up to this point, when it came to gay rights, everything was negotiable.
We put a President in the White House who flip-flopped on gay rights, because he knew he didn't need us to win an election because too many of us don't vote, which by the way, is shameful. And we let him flip flop, because we HOPED he would come through for us once he was in office.
Well, there has been progress, but progress isn't enough when we lose three kids in under a month.
Strangely enough it's our President I quote when I hear Harvey Milk's inspirational phrase "You gotta give 'em hope."
As President Obama has said, "Hope"--though wonderful--"is not a plan."
We need a plan.
We have to say that tolerance is not negotiable.
Not anymore.
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