The past several weeks has featured a lot of press about gay bullying, primarily against teenagers, but several high profile cases involved college students as well. Perhaps this is simply a new spin on a re-worn topic, but bullying goes on everywhere and against everyone–not just GLBT youths.
I absolutely support the campaigns against bullying, but I can’t support the idea that somehow bullying over someone’s sexual orientation is so much worse than any other type. Being singled out and called names because of who you are sucks. Period.
Some may feel that the historical stigma against the GLBT community justifies the emphasis the media has been giving to gay bullying. However, many groups have been brutally treated over things about themselves they cannot change. In India, the “Untouchables” are ostracized for no other reason than being born of a low class. The French government recently ousted over a thousand Romani people from its country. Here in the US, African-American men and women were considered sub-human for decades–and this was POST-slavery.
Instead isolating one bullied group each year, we should look a the issue of bullying itself and address it directly. It doesn’t matter who is bullied. What we must consider is why people bully and what can we do to stop it? Period.
This amazing short animation was made by Malcom Morrison and was posted on YouTube.
