Posted on 01/05/2011 9:30:34 AM PST by markomalley
The U.S. Justice Department went into a public high school on Tuesday with a message for students: If you’re “different,” if you’re gay, and if you’re being bullied – don’t feel alone, don’t be ashamed, and don’t hesitate to call on the federal government for help if your school doesn’t stop the bullying.
“If you have been targeted for harassment or bullying because of your sexual orientation, because of your gender identity or expression, or simply because your classmates see you as different, I am here to tell you that the Civil Rights Division will not stand for it,” Tom Perez, the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, told students at James Hubert Blake High School in Silver Spring, Md.
As part of the event – sponsored by the school’s administration and its gay-straight alliance – Perez played a videotape in which mostly gay and lesbian Civil Rights Division employees (and one who identified herself as intersex) shared their stories of being bullied at school. They also offered supportive messages to those who are being bullied now:
“You do have allies -- we are here for you,” one Civil Rights Division employee says in the video.
“If you can find some hope in the fact that you have a whole community of people out here – people who you’ve never met, and we’ve never met you, but we think of you and care about you and want you to be safe and want you to be happy,” another employee says.
“Being different is cool,” another employee says.
“When I was in grade school and high school, I was bullied. But now I prosecute bullies,” says yet another employee.
“Don’t be ashamed of who you are, just keep on being yourself.”
The video was produced by the Civil Rights Division staff for submission to the national “It Gets Better” Project, which was launched after a string of suicides of homosexual students who reportedly had been bullied. The project is intended to reassure LGBT youth that life gets better after high school.
Following the assistant attorney general’s remarks and the video presentation, students at Blake High School were invited to sign the “It Gets Better” Pledge, which reads as follows: “Everyone deserves to be respected for who they are. I pledge to spread this message to my friends, family and neighbors. I'll speak up against hate and intolerance whenever I see it, at school and at work. I'll provide hope for lesbian, gay, bi, trans and other bullied teens by letting them know that ‘It Gets Better.’"
According to a blog on the Justice Department’s Web site, Perez told students that in addition to the Civil Rights Division bringing cases against bullies, “we also need to address the attitudes and behavior that lead to bullying.”
Perez gave the students examples of how the Justice Department has intervened in cases of bullying – including the case of an openly homosexual teenager in New York who “failed to conform to gender stereotypes.”
A settlement reached in that case requires the school district to, among other things, retain an expert consultant to review policies related to harassment, and train faculty and staff annually on discrimination and harassment.
They are protected. They are a subdivision of the homosexuals.
Nope, but I'm only in my mid-40s.
I remember my late father's attitude on a great many things, so I'm confident such a time existed.
It must have been nice!
Not in this world.
What about being Bullied at College for being Conservative?
You’d have to look long and hard to find someone who was *not* bullied consistently for 10 years in school.
The problem I have with anti-bullying measures in school is the definition of “bullying”. Most folks probably agree that physical aggression and direct personal degradation are out of bounds.
On the other side of the coin is perceived or “soft” bullying, which is where the problem comes in. I saw a presentation on bullying at my children’s grade school a few months back. These days, just not including someone in your conversation circle is considered bullying!
Imagine that! If I don’t want to talk to you, I’m bullying you. That’ll play out well, won’t it? And to say that it’s not tolerated in adult life, is just BS. If I don’t want to have a conversation with someone, I won’t and no Justice Department employee is going to say otherwise. Same goes for my kids.
Hard bullying, fine, ban it, it already is banned under other names (assault, hazing, menacing). Soft bullying, well, I’d suggest people teach their kids to use it as life lesson instead of running off to the nanny state over it.
There has to be a way to get this to work. How about if they are fat white Christian and gay. Can we bully them yet?
I was unaware the definition had changed so much. I was speaking of “hard” bullying.
I would have been thrilled if they’d just left me alone.
My point was that true “assault, hazing, menacing” is often accepted in schools when it wouldn’t be in a workplace, for instance. Or at least it was 35 years ago.
This is such a ridiculous statement.
Child molesters deserve to be respected for who they are.
Wife beaters deserve to be respected for who they are.
Poisoners deserve to be respected for who they are.
People who eat their own feces deserve to be respected for who they are.
People who burn kitties alive for fun deserve to be respected for who they are.
Need I go on ?
It's not "who they are". It's WHAT THEY DO !!
What if you’re bullied at school for being straight, or for being a geek, or fat, or maybe short?
Will the DOJ be stepping in?
Excellent post.
The Federal Government is telling children that anal sex “gets better”????????
A doctor should be the next guest of that school...and take those kids on a walk thru a ward with young homosexuals who cannot even hold their feces in anymore, FGS!
What the heck is going on here? Do these parents know what this school is doing?
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