Category: sexual orientation

Kids suicide; parents point to bullying as the reason

It is difficult to pinpoint all the reasons why a child might commit suicide but the parents of two young men are pretty clear on at least one factor – bullying.
Carl Hoover-Walker was buried yesterday in Springfield, MA. Hoover-Walker was taunted with gay overtones, even though he did not identify as such. His mother said she alerted the school about the ongoing harassment but with no discernable difference. The 11 year old hung himself April 6th.
Just days before in Mentor, Ohio, the parents of Eric Mohat filed a lawsuit against the Mentor High School for failing to address clear signs of harassment. They believe the bullying led Eric to take his life at age 17. From the ABC News article:

The lawsuit — filed March 27, alleges that the quiet but likable boy, who was involved in theater and music, was called “gay,” “fag,” “queer” and “homo” and often in front of his teachers. Most of the harassment took place in math class and the teacher — an athletic coach — was accused of failing to protect the boy.
“When you lose a child like this it destroys you in ways you can’t even describe,” Eric Mohat’s father told ABCNews.com.
The parents aren’t seeking any compensation; rather, they are asking that Mentor High School recognize their son’s death as a “bullicide” and put in place what they believe is a badly needed anti-bullying program.

I believe Mr. Mohat is correct. School can be a cruel place and even though some schools do a good job at intervention, others do not. And schools cannot control what students do when they are off the school grounds. Parents and youth leaders must help set the tone for how people should treat each other. So we need schools to improve what they are doing to intervene in these situations and we need adults to model a better way to interact.
Some think schools are doing enough. In describing her reasons for supporting a boycott on the Day of Silence this coming Friday, Laurie Higgins of the Illinois Family Institute told WorldNetDaily

…that the goal cited by the GLSEN events is to reduce bullying on school campuses, especially that bullying perceived as targeting homosexual students or those with other alternative sexual lifestyle choices.
“No one supports bullying,” she said. “Every school has more than ample anti-bullying policies in place. … for GLSEN, the means by which they want to end bullying is to normalize volitional homosexual conduct.”

I doubt the parents of Eric and Carl would agree that school policies were ample enough. And Higgins misunderstands the intent of the students involved. If anti-bullying policies and programs exist, they want the policies enforced and implemented. I suspect parents and kids who are the targets of harassment want more action and less talk and intention. If Christians care, then they have to demonstrate that in some tangible way. What does it show when you leave the scene?
To those who think anti-gay bullying is no big deal, read the words of Brian Pengelly, a youth minister from Canada.

The truth is that when I was a student questioning my own sexual identity in grade 9 I was beat up because of my orientation.
The truth is that I was lucky, because compared to many of my gay friends, I got off easy.
The truth is that I have talked to hundreds of youth across North America who have been called names like “fag”, “homo”, “sissy”, “dyke” and “lesbo” every single day.
The truth is that often teachers and administrators see this happen and do nothing about it.
The truth is that many students (like me) will never report the harassment and violence they face because they are scared and ashamed. So even if and when school administration will listen, they often don’t hear about the extent of it.
The truth is that it can often be Christians who perpetrate the bullying and name-calling.
I went to a Christian school. It happened there.
This is not just my experience. This is SO common. I have seen it in schools. I have seen it in churches, I have seen it in youth groups. I have talked to HUNDREDS of young people who have told me their stories.
This is REAL.
And when Christians pretend like it isn’t, we bring shame on the name of the Lord who we claim to follow.
When we stand by and let others speak out for justice while we do nothing, we fail the Kingdom of God.
When we actively oppose, or distract from those seeking justice we prove to a watching culture that our claims to love gay people are a lie.
This is REAL. This must STOP. We are part of the problem. Change starts with us.

Brenda High, author of Bullycide and editor of the website Bully Police, has empathy for the Mohats and Hoover-Walkers. She lost her son in a similar manner several years ago. I asked Brenda what her advice is to Christians who want to make a difference on behalf of kids who experience harassment and bullying. She said,

My only advice to those who call themselves Christian is to remember that to be a Christian is to follow Christ, who said, “Judge not, lest ye be judged”. It’s an oxymoron to call oneself a Christian, and at the same time to profess hate towards someone because of an act, sin, or behavior that you don’t like or disagree with.
If children are being bullied on the playground or inside our school, we as adults have failed that child, and we have failed the bully too. We must teach our children Christian values and ask our schools to teach “Do Unto Others” values so that all of our children can have a safe and bully-free environment to learn.

I couldn’t agree more.

Newsweek/Washington Post blog reports on Golden Rule Pledge

Jacqueline Salmon reports on the proposed conservative school walkout on the Day of Silence and the Goldren Rule Pledge.
About the Goldren Rule Pledge, Ms. Salmon notes:

A Pennsylvania educator and an evangelist have yet another approach.
Dr. Warren Throckmorton, a professor of psychology at Grove City College in Pennsylvania, and Michael Frey, Western Pennsylvanvia director for College Ministries with Campus Crusade, want Christians to adhere to the golden rule.
Saying Christians should be “leading the way” to create schools safe, even if they disagree with homosexuality, they’ve created the Golden Rule Pledge to encourage respectful treatment of all students.
If approached by gay-right supporters asking what what they will do to end the silence on what they see as discrimination against gays, Throckmorton urges Christian students to carry cards pledging adherence to the Golden Rule: “I pledge to treat others the way I want to be treated. ‘Do to others as you would have them do to you.'”

The article is featured on the On Faith blog which is described as a “conversation on religion and politics with Jon Meacham and Sally Quinn” and appears to be a collaboration of Newsweek and the Washington Post.

Scott Lively spoke to 10,000 people in Uganda; fights off hate group charge

Scott Lively is not slowing down. He spoke recently to the Murrieta/Temecula Republican Assembly about his book, the Pink Swastika. This meeting was a slated for one venue but was moved due to worries about a possible protest from gay groups – in particular PFLAG.
The whole speech is now on YouTube via the account of the GOP group, Bob Kowell.

In this installment, Lively says he spoke to 10,000 people in Uganda. He also describes his battle with the Southern Poverty Law Center. Because of his advocacy of the thesis that homosexuals were behind the rise of the Nazi party in Germany, two groups he is involved with (Abiding Truth Ministries and Watchmen on the Walls) are on the SPLC list of hate groups.
In his speech, Mr. Lively has answered back his critics at SPLC. He also recently launched a new blog called HateWatch Watch. He claims his groups are unfairly placed on the list.
I asked Grove City College colleague and history prof, JonDavid Wyneken, to evaluate Lively’s thesis. Dr. Wyneken pointed me to a couple of resources which help refute the idea that a homosexual cult was the organized, driving force behind Nazism. One is in a book by esteemed historian Richard Evans, titled, The Third Reich in Power. On pages 529-535, Evans provides information which gives necessary perspective. Specifically, Evans indicates that the Nazis toughened laws against homosexual contact and stepped up their arrests of homosexuals between 1936 to 1938. Evans notes,

“The raids and arrests were co-ordinated from 1 October 1936 by a new Reich Central Office for the Combating of Homsexuality and Abortion, building on the Gestapo department created to deal with the same area in the wake of the Roehm purge, which gave fresh impetus to the wave of persecutions.” (p. 533, 2005).

Dr. Wyneken also provided a link to a document published by the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C., by historian Geoffrey J. Giles. Note this brief excerpt describing the views of Himmler about homosexuals. Himmler was not gay. In his young adult years, Himmler read a book by an author – Hartner – and approved of the perspective.

Hartner’s thesis was that an unchecked expansion of the phenomenon of homosexuality would lead quite literally to the “destruction of mankind” (Untergang der Menschheit). He lost himself in speculation about a giant conspiracy, inspired of course by Jews, among whom there was “contrary to Hirschfeld’s assertion, a greater [proportion of homosexuals] by far than in the German population” as a whole. What was the aim of these Jewish homosexuals? They were trying to push Germany down the slippery slope of “increasing infertility” that the French had been sliding down for ages.
You may well wonder whether, if more homosexuals meant fewer babies, that would not have an equally or even more damaging effect on the “heavily homosexual” Jewish people. No, because they, and especially the hated Ostjuden, were still positively infused with a
Zionism that provided an unquenchable fuel for an “unbroken will to fertility” (ungebrochener Fruchtbarkeitswille). The heterosexual Jews would simply produce more babies. Germans lacked this sense of nationalistic mission. Hartner declared in a closing flourish to his chapter that this spread of homosexuality would “surely dig our
graves.” One can almost sense young Himmler (still only twenty-seven years old) shuddering in agreement with these sentiments.

I warn you this paper is not for the squeamish but it gives a perspective regarding homosexuality and the Nazis in contrast to that of Scott Lively. Giles makes it clear that homosexuals were not behind the Nazi movement but rather the victims of it.

Situation worsens in Uganda

Yesterday, a prominent Catholic priest, Anthony Musaala fought off allegations he is gay.
Today the same news service, New Vision reports the following:

MPs want gay group’s activities regulated
Thursday, 2nd April, 2009
MPs want government to regulate the activities of homosexuals who have come out publicly to defend their rights.
Kawempe North MP Latif Sebaggala says Government should not allow homosexuals to hold press conferences to iron out their issues because the vice is illegal.
However, Government Chief Whip Daudi Migereko says there are No laws that prohibit homosexuals from holding press conferences.
Migereko says that the ministry of Internal affairs will track homosexuals and take action against them.

UPDATE: Perhaps in China to learn more about oppressing people for their beliefs, Ugandan official Buturo said his government is planning more laws, especially one which would criminalize the promotion of homosexuality.

WorldNetDaily column compares GLSEN to Hitler's youth

Well, that headline probably got your attention. Judith Reisman in a WorldNetDaily column today compared the two groups primarily because they both involve youth. In fact, the comparison, such that it is, ends there.
Naturally, GLSEN is none too happy being compared to Nazis. They issued a press release earlier today.

NEW YORK, April 1, 2009 – In a commentary called “GLSEN and the Hitler Youth,” World Net Daily columnist Judith Reisman today compared Day of Silence participants, GLSEN and students who participate in Gay-Straight Alliance student clubs to Hitler Youth. The column was featured on the wnd.com front page.
“Last week at our Lobby Day in Washington, DC, I saw students aglow with joy after having the opportunity to speak directly with their elected representatives and take part in our democratic processes,” said GLSEN Executive Director Eliza Byard. “Today I read a commentary comparing those young people, as well as me and my staff, to Nazis. We can only hope this is some sort of sick April Fool’s joke.”

Reading the commentary, it does not seem like Reisman means for the reader to chuckle. Reisman makes sweeping unsubstantiated statements like this:

Under color of a ‘Safe Schools Movement’ battling alleged ‘bullying’ of so-called ‘gay’ children (K-12), some see GLSEN as a modern version of the Hitler Youth and as preparing the ground for a larger, sweeping, schoolroom Youth Brigade.

Who are the “some?” She no doubt does but writes in an indirect fashion, as if the outrageous connections should be clear to the informed reader. Reisman also misleads readers via combining her views with serious scholarship. Here she quotes Ronald Berger but makes it seem as though he is a WWII elder who is troubled by the NEA and that he assesses the NEA and GLSEN as being comparable groups to the Nazi’s National Socialist Teachers Association.

The similarities between Hitler’s National Socialist Teachers Association (NSTA) and the Rockefeller and Playboy funded National Education Association (NEA) and American Library Association (ALA) troubles some World War II elders. Like Hitler’s NSTA, our NEA also largely guides the “ideological indoctrination of teachers.” (Ronald J. Berger “Fathoming the Holocaust,” Aldine Transaction, 2002, p. 50) Moreover, NSTA, the NEA, GLSEN and the Hitler Youth all seek to sever schoolchildren from their parent’s religious and sexual training.

I checked the Berger reference. His quote there is referring to the NSTA and not NEA or GLSEN. Reisman makes it seem that Berger said the NEA indoctrinates teachers in a manner similar to the Nazi group. I have no love for the NEA but this is not an honest approach to commentary.
I was surprised by one thing: she did not reference Scott Lively’s Pink Swastika once. But with this op-ed, she may have out done him.
If you would like to comment on the article, you can do so by contacting WorldNetDaily here.