It is hard to understand the extent to which someone has to be suffering in order to make them want to end his or her life.
It’s even more surprising when that person is in middle school.
Worst of all is the reasoning behind what has now become six suicides.
Asher Brown, Raymond Chase, Seth Walsh, Billy Lucas and Tyler Clement were all subjected to severe bullying all because they were or were under the assumption of being gay.
Asher Brown was only 13, a straight-A eighth grader received bullying because of his religion (he was Buddhist) and his sexuality.
Days before his suicide he was thrown down a flight of stairs among other senseless acts of torture at the hands of his peers.
His parents claim that they made appeals to teachers and principals to no avail and the end result was the lost life of a teenage boy who saw no hope for his situation.
It should be a priority to make sure that ignorance like this stops spreading and that hateful behavior of any sort is stamped out immediately.
It should be clear that the lives of these kids is not a political issue, it’s a practical one.
Kids should be able to be who they are and be their best selves without the learned bigotry of others getting in the way.
How did this society get to a point where children and even young adults of college age can exercise such blind hatred and prejudice to any group?
In school we are taught not to ridicule others for their race or religion. Why is it that we draw the line at those who are gay?
If one does not agree with any element of another person’s life, it is not their job to remind that person every day about it.
Even if one claims that it is their religion which does not permit them to agree with something.
It doesn’t make them some authority to govern over the lives of others and abuse them physically or otherwise.
Warren Throckmorton, a PhD Associate Professor of Psychology at Grove City College weighed in to CNN about laws that would include bullying of gay students as being illegal,
“Some Christian conservatives believe such laws communicate approval of homosexuality and thus disapproval of traditional Christian teaching on sexuality. My view is that evangelicals need to put ideological worries aside and become part of the solution. Addressing anti-gay biases doesn’t require anyone to change religious beliefs about sexuality.”
Protecting students from a world of misery from bullying can never be a bad thing.
Parents and everyone should work to maintain environments that promote one’s own beliefs and also an understanding that there will be differing beliefs that should be respected.
Tolerance is out.
One tolerates a bad smell or a messy roommate. In the economy of life, respect goes a long way.
Respect comes when there are differing cultures, political beliefs and partner preferences.
As easy as it is to dismiss, everyone can be subject to bullying.
All a middle school kid needs is the rumor that they are gay to suffer a torrent of bullying.
It is no question that laws should cover all kids to protect their mental well being and ability to go to school without worries of beatings and ridicule.
Remember that these are only the cases that have been featured and that many school-aged adolescents and young adults are experiencing bullying for a wide variety of reasons.
One can disagree or agree with a person, but mutual respect is a necessary lesson to be learned if we wish to create a well-rounded and accepting world.
Kids shouldn’t feel this anguish, especially over such a trivial issue.
Schools should do their best to protect all students or expect to suffer more losses.
I want to protect everyone’s rights and well being, be they gay, straight, Malaysian, Christian, Muslim or otherwise, because we all deserve to live in a society that truly embraces equal rights.
Nicole Robinson can be reached at nrobinson@spartans.ut.edu