On Wednesday, 250 educators and students from Laramie, Wyoming opened the 10th Matthew Shepard Symposium for Social Justice by watching the film Straightlaced? How Gender's Got Us All Tied Up. Before the screening, a reporter asked me how today's climate has changed since Matthew's brutal murder in 1998. "It's deceptive," I said. "We see gay characters on TV regularly now, but after spending five years interviewing teenagers about their experiences with gender-based stereotypes, I've learned that popular culture doesn't necessarily translate into school climates improving around this issue."
When the film ended, I turned on my computer to check the news. I couldn't believe what I saw. A federal lawsuit had just been filed by the parents of Eric Mohat, a 17-year old student from Ohio who had committed suicide after being repeatedly harassed with anti-gay epithets such as "fag" and "homo." They are not asking for money, but want to know why administrators didn't intervene after witnessing his harassment, and why some teachers even joined in. After telling his mother, "I get picked on every day... I can't do this anymore," he locked himself in his room and shot himself. Shockingly, four others from his school have also committed suicide because of unabated bullying.
Eric didn't identify as gay, but it didn't matter. His good grades and involvement with art meant he veered away from what 'masculinity' allowed him to be, and his peers (and allegedly some teachers) sent him constant reminders with homophobic taunts and teasing. One student even told Eric in class, "Why don't you go home and shoot yourself, no one will miss you." With another young, promising life cut short, I revisited my earlier interview: How have times really changed since Matthew Shepard was left to die on a fence?
My work with Groundspark's educational outreach program, The Respect For All Project, taught me that the fear of being called 'gay' is constantly on the minds of youth across the country. "It is generally the ultimate insult," said one student, "a powerful tool for controlling someone," said another. As these teenagers jumped at the chance to finally discuss the big elephant in today's classrooms, it became clear that anti-gay taunts were being hurled at the slightest gender non-conformity: Wearing scarves, learning yoga, showing emotion, and participating in class were all transgressions. Eric's tragic experience is happening in thousands of schools, to millions of youth. He may have felt like an outcast, but was unfortunately he was the norm.
We began screening Straightlaced in classrooms with profound results. Hearing peers share common experiences opened a dialogue on a topic that teens previously felt unsafe to discuss, thus creating much needed change. I wondered what Eric would be doing today if his teachers would have stood up for him, challenged the stereotypes they heard, and incorporated a curriculum that challenges oppression and develops empathy, instead of moving desks around so students couldn't physically hit Eric without speaking a word on the underlying issues. Obviously, this strategy did not create a solution to the problem.
Matthew Shepard's murderers, like Eric's tormentors, were lashing out against an unknown fear that nobody ever encouraged them to understand, and their actions sent a powerful message to the entire country about the dangers of non-conformity. While it's comforting to think we've progressed over time, the same pressures that led to Matthew's murder are still being experienced in a pervasive and systemic way by teenagers today. I know it takes courage to stand up to these pressures, so I challenge every educator in this country to listen to the calls of Eric's parents, of the youth in Straightlaced, of every teen who knows what Eric went through, and break the silence about the hidden lessons youth are getting about being themselves. The lives of your students may depend on it.
Debra Chasnoff is an Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker and the Executive Director of Groundspark, a non-profit organization creating visionary films and educational campaigns that move individuals and communities to take action for a more just world.
The ONLY thing that will stop this is if the school faculty and administrator's feel that they will be legally, and personally liable when they allow this to go on. And they know this goes on. And, if they are christian, they probably approve and encourage this to go on.
Parents have lost control over how their schools are run, and children are being victimized all across this nation, while schools alter required reports of VIOLENCE incidents in schools, by manipulating definitions of what constitutes an act of violence against a child.
Ask the children who are forced to live in toxic schools what their truth is - , not those who fail in their duty to protect them, while upholding TOXICITY in our public schools.
It's happening all across America while school officials look the other way. (Not all school officials - but enough, where the blood of our children is running thru the halls of our schools, while NOTHING CHANGES, and the same cycle of vicious insanity continues, where children across America can no longer bear the suffering they endure in the toxic hallways of our schools - and their final pleas for help are shed in acts of bloodshed that put an end to their torment, and in some cases, ends the lives of other children and teachers who are murdered in the bloodshed... until the next child falls prey to our failure to act in protecting their interests and upholding their RIGHT to a nurturing educational experience.....
Ask the children who are forced to live in toxic schools, not those who fail in their duty to protect them, while upholding TOXICITY in our public schools. It's happening all across America while school officials look the other way. (Not all school officials - but enough, where the blood of our children is running thru the halls of our schools, while NOTHING CHANGES, and the same cycle of vicious insanity continues while children across America can no longer bear the suffering they endure in the toxic hallways of our schools - and their final pleas for help are shed in acts of bloodshed they puts an end to their torment... until the next child falls prey to our failure to act in protecting their interests.
You can't fire toxic teachers, something that no one seems to want to talk with all the talks about unions. In fact, school administrators often protect toxic teachers - its' been written about quite a bit, and in some instances, school officials even lie for toxic teachers, and blame the victimized child for the failings of a toxic administration, and a toxic school environment.
Read: "And Words Can Hurt Forever".
It's an eyeful about what is happening in our public schools.
It's one of the reasons why unions are not working in our schools.
For every toxic teacher, there's at least a hundred toxic students, administrators, and members of the local community who pose a far greater portion of the problem
Many excellent teachers have gotten out of teaching because parents and administrators will not stand behind them when students misbehave to the point of making learning impossible in the classroom..
When will the insanity end?
Where are our lawmakers and their duty to institute legislation to protect us from this insanity and violence that we are forced to live under while lobbyists for these munitions industries have forked over MILLIONS to OUR ELECTED LEADERS, in exchange for their duty to defend, protect and serve WE, THE PEOPLE, and what is in the BEST INTERESTS of OUR CHILDREN, OUR COMMUNITIES?
But to the issue at hand. I blame the teachers and school administrators 100%. I remember the kids I went to school with who were bullied savage endured it in full view of the faculty. There's no excuse for that. None.
Several years ago, I had a student who was constantly harassed in my classroom, in the halls, at lunch. . . I went to the Dean of students who had him moved to another of my classes. The harassment did not stop--the torch was just passed to a different group of abusive boys.
When I approached the dean again and asked if he would talk to these boys about NOT making the young man's life a living hell, this administrator said, "Well, just LOOK at him." Yeah, he was small, quiet, polite. . . who wouldn't want to hit him and verbally abuse him all day long.
Though I talked to the young man and offered him after-school tutoring, he still dropped out. I do not know what ever happened to him.
But that dean of students ended up as superintendent of the school district.
Is this person to be "not only 'permitted,' but 'protected by law' in doing this?" No.
"Your rights end where my child begins."
Sundial - welcome to america. My rights never end, especially at your child.
Anyway, this kid was not "openly gay". He was just not very big and was not mean, crude, bullying, loud, obnoxious, disruptive, or any of those other "male" adjectives. He might not even have been gay. But he was perceived as such by the ruling bullies, and so was persecuted.
I cannot even imagine how his mere existence in the world threatened anybody.
I also cannot imagine how an "openly gay" person's existence threatens anyone. What about an "openly fat" child, or an "openly intelligent" one? These kids are permanent bully targets.
I believe that ALL children have the right to attend school un-bullied and unmolested--no matter what they look like or are perceived by others to be.
Furthermore, since the American Heterosexual seems completely incapable of 'protecting the children' (their battle-cry against Gay & Lesbian people on a daily basis) from THEMSELVES how would we EVER expect them to protect the lives of Gay & Lesbian children, when they don't even protect the lives of those children they deem 'worthy?'
When will you realize that your silly Gods cost this world FAR too much.