Melanie Nathan: 10-01-10:-
There are two more teen suicides. Bringing recent deaths to 6. I am unable to confirm whether these young men are gay or not- but have heard rumor that in both cases it is possible they were teased or having a difficult time of sorts.
- 17 year old Felix Sacco from Saugus, Massachusetts
, who committed suicide on Wednesday.
- 15 year old Harrison Chase Brown from Rand, Colorado, who took his life on Saturday, September 25th.
This brings the total to six dead youngsters – all due to bullying- hate- self recrimination. I have a BIG question to ask here. Who are the terrorists; I have not noticed any teen deaths lately at the hands of Osama bin Laden – mm not these past weeks – not here in America.
Wake up America the only terrorists are those encountered by these youngsters in Churches, homes and schools…. this Country is not safe for gays and lesbians & LGBTQI- and this is why-
RECIPE FOR HOME GROWN TERRORISTS_
1. Religious Right Wing Bigots- Bully pulpit Missionaries and Preachers spreading fear through hateful lies – Anyone who tells a congregation that a son or a daughter or anyone in the room is an abomination in the eyes of a deity ought to be put against a wall and urgh.. can I even say it – shot? NO – Tax Status revoked yes that is a good start. Because rest assured that someone some where down the chain is going to die as a result of this type of teaching.
2. Parents teaching children to hate gays and lesbians by modeling anti-gay behavior and fostering use of words like “faggot” etc.
3. School Districts, Principals, Officials - by not taking bullying seriously – there should be a zero tolerance policy. Bullies should be expelled and kicked out of schools never to be allowed back. Parents should know that if their kids were caught bullying or calling names, then they would be the ones to have home school the child. Trust me that would wake parents up – to get on their kids – to teach right from wrong. Principals stand to lose funding with expulsions – maybe then they would take this matter seriously.
4. The Government ( all of Congress) of the USA:- The failure of the Government to legislate non discrimination and equality laws, the failure to repeal separatist and anti-gay legislation, on each and every aspect of LGBT civil rights and basic human rights, endorses the marginalization of gays, lesbians and transgender people, thereby providing license for hate. If a sitting congress charged with upholding the constitution messages an entire country through act or omission in legislation that gays and lesbians are not worthy and are NOT equal, then the message is that it is okay to hate gays and lesbians.
5. Politicians who use gay rights and equality as a wedge issue to incite hate, fear, for campaign purposes are in fact contributing to the ill treatment of gays. People hear anti gay advertisements – such as those my child was bombarded with in California during the proposition 8 vote campaign.
6. The creation of organizations specifically to target and scapegoat gays and lesbians, to raise money by asserting gays as having an agenda to be feared, describing gays and LGBT families as threats to straight marriage and lifestyles, thereby creating a hate cottage industry that brings in nice dollars and salaries for those at the helm.
MIX IN ALL of the above – a steaming hot giant size bowl of terrorism- enough to feed 200 million - cooked up by our own and fed to our own.
Seems we have more to fear here than from those supposed overseas threats. Anti-Gays- you are traitors to this Constitution and Republican obstructionists you are narcissistic pigs – our worst enemies -you are killing our kids. We need to normalize GAY by Equality and validation – anything short of that is aiding and abetting the destruction of our gay and lesbian teens.
Each and everyone in this country who has contributed to this climate that exudes unacceptability – intolerance is GUILTY of this abomination.
Has anyone noticed that these suicides have spiked at a time when the Congress failed to repeal DADT – and all the news that surrounded the comments made by the higher ups? What is a youngster to think and feel when the most notable and accomplished people in this Country yell from the halls of Congress “YOU ARE NO GOOD YOU ARE NO GOOD!”
Has anyone noticed that the timing is concurrent with NOM Bus Tours rolling around this Country, with the Birth of Tea Party Rallies, 50Cents – Rapper screaming ‘faggotory,’ Glenn Beck‘s march, and Westborough Baptist Church signs on sidewalks outside schools and the rise of the crazy wicked witches (Angle, O’Donnel, Bachmann and I happily forget the others ?
Good G-d America wake us up out of this HELL!!!
Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com
@oblogdeeoblogda
tori tornone
July 11, 2011 at 1:28 am
I AM A CHRISTIAN AND LOVE EVERY LGBTQI PERSON DON’T BLAME IT ON CHRISTIANS ONLY THE FAKE ONES WOULD BE THE BIGOTS, THANK YOU~
cynthia
October 4, 2010 at 10:31 pm
.. thank you melanie.. this must be stopped..
Melanie Nathan
October 4, 2010 at 10:47 pm
Thanks for reading Cynthia
Natalie
October 2, 2010 at 9:51 pm
One huge problem is that the law has not yet caught up with technology. Many states do not have laws on the books to deal with cyberbullying and other forms of digital issues (like sexting where many teens have been prosecuted for violating ‘child porn’ laws since prosecutors didn’t know how to deal with these acts). We need to see some stiff penalties imposed for cyberbullying type cases so that kids and adults start realizing how serious the consequences to their actions may be. At the same time, we need to educate at home and at school. We need to address prejudices and teach respect, tolerance and acceptance for everyone. Perhaps a required class in school should be community service where all students engage at the community level, are educated on social issues and become a part of something bigger than them.
Melanie Nathan
October 4, 2010 at 10:47 pm
Agreed Natalie
Hazumu
October 2, 2010 at 8:54 am
Yes, anti-gay rhetoric and actions has bee on the uptick for a while, capped with the failure of US Congress and the President to provide any meaningful relief from the inequality cast upon LGBT folks.
But I don’t think that the source of animus is parents passing it on to children, thus ‘breaking the cycle’ by preventing the teaching of animus and replacing it with the teaching of tolerance/acceptance/celebration may be doomed to failure.
There is evidence that these biases are largely genetic and built in. If a man and a woman who both have standard-issue prejudices meet, marry, and procreate, the chance their progeny will be predisposed to the same prejudices is very high. Then, being exposed to active intolerance ‘from the inside,’ as it were, will reinforce and strengthen what is already there.
The problem of intolerance needs to be dealt with. But please do your homework and figure out what really has the best chance of effecting the change we need, rather than announcing unworkable ‘if we’d only teach them tolerance, they’d see’ campaigns.
The unworkable – however well-meaning – can be worse in the long run by delaying the finding of a workable method of mitigating intolerance.
Melanie Nathan
October 4, 2010 at 10:46 pm
I dont think I have the answer – I do not believe there is an answer. But one thing for sure is that if gays and lesbians were not a wedge issue, if parents corrected slurs, if schools took bullying seriously and if we had equality – things would be a whole lot different. For example the Civil Rights Act had the impact of diminishing the overt racial inequities and the reliance of racists to think they had the law or the public on their side!!! Of course it does not eradicate racism for those who may be as you put it predisposed thru genetics. But is has changed the climate in this Country in a way that racist bullies know they do not have America on their side. GET THE POINT??
Henry Juhala
October 2, 2010 at 5:52 am
Melanie — I concur so much with what you wrote here. Thanks. One name I think you may have overlooked is Raymond Chase who was a 19 year old student at Johnson and Wales in Rhode Island. He was an out gay male who hung himself in his dorm room last week.
Melanie Nathan
October 4, 2010 at 10:42 pm
thanks we may have already reported his death but i will check.