Gay Parents and the Fight for Acceptance | Psychology Today

Contents:

• GAY BULLYG, GAY BULLI AND DEALG WH GAY BASHG
• TEEN BULLIED FOR BEG GAY: WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
• I WAS BULLIED FOR BEG GAY AS A KID EVEN THOUGH I’M STRAIGHT
• THE HEARTBREAKG TE STORY OF THE GAY TEEN AND HIS DAD BEHD ‘JOE BELL’
• ARE GAY MARRIAGE OPPONENTS BEG BULLIED?
• MOM SAID SON, 9, KILLED HIMSELF AFTER HE WAS BULLIED FOR BEG GAY
• PARENTS OF GAY TEEN WHO DIED BY SUICI SUE SCHOOL DISTRICT FOR IGNORG HIS PLEAS FOR HELP
• HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: ANTI-GAY LAWS PROMOTE VLENCE, DISCRIMATN ST. VCENT
• CHILDREN OF GAY PARENTS BULLIED: WOULD YOU INTERVENE?
• GAY PARENTS AND THE FIGHT FOR ACCEPTANCE

GAY BULLYG, GAY BULLI AND DEALG WH GAY BASHG

Lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, queer, tersex, nonbary or otherwise genr non-nformg (LGBTQI+) youth and those perceived as LGBTQI+ are at an creased risk of beg bullied.

High school stunts who self-intify as lbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) report havg been bullied on school property (23%) and cyberbullied (27%) the past year than their straight peers (7% and 13%, rpectively). Historilly, YRBS and other studi have gathered data on lbian, gay, and bisexual youth but have not clud qutns about transgenr, non-bary, genr non-nformg, tersex, or queer youth.

TEEN BULLIED FOR BEG GAY: WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

29% of transgenr youth have been threatened or jured wh a weapon on school property, pared to 7% of cisgenr youth; transgenr youth were more likely 2019 to have been threatened or jured wh a weapon on school property than reported 201716% of gay and lbian youth and 11% of bisexual youth have been threatened or jured wh a weapon on school property, pared to 7% of straight youth43% of transgenr youth have been bullied on school property, pared to 18% of cisgenr youth; transgenr youth were more likely 2019 to have been bullied on school property than reported 201729% of gay or lbian youth and 31% of bisexual youth have been bullied on school property, pared to 17% of straight youth 29% of transgenr youth have attempted suici, pared to 7% of cisgenr youth 21% of gay and lbian youth and 22% of bisexual youth have attempted suici, pared to 7% of straight youthThe full YRBS rults n be found here. Gay bullyg statistics dite that gay teens are two-to-three tim more likely to m suici than other youths and about 30% of all suicis have been lked to a genr inty crisis. Gay bullyg statistics dite that 9-out-of-10 gay youth have been subject to bullyg and that, of those, almost half were physilly harassed and a quarter report beg physilly asslted.

Any dividual mor cince of gay bullyg or gay bashg may be somethg that someone n al wh but the ma problem wh is s pervasive and nsistent nature to the pot where jur an dividual's self-teem and sire to live. Many anizatns are dited to stop gay bashg and gay bullyg and there are more and more iativ lolly, like high schools, to stop gay bashg.

Over 4000 Gay-Straight Allianc are now registered wh the Gay, Lbian and Straight Edutn Network and iativ such as "No Name-Callg Week" now exist to put the spotlight on all typ of bullyg and bashg.

I WAS BULLIED FOR BEG GAY AS A KID EVEN THOUGH I’M STRAIGHT

29, 2010— -- It's an epimic that has seemgly touched every rner of Ameri: kids beg bullied for beg bullyg has entire high schools heartbroken, parents childls and fai torn this fall, Rutgers Universy hman Tyler Clementi jumped to his ath after he'd allegedly had an timate experience wh another man that was broadst to the mp via his roommate's September alone, ne young people -- gay or merely spected of beg gay -- took their liv after beg what would people do if they wnsed this kd of hatred takg place right ont of them? A 2017 survey om the US Centers for Disease Control and Preventn, for example, found that almost half of lbian, gay and bisexual stunts had serly nsired suici. And The Trevor Project, a suici preventn group, not that lbian, gay and bisexual youth are almost five tim as likely to have attempted suici pared to heterosexual youth.

THE HEARTBREAKG TE STORY OF THE GAY TEEN AND HIS DAD BEHD ‘JOE BELL’

Content WarngI Was Bullied for Beg Gay as a Kid Even Though I’m StraightTread lightly—the ntent this narrative may be triggerg to some.

” Like most childhood trmas, I don’t remember how long I sat there as three boys told me I looked like a girl and asked me if I was gay. What began that day was six years of bullyg about my sexualy, lastg until I graduated high Is Was Like Beg Bullied for Beg Gay When I’m StraightI am a straight, cis-genred male, so the bullyg was about who I wasn’t, not about who I was.

I remember now, wh shame, beg mean to another kid my class, who had bad ae, bee I wanted the foc off my sbs, supposed “femy” and homosexualy. It was a toxic stew and would not abate high Bullyg Even Had My Parents Thkg I Was GayIn my first year high school, I had a specified lunch perd, as one do.

ARE GAY MARRIAGE OPPONENTS BEG BULLIED?

But om what I have read about , [Gadsby] is sayg that edy is now not about lghter, " said Macdonald, who was fired om Saturday Night Live the late 1990s after llg Michael Jackson a "homosexual pedophile" and sayg trans murr victim Brandon Teena served to die. "Nothg like grabbg that sh om both sis, few better role mols the gay muny than a woman who lik sleepg wh woman, but has a long-term boyiend, " another mented. "Although naysayers might dispute that Halsey is actually part of the LGBTQ populatn, her ncerts have been picketed by homophobic protters.

MOM SAID SON, 9, KILLED HIMSELF AFTER HE WAS BULLIED FOR BEG GAY

"Rather than lettg the hate rail her, Stenberg grew to a proment activist who has taken on cultural appropriatn, police btaly, sexism, homophobia, and lorism. Twter ers went wild, sayg how Rose wasn't a good enough actrs to play the first openly gay superhero and that she wasn't a f for the role bee she (unlike the character) is not ethnilly Jewish.

Known for unapologetilly wrg queer mic, Kiyoko has faced a number of mic dtry executiv who had homophobic rpons for her starrg "another mic vio about girls, " she told Refery29. "We should appld artists who are brave enough to tell their hont romantic narrative through their art, and the fact is that I've never enuntered homophobia and she has. It's her right to ll out anyone who has double standards about gay vs straight love terts, " Swift mented on even ved Kiyoko to perform on her Reputatn Tour, where they sang her queer-centric "Cur" together.

PARENTS OF GAY TEEN WHO DIED BY SUICI SUE SCHOOL DISTRICT FOR IGNORG HIS PLEAS FOR HELP

I answered none of his qutns and hurried off the phone but before I hung up, he said to me that If I was gay or cid to be wh a woman pecially public that I'd never get the role of a straight woman or make as an actrs Hollywood, " Delevigne explaed on Instagram. In April 2013, Joe Bell left his home La Gran, a small town the northeast rner of Oregon, to walk across the untry honor of his 15-year-old son, Jad, who had died Febary a few weeks after attemptg and his wife, Lola Lathrop, told lol and natnal news outlets at the time that Jad was bullied for beg gay, both onle and at school. In addn to beg the only out gay stunt at his school, he was also the only boy on the cheerleadg squad, and Bell told Salon 2013 that he was bullied for said he uld relate to Jad and his story, bee he was also bullied growg up Texas.

Three days later, Tyler Clementi, a gay stunt at Rutgers Universy-New Bnswick, killed himself after beg rerd on a webm kissg another man. Last summer, the Texas Republin Party’s platform endorsed “gay nversn therapy, ” a procre viewed as harmful and els by psychology experts. The mother of a 9-year-old boy said bullyg he endured after g out as gay led him to kill himself last Myl was a fourth-gra stunt at the Joe Shoemaker Elementary School Denver.

The manner of ath, acrdg to the report, was suici and did not volve a, who told both the Denver Post and NBC's lol Denver affiliate that her son was bullied for beg gay, took to Facebook to exprs her pa and plead for an end to bullyg. Use of the word “gay” a negative tone, and beg lled rogatory terms–like dyke, queer, or faggot–are exampl of a hostile, margalizg environment for LGBTQ youth.

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: ANTI-GAY LAWS PROMOTE VLENCE, DISCRIMATN ST. VCENT

A 2016 report published by the Gay Lbian and Straight Edutn Network found that LGBTQ youth experience feel unsafe at their schools, spe teachers and staff terveng durg s of bullyg. Attorneys for the fay of Nigel Shelby said school staff vlated Tle VI, which prohibs tentnal discrimatn on the basis of race, lor and natnal orig, and Tle IX, which prohibs public schools om ignorg harassment based on genr attorneys, civil rights lawyers Benjam Cmp and Jasme Rand, said Shelby, 15, who was gay, had repeatedly reported beg bullied at school and on social media, but was told by Huntsville High School's then-hman prcipal Jo Stafford that beg gay was a prcipal "did not offer any assistance or take any rponsibily to make sure that this child was protected and nurtured and loved, " Cmp said. "Consistent wh the district’s Core Valu, HHS [Huntsville High School] has a strong Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) place to provi support to LGBTQ+ stunts, and the district has partnered wh GLSEN and the Anti-Defamatn League to support s schools and stunts, " the statement Tuday, Rand said: "To make a statement and to enforce policy are two different thgs.

"Lbian, gay and bisexual youth are almost five tim more likely to have attempted suici as pared to heterosexual youth, acrdg to the Trevor Project, which provis crisis terventn servic to LGBTQ youth. Parents should faiarize themselv wh hotl provid by PFLAG, cludg The Trevor Project, the Natnal Suici Preventn Lifele, The Gay, Lbian, Bisexual and Transgenr Natnal Hotle, and more.

CHILDREN OF GAY PARENTS BULLIED: WOULD YOU INTERVENE?

Vcent to overturn anti-gay laws om the lonial era that have led to a recent wave of vlence and genr discrimatn on the small Caribbean island. Homosexualy ntu to be crimalized the former Brish lony after many hundreds of years, leavg LGBTQ dividuals wh ltle if any legal protectns while vlent crim were beg mted wh impuny, the report said. Standg crimal s on the island put nsensual gay sex the same tegory as crim like rape, ct, and sexual asslt, although there have been no recent nvictns unr the law.

Gay people have been targeted by fay members, neighbors, -workers, classmat and teachers -- as well as police officers, the report said.

GAY PARENTS AND THE FIGHT FOR ACCEPTANCE

Many of the terviewe said job hirgs and firgs were beg largely termed by sexual orientatn, while other gay people lucky to have jobs faced sexual harassment the workplace.

"The crimalizatn of gay sex giv tac state sanctn to the discrimatn and vlence that LGBT people experience their daily liv and pels many to look abroad to live eely and fulfill their dreams, " said Cristian González Cabrera, gay rights rearcher at Human Rights Watch. Six other Wtern natns -- cludg Domi, Grenada, Guyana, Jamai, and Sat Lucia -- ntue to crimalize gay sex, wh penalti as weighty as a prison for "gross cency wh another person of the same sex. Lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, queer, and qutng (LGBTQ) stunts are more than four tim as likely to attempt suici pared to their straight and cisgenr peers (Johns et al., 2019; Johns et al., 2020).