One of the newest forms of sexual harassment involves LGBTQ (Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transgendered & Queers). Young LGBTQ people may be more at-risk for bullying, taunting, harassment, physical assault, and suicide.
Over a 10 year period, more than 7,000 LGBTQ middle and high school students were surveyed. The survey[1] found that:
} 8 in 10 LGBTQ students had been verbally harassed at school
} 4 in 10 had been physically harassed at school
} 6 in 10 felt unsafe at school
} 1 in 5 had been the victim of a physical assault at school
Below are some comments (from our Reportbullying.com surveys) from students:
…I am 13 and get bullied every day at school…
…All I wish is to get out of this hellhole. No one knows, and I don’t want anyone to know, but I just want this to stop…
…People were writing gay slurs about me daily. And it is unfair…
…I just want somebody to love. Why should it be this hard…
How can we change our mindset and create a paradigm shift?
} Do not tolerate any form of sexual name-calling or jokes
} Educate all students, staff, and community
} Develop an LGBTQ club at your school
} Have an open-door policy for students to see counselors concerning their sexual orientation
Every day, all around us, a large number of people are being bullied by unknown bullies. People are taunted, threatened, tormented, and face bullying in so many other forms, but don’t know what to do. They continue living in fear, which engulfs them completely, affecting their relationship with their family, friends, and at times even the whole community.
By failing to recognize these hidden forms of bullying and not taking appropriate actions to stop this bullying behavior from occurring, we are actually encouraging it. This non-action on our part is actually promoting the violence instead of making an effort to stop it. When we do nothing to stop bullying, we actually are giving the green signal to the bullies encouraging them to hurt people. At the same time, by doing so, we are telling the victims that we don’t care about them which antagonizes them further and makes them hostile about society in general.
We should always keep in mind that it is our collective responsibility to make our communities safe for all our families and we should put in our best efforts in doing so.
