We hear it in the news, we see photos of the result of it and tombstones are left in the wake of it. No matter who you are you have a right to be just that...YOU! Being laughed at, called names, living in fear...living in terror...want to win the fight against terrorism, then stop ignoring bullying, because rather it is a race of people, a country, a community or one child living in terror it has to stop. If these threats were made against a country it would be Terrorism, but when it is one person we call it Bullying. No matter what you call it, it has to stop.
The two top reasons for bullying in schools today are for lack of athletic ability and for homosexuality or the belief that one is homosexual. I started gathering stories of bullying. The stories below we told by someone actually knowing the victim or was the victim themselves.....
A young man with harmless crushes that never grew into more. He was no threat to anyone, a kind soul for sure. Attacked by two men in the shadows of an alley. Never showing violence towards anyone, only being a victim of it. Never haven even shown any type of attraction to his attackers, yet, to them he should feel pain. He should feel hurt. As they beat him up, two against one, a cowards game they played. This attack would not be looked upon blindly. A hero came to his rescue letting the men know that he had allies too. Unfortunately, though love and bravery lives in the open, hate and cowards hide in the dark. Bullets flew later outside of his home and he fell to his death. The ground stained with the blood of someone who did no harm to anyone as those who pulled the trigger where never caught and to this day, nineteen years later, they walk among us free and never brought to justice for the crime they did. He will not be forgotten, for this day we share his story. Today we share the tragedy of his death and that we could not have him here with us today. What would he say about the iphone? Would he have been an inventor of one of the must have applications we all download everyday? Would he have been a patron of one the airports that one of the airplanes of 9/11 took off? Would he have spotted the box cutters? Could he have changed history? Instead of letting him live his life was take away because of how he loved.
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She is a beautiful girl. She tells her family she is gay and they cannot accept it. They talk to a male friend of theirs and ask her if he will date her daughter and "turn her straight." She is angry, he tries and tries but fails. One evening she is walking out of a gay club. He follows her, beats her in the parking until she receives massive head injuries. She was taken to the ICU. Her parents met her there, told her that she was not to press charges, because they had hopes that he would still take her. Posts went out on facebook wishing her well, people posted right under the announcement as to what happened to her. "Well, it is a sin to be gay according to the Bible." People ignored the violence against her, ignored the clear sin of hate and further attacked her. They justified the attackers actions of violence and harm with the Bible.
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Two lesbians sitting at a private party with friends. One of the men came over to one of them and said, "I want to eat your p...." something that should not be said to anyone at anytime. The girlfriend to the girl this was said to stands up and asks him to apologize. He says, "No." four of his friends stand up and attack the girlfriend taking that told him to apologize. As he was beating on her, they screamed at them both "You freaks." Five men beat on an innocent woman. Her girlfriend was able to hold one back after a struggle, but could not fight them all off. They broke her nose, busted her ribs, spit on her. They turned to the other girl and said that she just needed to get "F^&*ed by the right man. Before they could carry through on that, help arrived. The wives to these men showed up and put an end to it.
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These are three stories that I have I didn't read on the news. These are stories that were not reported but are clear signs of violence against the LGBT community purely for being who they are. Families condoning it, Bible used to justify it, straight men turning behaving like sexual predators, not homosexuals, straight me. Every one of these stories I have spoke to someone directly involved in it. I didn't have to search hard either. Imagine how many people in your world, in your life that may have fallen victim to bullying. If your child is gay and has not told you, goes to school and the other kids know (because kids are perceptive), they are bullying him/her, beating them, spiting on them, and you are a parent standing up against the State of California for trying to take measures against bullying....the hole time this being a protection for your own kid and you don't even know it....how would you feel?
If you are so anti-gay do you think your child will feel comfortable coming to you and telling you they are gay? No. Do you want them to be going through this persecution silently, and even persecution by you as a parent and not even know it? You can say you are anti-gay, but I will tell you right now many of you that are...have a child that is gay and is scared to tell you because of your views. As you are screaming hate and persecution for other's you are also doing so for your own child and don't even know it.
Now I am not saying that every child is living in silence, don't be ridiculous, but I promise you there are a large number that are. In my community of LGBT friends I can tell you roughly 90% of them did not come out until after they were out of their parents home. Some of them, their parents still don't know. I dated a girl once, she ended up in the hospital, when she was in there all she wanted was me, while under the influence of the medicine and not with clear thought she kept asking for me. This was how her family learned she was gay. They asked her when she was awake who I was, she was forced to tell them. Imagine, your child in a hospital bed in pain, she was on life support for a short time, and at that moment learning your child is gay. Learning that your child has had someone in their life that they care about and you didn't even know it. Lets take it a step farther. Imagine your child being murdered because they are gay. You are a parent fighting against anti-bullying, you learn at your child's funeral that some of the kids at their school murdered them because they were gay, and you didn't even know it.
Think this could not possible be you? Think your child could not possibly be gay? My parents thought the same thing. They were wrong. 90% of my LGBT friend's parents, thought the same thing, they were wrong. So, would you be for the bullying if the target was your own child? Would you fight against measures to stop it if you knew that? Is that a risk you are willing to take? Of all the parents fighting against it, I assure you there is at least one that has a homosexual child and doesn't even know it, probably more. Do you want to be that parent?