Teaching Tolerance’s new documentary, Bullied: A Student, a School and a Case that Made History, shows how one bullied student stood up to his tormenters. Why is this story so important? The answer comes from the June 3 Seattle Times:
Hundreds of protesters and counter-protesters clashed outside Mount Si High School in the Snoqualmie Valley in 2008 over The Day of Silence, an annual event meant to call attention to the harassment of gay students.
Now, a brutal assault in the boys' locker room is raising questions about the climate for gay students at the school and whether administrators are doing enough to respond to bullying.
The November attack was the culmination of several weeks of taunts about the perceived sexual orientation of a freshman boy, his mother said. The assault victim was another 14-year-old boy who told Snoqualmie police that he was tired of his friend being picked on.
The assault broke his eye socket, two teeth and left him with a concussion. Medical assistance wasn't called for almost an hour, and the boy continues to have problems with dizziness and concentration, according to medical records.
This story reached the news media. Many similar stories do not, especially when the harassment and violence are not as blatant. Yet as all teachers know, bullies don’t have to be violent to make someone’s life miserable.
Teaching Tolerance would like to hear about instances of anti-gay harassment and violence that you’ve witnessed. We plan to use the stories with the documentary to highlight the severity of this still widely ignored problem.
Please email your story to editor@teachingtolerance.org. Type in the email itself with no attachments and put “Anti-Gay Harassment” in the subject field. Also, be sure to include your name, phone number and other contact information.
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