Wednesday, October 06, 2010

It Gets Better

Unless you live under a rock (or in Cleveland), by now you've seen on blogs and Facebook the various celebrity "It Gets Better" videos. The idea came from Dan Savage in response to the recent GLBTQ teen suicides. But for me, there is one video that stands from all the rest.

Tim Gunn: It Gets Better

First off, wow!! This certainly affirmed the notion that you just never really know where people have been and what they've been through. I mean, to see someone as smart, strong and confident as Tim Gunn is now, and then to find out that he was taunted and bullied as a teen to the point of attempting suicide is startling.

For many teens the mental and physical abuse endured at school because they are gay or perceived to be gay becomes more than they can bear, resulting in suicide attempts. This angers me a great deal because I think we ALL believe that schools should be a safe place for kids to learn. And although some bullying and abuse is committed secretly, not all of it is. Some of it has occurred in front of teachers and other faculty who have not stepped in as they should. School personnel should institute a zero tolerance policy for bullying and then be held accountable for enforcing it.

And I do not want to hear "Kids will be kids..." How would you feel if it were YOUR kid who was being teased, taunted, bullied, beaten, or verbally abused? Would you still think it was acceptable teen behavior? I think not.

I was fortunate in the sense that, although my parents likely recognized I was 'not like most other boys' when I was growing up, they never forced me to participate in sports, fishing, or other activities in which I had no interest. I also received very little teasing and bullying at school, which was probably a combination of selective memory and the fact that I tried hard to hide my true self.

Crush du Jour: Rob Marciano
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1 comment:

BosGuy said...

CNN certainly does have some hotties on their network. Maybe they should try that in their advertising since falling behind MSNBC in recent ratings.

They could say something like "Smarter than Fox and Hotter than MSNBC". Then maybe havve Marciano and Cooper side by side and shirtless looking into the camera.

1:42 PM

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