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Written by admin
Dec 2, 2010
While taking a break and contemplating the prospect of having great food and company over Thanksgiving, I received a call about parents seeking legal help to try to deal with their child experiencing anti-gay bullying – it had gone way too far.
GSAFE doesn’t offer legal assistance, but we can help parents understand how to take steps in a grievance process in schools.
The telephone conversation made me reflect on how youth who come out can fear the type of harassment to which the person on the phone referred.
An LGBT middle school or high school student, already trying to figure out what it means to be growing up and fitting in, has the added stress of trying to decide whether to remain closeted or not. Internally negotiating how out to be is an aspect of human development that the majority of youth simply do not experience. Will I be a target? Will my parents accept me? These are real life questions. And even though it is better for LGBT people of all ages now than it was 15 years ago, it is still not easy.
I know that many youth this holiday season are trying to figure out if they should be open about who they are to their families, sometimes extended family members they don’t see all the time. It wasn’t that many years ago when it seemed I knew more LGBT adults with strained family relationships because of their being sexual minority than I knew ones who were accepted by their families. It is better today, and some LGBT youth are celebrated in all or almost all corners of their lives. But right now I’m thinking of those teens who are trying to figure out how to approach the holidays. We remember that it is not easy for them and hold them in our thoughts. May they be embraced by their families and communities. May those who are bullied find respite and those who bully find what they really need in their lives, as we all try to make it better.
Cindy Crane
Gay Straight Alliance for Safe Schools, Madison
