Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters: Oct 1, 2010

Friday, October 01, 2010

Know Your LGBT History - Beautiful Thing

It's been a sad time for the lgbt community, particularly our children. We fight so much for equality that sometimes we forget that there are other things we need to be concerned with such as self esteem and peer respect, as well as hope for the future. Those are the two things that our lgbt children need.

With that in mind, I want to feature one of the best movies that deals with lgbt youth.

Beautiful Thing (1996) is a simple movie of two young teens who fall in love in London. From Wikipedia:

Jamie (Glen Berry), a teen who is infatuated with his classmate, Ste (Scott Neal), has to deal with his single mother Sandra (Linda Henry), who is pre-occupied with ambitious plans to run her own pub and with an ever-changing string of lovers, the latest of whom is Tony (Ben Daniels), a neo-hippie. Sandra finds herself at odds with Leah (Tameka Empson), a sassy and rude neighbour who has been expelled from school, does several drugs, and constantly listens and sings along to her mother's Mama Cass records. While Jamie's homosexuality remains concealed, his introvert nature and dislike of football are reason enough for his classmates to bully him at every opportunity.

Needless to say, the two boys do fall in love and have to navigate a relationship throughout all of the mess.

And let me apologize for those who hate spoilers, but this movie has a happy ending which the following clip shows. Why am I revealing this? Because there is nothing wrong knowing that happy endings exist, whether in movies or real life:

Homophobic assistant AG takes leave of absence, Open season on lgbt youth?, and other Friday midday news briefs

Assistant AG takes leave of absence after national attention over blog against U-M student body president - A small degree of sanity reigns.

Johnson & Wales Student Commits Suicide - My God. Another life taken.

'It's really tough being different,' says supporter of site aimed at treating gays differently - If this doesn't get your blood boiling, nothing will. And for clarification's sake, studies say that lgbt youth are more likely to engage negative behaviors (i.e. suicide, drug and alchohol abuse) when they have to deal with a homophobic culture.

Peter LaBarbera Clarifies Why He Pulled His Post on NOM - An irrelevant homophobic loser spins another lie.

Parade Commodore to 14-year-old Girl: “Go To A Country Where They Hang People Like You” - Apparently it's open season on lgbt children and their allies.

URI student faces charges - What are these losers scared of?

In wake of anti-lgbt youth climate, Focus on the Family attacks GLSEN

Candi Cushman of Focus on the Family just released a critique of GLSEN (the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network)'s recent school climate report.

GLSEN's report found that in 2009:

. . . 7,261 middle and high school students found that at school nearly 9 out of 10 LGBT students experienced harassment at school in the past year and nearly two-thirds felt unsafe because of their sexual orientation. Nearly a third of LGBT students skipped at least one day of school in the past month because of safety concerns.

Naturally, Cushman and Focus on the Family disputes this. To make a long story short, Cushman is claiming that GLSEN's report is inaccurate because it:

. . . lists four authors—all of whom are employed by GLSEN, including Emily A. Greytak, who became involved with a GLSEN chapter 12 years ago and has worked for the organization since 2006; Elizabeth M. Diaz, who, as a GLSEN employee since 2004, conducts workshops opposing abstinence education; and GLSEN employee Mark J. Bartkiewicz, whose “research interests include LGBT students’ access to comprehensive sexual health education and the effects of inclusive LGBT curricula.”

Hardly what you’d call an objective research team—and then there’s the little fact that they are paid by an organization that has openly acknowledged its goal of getting gay, lesbian and transgender themes “fully integrated into curricula across a variety of subject areas and grade levels.”

Cushman is pushing the same old lie that GLSEN is trying to "introduce homosexual themes" into schools in order to "indoctrinate" children.

It's the standard lie she and Focus on the Family pushes and it's nothing new.

But the sad thing is that this attack is coming in a climate in which we have seen a recent outbreak of bullying and suicides of young lgbts including:

An 11-year-old sixth grader in Ohio had his arm broken by teenagers who called him a queer and a sissy because he wanted to be a cheerleader.

There's the suicide, by hanging, of 13-year-old Seth Walsh, in California.

The suicide, by means of his father's Beretta, of 13-year-old Asher Brown, in Texas.

and finally, the suicide of Rutgers freshman Tyler Clementi, which needs no introduction because we know the story.

In the long run, it doesn't matter who backed the GLSEN report or who created it.

Because based on recent events, the report has a degree of accuracy.

If Cushman or Focus on the Family really cared about the children, they would realize this instead of releasing a ridiculous critique that does nothing but demonstrate how uncaring and clueless they really are.

Related posts:

Focus on the Family's attack on anti-bullying efforts take centerstage on AC 360

Focus on the Family cites George Rekers in fighting anti-bullying efforts