Today is the 13th annual Day of Silence, which is the largest single student-led action towards creating safer schools for all, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. Students across the country will bring attention to the issues of harassment and name calling of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) youth by staying silent.
Unfortunately, nearly 9 out of 10 LGBT youth (86.2%) reported being verbally harassed at school in the past year because of their sexual orientation, nearly half (44.1%) reported being physically harassed and about a quarter (22.1%) reported being physically assaulted, according to the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network's (GLSEN) 2007 National School Climate Survey of more than 6,000 LGBT students.
In our own studies of LGBT young people living in Chicago we found that 94% of them had experienced some kind of victimization because of their sexual orientation or gender expression, including things like being threatened with physical violence, having things thrown at them, being chased, or spat upon. We also found that these kinds of experiences were strongly related to depression and suicidal feelings. While the only way to stop these toxic effects is by preventing the bullying and violence, we also found that peer and family support promote mental health. This means we need to stop the violence AND support LGBT young people.
This year I will be commemorating the day of silence by mourning the loss of 11 year old Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, who hung himself last week after enduring bullying at school, including daily taunts of being gay, despite his mother's weekly pleas to the school to address the problem. Carl, a middle-school student in Massachusetts who did not identify as gay, would have turned 12 today. His death reminds us that you don't have to identify as gay to suffer the negative effects of stigma experienced by LGBT people in our society. While our research shows that the vast majority of LGBT youth grow up to be happy and healthy adults, we also need to remember those who are suffering from this kind of bias and discrimination and do what we can to help. Below are a few links with more information and organizations that you may want to consider supporting.
http://www.glsen.org
http://www.dayofsilence.org
http://www.PFLAG.org
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