How the religious right ruins the lives of gay/lesbian kids

[Kuya]

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics...teens-20120202

This article is a must read, and i implore anyone that cares about this issue to read the full 5 pages. I'll regularly post excerpts from it, since if someone really insists on not reading, i want them to get the most important parts of the article (in my opinion). The article talks about the personal experiences of gay and lesbian children in dealing with a homophobic environment, and with policies that aid and abet their torment. The article tries to implicate that the religious right's anti-gay campaigns have an important relationship with the policies they help create, which in turn relate to how they deteriorate the quality of life of kids who identify as gay or lesbian.

A first quote to start:

So maybe she was a fat dyke, Brittany thought morosely; maybe she deserved the teasing. She would have been shocked to know the truth behind the adults' inaction: No one would come to her aid for fear of violating the districtwide policy requiring school personnel to stay "neutral" on issues of homosexuality. All Brittany knew was that she was on her own, vulnerable and ashamed, and needed to find her best friend, Samantha, fast.

[WahiGuard]

The part of the boy being pissed on,and the administrator saying it was 'probably just water' made me angry.
Read it last week, surprised it took so long to make it to BG.

[Kuya]

The part of the boy being pissed on,and the administrator saying it was 'probably just water' made me pissed.
Read it last week, surprised it took so long to make it to BG.

I assume the double mention of pissed was on purpose, lol.

[WahiGuard]

I assume the double mention of pissed was on purpose, lol.

Lol actually it wasn`t. Poor choice of words on my part >.>

[archibaldcrane]

Pretty brutal article, so rageworthy. At my high school there was some bullying I'm sure, but it seemed like the LGB kids handled life pretty well - I guess the lack of religious douchebags in my liberal hometown had a lot to do with that. I don't think they had gay club at school back then either - pretty cool they are having them in middle schools now too.

The father begging his bisexual daughter not to kill herself was the worst part.

[Jimothy]

The part with the father, and the boy at the very end got to me the most. So depressing. This part was possibly the most rage inducing:

"Open your eyes, people," Anderson recently wrote to the local newspaper. "What if a 15-year-old is seduced into homosexual behavior and then contracts AIDS?"

Hmm, maybe if they were allowed to teach about homosexuality and safe sex?

[ChairmanMeow]

So much rage.

[Niiro]

I made it to the second page where the woman was talking about the danger of teens being lured into gay relationships and getting AIDS.

Had to stop before I reached the event horizon of Beltway-sniper-insanity.

[Eurell]

Wasn't gonna read when I saw 5 pages lol, happy I did. Was a very good read.

Only thing im questioning though, 10% of straight kids attempt suicide? and 33% of gay kids? That seems way higher than I ever would have thought. Out of all the people I know (i know i know, anecdotal evidence doesnt mean shit, and im also aware maybe i just wasnt informed about others) only 2 people I knew have committed suicide, and only 1 more has attempted. There was one other girl from my town that committed suicide, but I didn't know her.

[Kurokikaze]

How do these people call themselves Christians?

[Lucavi]

Sad. People are people, but some people will never understand that.

[Ksandra]

How do these people call themselves Christians?

This is what makes me so frustrated sometimes. I keep my faith as a Catholic, but it's almost fucking impossible to be happy being one when you see the shit that others do in the name of Christianity. It makes me so sick.

[chiyio]

Great article, definitely woth the read.

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk

[Correction]

Read the article last week. This Barbara Anderson cunt is a real piece of work.

The Minnesota Family Council’s Barb Anderson sat down with Peter LaBarbera of Americans for the Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) for a radio interview recently. The duo talked about bringing “ex-gays” into the Anoka-Hennepin School District and the fact that AFTAH is now listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a designation Anderson calls a “badge of honor.” The organization recently added 13 new groups to its hate-group map, many for anti-gay positions. The Minnesota Family Council, which opposes homosexuality, has associations with a number of groups that are now on the SPLC list.

[Yuri-G]

read the whole thing last week, I couldn't stop. I live in MN so obviously I'm aware of this, though I hadn't seen anything that went into this level of detail.

the thing that kills me the most - besides the suicides themselves - is how the anti-gay crowd has the unbelievable audacity to actually claim that gay kids are killing themselves because they're gay, not because of the hatred and bullying they experience. that's like saying if a 1940's Jew would have just stopped being Jewish, he wouldn't have had to worry about that whole Holocaust thing. the amount of utter callousness and complete disregard for their fellow man is both heartbreaking and rageworthy.

and don't get me started on the "we wish people wouldn't make a big deal out of this" administrators. I could rant for hours on those cowardly fucks. there is blood on their hands, no doubt.

[mactabilis]

Well blame society for affording any credence to hateful lunatics like Bachmann. Far from being in public office and in national debates on a regular basis, she belongs only in an asylum. That being said, this is far more prevalent than ppl think, just that the media doesn't bring it to light, and there's no worthless yet famous name to attach to the story. This has been the standard mode of operation in small towns across the country for decades, only who cares about some gay kid in a town of 800? The administration of one hardly needs a law passed to tell the kid "Stop bringing attention to yourself" after they have rocks thrown at them in the parking lot, hateful comments everywhere they go etc. I think some of those might qualify as criminal acts, even aside from the pathetic argument that how one fails to cope with such abuse is the only factor in the end result (for example the Rutgers trial).

Except why the fuck wait until someone is dead to do something? About the only appropriate solution i can see is to arrest or expel the douches. The teachers do nothing when harassment goes on right in class either; this is nothing new. The only recourse is suicide, dropping out, or transferring and being alone. There aren't fuckin GSAs or anyone to talk to in those places. There is no candlelight vigil.

The law doesn't seem to preclude teachers sending the little shits to the office or suspending them or whatever, if they got creative about it like "disrupting class." They just don't *want* to do so or even try, probably. Either way, what cowards. Teachers in these places tend to want to just get thru the day, and are as equally useless as the bullies. Most of them can't educate either, so what the fuck are they paid for?

About the only thing shocking in it was the suggestion that there's some kind of confounding, blameless element to the suicides like mental illness. Yeah, being tormented constantly by the ppl you grew up with might contribute to depression! I think bullying and suicide might be related after all, how is this debatable? To them school feels like a special kind of hellish prison, except what did they do to deserve it other than age? If for all you know adult life will be just as intolerable, since the so-called adults in your town fail so completely to help you now, why not just end it? Unfortunately no one suggests to them to try out home schooling, or transfer or shit else that doesn't lead down a path to poverty. They have to figure it out on their own.

[Ragnus]

Oh God. I remember the gay marriage protests and counter protests on the Boston commons. The "ex-gays" probably irked me the most with the guy holding a

G: God
A: Abhors
Y: You

sign coming in a close second.

[archibaldcrane]

I've always wanted to go as a "GOD HATES FAGS" protestor for Halloween.

[clobetasol]

I'm positive homosexuality is a major sin in the big three religions. So why does it surprise anyone, that fags are treated this way?

[Milkster]

I'm positive homosexuality is a major sin in the big three religions. So why does it surprise anyone, that fags are treated this way?

Because people pick and choose which laws and guidelines set forth by some deity should be followed. Also, the pure hatred and hypocrisy spouted by these types of people and sheer ignorance.