11-Year-Old Hangs Himself after Enduring Daily Anti-Gay Bullying
April 15, 2009
On April 5, an 11-year old boy committed suicide as a response to repeated bullying at school. The boy, who did not identify as gay, was harassed daily with homophobic slurs. The GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network) website has posted an article about this tragic event. The article includes four simple approaches schools can take to address bullying now. In the editorial, "'Getting Real' about bullying-related suicides," filmmaker Debra Chasnoff argues that adults and young people need to speak out against anti-gay hostility.
Discussion Questions:
- Who is responsible for stopping and preventing bullying? Students? Teachers? Other school officials? Parents?
- GLSEN Executive Director Kevin Jennings asserts, "Schools can take steps to ensure that all their students are safer, regardless of sexual orientation or gender expression/identity." To what extent do you agree or disagree with Jennings' statement? What do you think schools can do to stop and prevent the harassment of students based on perceived sexual orientation? What can schools and communities do to stop and prevent bullying in general?
- In most cases, bullying incidents go unreported. Why do you think this is the case? What do you think might happen if more victims reported their harassment to school authorities or other adults in the community? What would happen if bystanders also reported incidents of bullying to school officials or other adults in the community?
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