Today I was watching some television and I happened to turn on MTV. And what was on made me hesitate and watch. The show is called It Gets Better and it's about how teens that come out to their families have to try really hard to find acceptance. Teenagers are looking for acceptance from their PARENTS. In my perspective, I think parents should love their kids unconditionally.
Throughout the show, it showed various statistics pertaining to gay teens. These numbers really shocked me.
30% of teen suicides are committed by gay and lesbian teenagers.
50% of all gay and lesbian teens say their parents reject them because of their sexual orientation.
26% of these teens are forced to leave their home.
Gay students hear anti-gay slurs at an average of 27 times a day and teachers intervene in about 3% of those cases.
27% of gay or lesbian teens have been physically hurt by another student.
Atleast 75% of crimes against gay or lesbian teens are never reported.
These numbers lead me to the fact that bullying should absolutely be illegal; any form of bullying whether it be in person, in the form of a rumor or on the computer. Also, whoever thinks being gay is a choice is utterly wrong. You see these numbers, why would someone chose this? It's who they are and it's what you need to look past.
I watched the video on youtube of the boy who made the video "It Gets Better" and it really hit my emotionally. I did not completely understand the pain and suffering gays and lesbians go through each day until I watched his video. Many would be more accepting if the parents themselves would support their children!
ReplyDeleteWhat ideas do you have about the implementation and enforcement concerning making all bullying illegal? I feel as if that would be quite difficult to do, and who was bullying and who wasn't would come down to an awful lot of judgement calls. Also what kind of punishment could be the result for a bully if bullying became illegal, and would there be various levels of punishment, or just a blanket response?
ReplyDeleteFor one my dear, my blog isn't about bullying being illegal. It was just a statement. As far as the enforcement, I think teachers should intervene in schools more and as far as on the Internet, I think parents need to raise their kids better. Not to be little brats, per say. Thank you, have a nice day.
DeleteHaha, I apologize, my intent was not to insinuate that your blog was about bullying, I was just merely wondering about that particular section, because I was intrigued by the idea in your original post. Also, I agree, parents could and should do a better job of teaching their children common decency and such.
Delete