(MY view) Homophobic Tennessee lawmakers can eat my grits!

by Ken Williams, SDGLN

 
Ever been to Tennessee, the Volunteer State? Tap your toes in Nashville, the heart of country music? Hike through the majestic Smoky Mountains? Traipse through Elvis’ Graceland mansion in Memphis? Or visit Ruby Falls and Rock City in Chattanooga?

Lots of wonderful people are from Tennessee: historical figures like Davy Crockett and Sequoia; singers such as Dolly Parton, Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin and Isaac Kaye; celebrities like Dinah Shore, Cybil Shepherd and Morgan Freeman. Some of my ancestors are from there, too.

PAYBACK: Tuscaloosa County, AL Threatened with Lawsuit for Censoring Gay Student, Barring Her from Prom!

The Tuscaloosa County Board of Education is being threatened with a lawsuit by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which is ordering the district "to stop its censorship of speech supportive of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and its prohibition against same-sex couples at the prom" according to the Tuscaloosa News.

The threat stems from at least one alleged incident in early January: On Jan. 5, a Brookwood High School administrator asked Elizabeth Garrett, a 10th-grader at Brookwood, to remove a hooded sweatshirt with a slogan on it reading, “Warning, This Individual Infected With ‘The Gay,' Proceed With Caution.”

When asked why she had to take off the sweatshirt, the administrator told Garrett that it was distracting, said Sam Wolfe, the SPLC attorney leading the case. Garret disagreed with the administrator, but took off the sweatshirt in the bathroom while the administrator waited outside to confirm that she had removed the sweatshirt when she came out.

MESSAGE: Education Secretary Arne Duncan Marks First National Gay-Straight Alliance Day with Anti-Bullying Message!

Obama's Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has posted a video on the White House blog marking the first annual Gay-Straight Alliance Day, which is today.

Says Duncan, in part: "When students are harassed or bullied, it directly affects their work in the classroom, their aspirations for the future, and their desire to stay in school. Gay-Straight Alliances and similar student groups play an important role in creating welcoming, affirming, and respectful schools and colleges – safe places where learning can happen and students flourish. This work is absolutely essential. GSAs are a proven tool for creating welcoming school climates and helping students stay in school."

AGAIN, PLEASE, STOP: Phillip Parker, 14, Has Killed Himself!

Another one. From WSMV.com: A Gordonsville boy's parents say bullying caused their son to take his own life.  Phillip Parker, 14, died this week. His parents said he was constantly bullied for being gay.

STOP: Gay California Teen Kills Himself After Years of Bullying!

The Sacramento Bee has yet another awful story of a gay teen whose suicide on New Year's Day appears to have years of homophobic bullying as its root cause.

The paper reports:In the early hours of New Year's Day, Jeffrey hanged himself in the front entrance to his family's home in a tony Granite Bay neighborhood. He was 18 years old.

Since that day, his parents have searched their hearts and minds for answers. Though Jeffrey, who was gay, had recently ended a relationship and had been treated for depression, they believe something more insidious put him on the path toward suicide. They are convinced that a lifetime of taunts and bullying contributed to his decision to take his own life.

MARKED: Gay Teen Filmmaker and Trevor Project Intern Takes His Own Life!

Eric James Borges, a gay teen filmmaker from Visalia, California and intern with the Trevor Project, took his own life this week just a month after posting an 'It Gets Better' video chronicling some of the personal troubles he had been through in his past, which included both bullying and an exorcism which his own parents had performed on him in an attempt to turn him straight.

Blogger Jim Reeves writes about Borges' death in a recollection on his blog, Queer Landia. An event page for Borges' memorial has also been set up on Facebook.
Says Borges in the video: I was raised in an extremist Christian household. My earliest recollections of my experience with the relentless and ongoing bullying was in kindergarten, but of course to a lesser degree....Throughout elementary, junior high and high school it got progressively worse. I was physically, mentally, emotionally and verbally assaulted on a day-to-day basis for my perceived sexual orientation...'My name was not Eric but 'Faggot'...I reached my limit when I was assaulted in a full classroom with a teacher present. I dropped out, went on independent studies, graduated early and started college...My mother knew I was gay and performed an exorcism on me in an attempt to cure me....My anxiety, depression, self-loathing and suicidal thoughts spiked...I had nowhere safe to go, either at home or school... My parents told me that, among other things, I was disgusting, perverted, unnatural and damned to Hell. About two months ago they officially kicked me out of my house.

AGAIN: New York Bullying Victim Kills Herself!

A Staten Island 15-year-old whose family said she got bullied at school has died after walking in front of a bus holding a suicide note, reports the Daily News. Classmates had taken the belongings of Amanda Cummings and even made mean comments on her Facebook page after the incident, her uncle said. "I’m not going to tolerate this. I’m gonna go full force," said Keith Cummings. "Kids can't do this to each other." Amanda was a "beautiful, healthy, happy, normal young girl," said a cousin, but when it came to troubles at school, "she was pretty quiet about it." She was friends with an 18-year-old boy, which apparently made girls in her grade jealous. "She didn’t phrase it so much to the family but made little comments here and there ... in journals, online or through her Facebook page," said Brandy Henderson, adding that the family had been "trying to deal with" the issue. “I don’t feel anything towards (the bullies) except sadness that it had to lead to something like this."

AGAIN: Tennessee Teen Takes His Own Life After Years of Anti-Gay Bullying!

A Tennessee student has taken his own life following four years of bullying that classmates say the school didn't do enough about, WSMV reports: Friends say that kids bullied Jacob Rogers at Cheatham County Central High School for the past four years, but in the past few months it had become so bad he dropped out of school. And Wednesday, he ended his life.

"He started coming home his senior year saying 'I don't want to go back. Everyone is so mean. They call me a f****, they call me gay, a queer,'" friend Kaelynn Mooningham said.

Kaelynn said her friend Jacob felt ignored.

HAPPENING NOW: Bullied boy named Jonah pours heart out in self-made video called “What’s Going On”!

HEARTBREAKING: His name is Jonah and he’s in eighth grade. He’s been bullied since the first grade and been cutting himself since the second grade.

He’s made a video that is catching the attention of people today, including Oscar winner Dustin Lance Black who wrote in his blog a supportive message to Jonah: You’re a magnificent creature, a beautiful soul and we need you in this world. I know I’m not alone in sending you my love and appreciation tonight.
It’s hard not to shed tears along with Jonah as he holds up a series of cards that express how he feels about being bullied and called names like Gay. Fag. Douche. Homo. Asshole.

STAY IN: Houston Chronicle Columnist Instructs Parents to Tell Their Gay Kids to Stay in the Closet for Their Own Safety!

Houston Chronicle columnist Kathleen McKinley has penned an incredibly homophobic and irresponsible column suggesting that LGBTQ teens should be told by their parents to stay in the closet for their own safety.

McKinley says she came up with her brilliant idea after reading a People magazine about gay teen suicides due to bullying. Am I mad at the hateful mean kids who bully and tease these teens? You bet I am. But I am just as mad at the idiotic adults who force our adult views on kids, and pull them into our adult world long before they are mature enough to handle it. The 13 year old that killed himself told his Mom he was gay. She said she already knew and hugged him. She said she just assumed that everyone else would be as accepting as she was.

Really? Have you been around teenagers? They are cruel and mean. They constantly tear each other down. It was bad when I was a teenager, I can only imagine what it’s like now. No, I don’t have to imagine how it is now. This is how it is now. Why in the world would you give teenagers a REASON to tease you? Oh, yes, because the adults tell you to embrace who you are, the only problem? Kids that age are just discovering who they are. They really have no idea yet.  The adults tell you to “come out,” when what we should be telling them is that sex is for adults, and there is plenty of time for figuring out that later.

INSULTING: Bullied UK Students Advised to 'Act Less Gay'!

In one school district in the UK, students being bullied over homosexuality have been advised to "act less gay" and change their appearance: In a damning report by Essex County Council, pupils revealed they had been accused of making themselves a target for bullies by choosing to behave or look differently. As wel l as criticising their supposed sexuality, teachers reportedly told youngsters to “wear their hair differently” if they wanted to avoid trouble.

The comments have been met with outrage by anti-bullying campaigners and gay and lesbian support groups across the county.

FRAUD: University Demands Workers Sign 'Not Gay' Pledge!

Georgia's Shorter University wants to know what's happening in its workers' bedrooms. The conservative Christian university is demanding that its 200 employees sign a "Personal Lifestyle Statement" rejecting homosexuality, adultery, and premarital sex, the New York Daily News reports.

Those who don't sign the pledge face losing their jobs. "I think that anybody that adheres to a lifestyle outside of what the biblical mandate is would not be allowed to continue here," the school's president says. The pledge also bans teachers and administrators from drinking alcohol in the presence of students and requires them to be active in local churches. Students aren't required to sign the statement but many of them, as well as some employees, are upset about the pledge, a university employee tells the Georgia Voice. "We now will live in fear that someone who doesn't like us personally or someone who has had a bad day will report that we've been drinking or that we are suspected of being gay," he says.

JUSTICE: High School Gay Basher In Chillicothe May Receive Harsher Punishment

New news from Unioto High School in Chillicothe, OH, where an alleged gay bashing was recorded on a cell-phone camera.


As reported on Thursday: A student at Union-Scioto High School ... was brutally beaten this week by another student for being gay. Class members watched as the bully waited for the student to arrive in the classroom, grabbed him, pushed him to the ground and punched him in the face several times.

Originally, the incident earned the bully a mere three-day suspension, even though the victim sustained dental damage and a possible concussion. Now that the video of the beating has gone viral, Unioto principal Jim Osborne says the penalty may change. "The discipline has been revisited based on the ongoing investigation and in light of the new evidence," Osborne told the Chillicothe Gazette. 

TARGETED: 'Real World' Cast Member Threatens to 'Beat the Gay' Out of His Lesbian Housemate!

Real World: San Diego housemate Zach learned the phrase "beat the gay out of you" somewhere and decided to casually use it against his lesbian housemate in last night's episode, which didn't go down too well.  

TV Squad explains: This week, when Sam approached Zach to let him know that she and Ashley were waiting on him, a verbal argument over the ping-pong paddles escalated. Zach accused her of wanting him to go get ready so she could play, and she countered by saying she would throw the paddles over the edge of the porch.

"I will beat the gay out of you if you throw these paddles off the porch," he snapped. "Don't play that game with me."

PROOF: Brutal Assault of Gay High School Student by Bully Caught on Tape!

A gay student at Union-Scioto High School in Chillicothe, Ohio was brutally beaten this week by another student for being gay. Class members watched as the bully waited for the student to arrive in the classroom, grabbed him, pushed him to the ground and punched him in the face.

Another student recorded the assault on his cell phone. The video was posted to Facebook.
The bully had harassed the gay student (who has not been identified) on Facebook a few days earlier, writing "You fag. Check out the definition of a fag."

(Into the Light Walk) Matthew Shepard Vigil in Field Where He was Murdered!

David Andreason and I went into the field where Matthew Shepard was murdered for being gay.

WELCOME: Tennessee School Allows Students to Wear Gay-Supportive T-Shirts Following Assault of Student by Principal!

Today, the ACLU reports that students will now be allowed to wear the T-shirts: The Monroe County Board of Education agreed yesterday to allow students to wear T-shirts in support of the formation of a gay-straight alliance (GSA) at the school. The board will also review its dress code to ensure that students’ rights to free speech are protected. The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Tennessee demanded that the board revise its policies after Sequoyah High School student Chris Sigler was reportedly harassed by students and staff for wearing a T-shirt supporting a GSA...

...“While it’s encouraging that the school district has vowed to review its dress code, Sequoyah High School still lacks a safe place where LGBT students and their peers can gather to support each other,” said Amanda Goad, staff attorney with the ACLU LGBT Project. “The events of the last few weeks show that the need for a GSA is greater than ever, and that the school needs to take seriously its obligation to protect all students from harassment and bullying.”

DISGUSTED: NJ Governor Chris Christie Calls Teacher Viki Knox's Anti-Gay Facebook Remarks 'Disturbing'!

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was asked about  the furor set off by Union High School teacher Viki Knox and her remarks on Facebook calling homosexuality a "perverted" sin that "breeds like cancer", the Star-Ledger reports: "I think that kind of example is not a positive one at all to be setting for folks who have such an important and influential position in our society," Christie said this morning on 770 WABC Radio. "I'm really concerned about those kinds of statements being made."

Christie said he finds the comments "disturbing."

Hundreds protested yesterday outside a school district board meeting.

Added Christie: "I would like to see an examination of how that teacher conducts herself in the classroom."

HAPPY SPIRIT DAY: Go PURPLE!

Show Your Spirit on October 20, 2011! How you can participate in #SpiritDay:

(Into the Light Walk) It Gets Better – Calling Mom from the Continental Divide!

by Alan Bounville
Into the Light Walker

I decided to make an It Gets Better video, calling my birth mother from the Continental Divide in Colorado, as I walk across the country for gender and sexual orientation equality. In 2008, my mother, step-father and other family members in Florida voted against LGBT civil rights by voting for Amendment 2 (Florida’s Proposition 8). A year later I stopped talking with them because of this divide between us. This is the first conversation my mother and I have had in two years.

Does it get better? At times like these I wonder. Watch the video of the phone call below.



DONATE to Into the Light Walk, by clicking HERE!