Why one gay teen is motivated to support the teenage victims of homophobic bullying

[marmar]

from YES! Magazine:



Teen Bullying: It’s Up to Us
Why one gay teen is motivated to support the teenage victims of homophobic bullying.

by Benjamin A. Talarico
posted Dec 02, 2010


As a gay teen, I know what it’s like to be bullied for my sexual orientation. The rare instances in which I have been bullied have been brutal, heartless. Through all the pain, I always come back to the question: How can people be so cruel?

I pondered this question during the worst summer of my life, in between the 9th and 10th grade, when I attended summer school in a small Colorado town. One of the boys who lived in my dorm started making jokes about my sexual orientation. From the beginning, I wanted it to stop. But I didn’t say anything. Pretty soon the jokes became malicious, and he started asking me inappropriate questions about my personal life. Then he started to mutter homophobic slurs in class. I cried each night on the phone to my father, trying to find comfort from someone familiar. If the boy hadn’t been forced to leave the school, I don’t know where I’d be today.

That summer came back to mind when I read the headline “Suicides Put Light on Pressures of Gay Teenagers” on the cover of the New York Times. There had been a number of gay teen suicides by that time, and I remember staring at the pictures of the victims. Most of them were around my age when I had been bullied. I saw myself reflected back in those pictures, and I remembered that I had thought of making the same decision. But things were completely different for me. I realized how lucky I was to live in a community where I could be openly gay and feel safe about it. Had I lived in other circumstances, my face could have been sprawled across that same page.

What, I thought, could I do to spread awareness about what’s happening to my fellow high school students? ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.yesmagazine.org/peace-justice/teen-bullying-its-up-to-us