Final draft + Bibleography. (Format is impossible to do correctly on blogger)

                                                                                                                                        Taylor Ramsay

                                                                                                                                               English 1A

                                                                                                                                                    12/9/12

December 9, 2012

 
To the ones who look away,

Every child in America is deserving of growing up in a safe, compassionate environment. Getting through the teenage years is one of the hardest things anyone experiences in their lifetime. And anyone who has made it through grade-school, even, knows that these years are an abundance of confusion, contradictions, and the acceptance of the fact that one’s own peers can be very, very cruel. You are constantly told by the world to accept yourself for who you are, but that at the same time you must conform to the social norms or suffer the consequences. You are told that everybody is different, unique, but that you must also be like everybody else, which in itself is already incredibly confusing. This contradictive aspect of modern society is something we’re all somewhat aware of, but cannot seem to find a solution to. We’re all trying to decipher where we would be best-suited in the world. Due to the sometimes antagonistic view towards anything ill-fitting to our social norms all children are struck with the potential of being tormented, including the LGBT community. No matter what your spiritual beliefs consist of, everyone should be able to agree with the simple fact that no child should ever feel unsafe at school. Schools are a place for learning, and for gaining the same opportunity that every child in America is promised; equality and the chance to succeed.  

 According to the National schools climate survey in New York, safety is an issue for LGBT youth. This survey paints a realistic picture of this problem, a reported 63% of these students admit they felt unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation, and the numbers are much higher for transgender students (80%). It seems that for transgender students, the climate is likely to be much more hostile. A shocking 81.9% of LGBT students reported being verbally harassed, 38.3% were physically harassed, and 18.3% were actually physically assaulted. About one third of these students admit they have skipped a class to avoid being harassed, and the grade point average is lower for the students that are harassed the most. It is obvious that this bullying takes a very literal toll on their schoolwork, and that should never be the case. Bullying of this caliber can have intense effect on one’s self-worth. It can lead to depression, substance abuse and even suicide. The same study showed that while coming out as gay brings higher rates of psychological well-being it can also lead to a much higher level of peer victimization. A supportive environment, both at home and at school is very important to the emotional health of these teens. A study done in Oregon showed that LGBT youth are 17.3% more likely to commit suicide then their heterosexual peers, and 20% more likely when in an unsupportive environment. It is important that schools and teachers continue taking steps to solve this bullying epidemic in our country.

At this point there is no federal law that directly addresses bullying, although every state has their own laws, policies, or both. Seth’s law was passed in California, in response to the suicide of a boy named Seth Walsh shortly after being rescued from a group of bullies. It is supposed to force schools to update their bullying policies to include bullying based on perceived sexual orientation. Although this is a step in the right direction, it’s not perfect. Parts of the law have been removed due to budget problems that would have had bullies placed in counseling/anger management to help get to the root of the issue. Teachers should be some of the first people to take action, because of the fact that they are with these children at school. They are the ones that have the opportunity to witness bullying first hand and take action. Seth’s law is a perfect gateway to start changing. It is supposed to require schools in California to have a strong anti-bullying policy that specifically addresses sexual orientation and gender identity. It states that you must have a planned process for handling this type of bullying, and that teacher and staff must intervene if it is witnessed. Schools must make these new rules public, meaning posting them where people can see them so that they are aware that something is supposed to be done. Why is it that many schools ignore this new law? It is possible that they just don’t know how to handle this type of bullying, or that they are afraid of outspoken anti-gay parents? Whatever the reason, we all need to remember that we are talking about children here

Bullying is a problem that is deeply rooted, and cannot necessarily always be solved by traditional means. In my opinion, if you simply suspend a student for violent actions against another, that will just incite more anger and take time away from their education. Missing out on school should never be an option, and it definitely shouldn’t be considered a consequence. We need to start teaching these bullies, and their parents, that even if you don’t agree with someone’s lifestyle, it does not in any way make it okay to harass them for it. Childhood is hard, but this is an entirely different level of acceptance, and of bullying in the modern day world. LGBT youth face possible rejection from everyone- peers, religion, and in some cases their own

families. I have many friends who are gay, and they all seem to have realized it at a young age. They admit that it’s certainly not an easy thing to accept, and when you finally get to that point in self-actualization you can only hope that people will accept you as well. Bullying is a terrible thing, because it is often an attack regarding the very thing you are most self-conscious about. It can take a huge toll on the emotional health of a young person, and teaches them that it’s normal to feel worthless and rejected. Bullying takes many forms, and can be verbal, violent, or just complete shunning of one’s own existence. Gay bullying is a particularly hard problem to face, because a person’s reasons for rejecting it can be deeply rooted, in religion, politics, culture, et cetera

Once a person has admitted to themselves that they are gay it is very unlikely for that to change. No matter how disapproving you are, you are never going to completely change a person, and it’s not your place to do so. I hope there is at least one teacher at every school that cares about this issue. The smallest of changes can really make a difference, which could be starting a GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance) or just simply talking to your students. If just one person decides to try and make a difference, often it can lead to others jumping on board as well. If you see something going on, never look away. Do something about it. All it takes is a few small changes, a few hard conversations, and we could be on the path of ending this bullying completely.

Sincerely,

Taylor Ramsay

Work Cited

Hatzenbuehler, L Mark. "The Social Environment and Suicide Attempts in Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Youth." Pediactrics 127. 5. (2011): 896–903.


This is a scholarly journal article that adresses the rate of teen suicide in the LGBT community based on their social environment. they began by creating an index based of different factors, such as

• The number of same sex couples.
• The number of registered democrats.
• Whether or not the schoolhad a GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance).
• School policies that protected LGBT kids specifically.

The results were that LGBT youth were almost 17.3% more likely to commit suiced then heterosexual youth, and 20% more likely when they are in an unsupportive environment. This study was done across 34 oregon counties, by way of the "Oregon Healthy Teens Survey". The results were adjusted to include factors on the idividual level, including binge drinking, abuse by an adult, depressive symptoms, and peer victimization (IE. Bullying).

Gould, Erik Jens. "Seths Law: Can a Bullied Boy Leave California a Legal Legacy?" Time Aug. 05, 2011.

This is an article from Time magazine. Seths law is a measure passes in california aimed at schools, that requires them to update their anti-bullying policies anti-discrimination policies. It puts more focus on bullying aimed at people because of percieved sexual orietation, and was created in response to a story about a boy names Seth Walsh commited suicide shorthly after his mother saved him from a group of bullies. This atricle points out that key parts of this act have been removed, and it leaves room for it not to work. They took out a part that would requre bullies to do programs like anger management and counseling due to budget problems, instead of simply being suspended. This act is a sign that things are changing, but it is still very likely that schools wont particiapte fully. They worry that the state wont do enough to enforce this new law, and 80% of gay students still claim that schools do little or nothing to protect them.

Kosciw, J. G., Greytak, E. A., Bartkiewicz, M. J., Boesen, M. J., & Palmer, N. A. (2012).

The 2011 National School Climate Survey: The experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth in our
nation’s schools
. New York: GLSEN.


This study contained a lot of good data and statistics. I want to include them all  because I like the range of information they collected, it really gives you an idea of the impact of school environment and what it can do to a student. The most intresting part was how many students are actually facing this problem. There is a large range of facts about the impact on school work, social interaction, and about what teachers are doing to help. They point out that things have improved greatly over the years and I think that proves that we can make a difference.