“Mourners at Rutgers University honored the memory of Tyler Clementi, whose death last week was the fifth suicide by a gay teenager in the last three weeks. Seth Walsh, a 13-year-old in Tehachapi, Calif., hanged himself from a tree in his backyard last month and died after more than a week on life support.” ~ New York Times
I try not to get angry on a blog that is supposed to be spiritual in nature, but I am beside myself. What is it going to take for people to STOP teaching hate? How many children and teens have to die before we wake up?
Religious leaders, politicians and parents who know, love or support gays and lesbians, to you I say, “thank you and God bless you.” You have no idea how important your role is in today’s society. You might think to yourself, “I am just one person, how can I have that much of an effect on other people?”
It only took one or two people hating, teasing and bullying to drive five gay youths to take their own lives in the last three weeks alone. One or two people’s teasing, bullying and harassment created such a hostile environment that these children saw no other way out of the torture than to kill themselves.
If you are a religious leader, politician, or parent supporting anti-gay policies like “Proposition 8,” “Defense of Marriage Act” and “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” don’t fool yourself into thinking that these laws, beliefs or policies are simply defending marriage or protecting our servicemen. On the contrary, these laws give people the impression that gays and lesbians have less value and don’t deserve the same rights or respect as every other human being, therefore, bullying, degradation and harassment are tolerated.
If five children of any particular race or religion had committed suicide because of bullying or harassment in just three weeks time, people would be outraged. It’s time to be outraged! I believe in free speech, absolutely, 100%. But you are absolutely, 100% responsible for the good and the harm caused by exercising your right to speak your mind.
So please, I am begging you to set aside your “beliefs” and use your words responsibly. Use your words to spread love, compassion and empathy and just for a moment, imagine if it was your child that had been driven to suicide by hateful words. Regardless of your beliefs, choose to speak out against hate.
