There was a time when Justin Anderson pondered suicide.
During his freshman and sophomore years at Blaine High School, he hadn't quite come to terms with being gay. He needed help. But how do you go about getting it?
"I wanted to talk to someone, but I was too scared to seek someone out," said the 18-year-old, now a student at Anoka-Ramsey Community College. "When I was closeted going through high school and middle school, I never heard anything positive about a gay person or a positive portrayal of gay issues. Only that gays were Holocaust victims."
Recent news about GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender)-related suicides involving high school students in the Anoka-Hennepin school district, as well as a Rutgers University student who plunged to his death off New York City's George Washington Bridge, have brought into sharp focus the pressures that can haunt GLBT youth.
In Anoka-Hennepin early this week, GLBT advocates charged that school officials are not doing enough to support GLBT students. They targeted a district policy stating that sexual orientation isn't part of the district curriculum and therefore teachers should remain "neutral" in dealing with such issues.
Advocates said seven suicides in the past year by students who attended or were connected with Anoka-Hennepin schools added a sense of urgency to their campaign. Four of those suicides, they said, were "based on their perceived GLBT orientation."
GLBT students are often harassed. Many struggle with their own identity. They're also considered to be at higher risk for suicide than other students. A local gay-advocacy group says nearly two-thirds of metro area school districts don't include sexual orientation in their harassment policies.
As Avidor pointed out, when this issue came up while Michele Bachmann was in the State Senate, Bachmann's concern about anti-bullying legislation was that it would "turn boys into girls."
No comments:
Post a Comment