Don’t give up, it does get better

   There is an epidemic in America. It is not, however, a virus or a bacteria that is infecting our country. The disease infecting our country at the moment is teen suicide.

   In the month of September there were at least six teen suicides that made major headlines. The breaking factor for these young men was anti-gay bullying.

   There is an outbreak of anti-gay, lesbian, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) bullying in this country. With issues such as gay marriage and the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) in the news on a daily basis, anti-gay messages have poured into mainstream media. Large organizations are claiming that allowing gays to marry will destroy marriage for everyone.  They say allowing gays to serve in the military would cause us to lose our wars. The terrible thing is that, in these times when everyone is frustrated with the government and scared of terrorism and a second economic crash, people are listening to these messages of hate and believing they are correct.  

   For the first time in decades, there are Americans who believe it would be justifiable to have second-class Americans. These messages are being relayed by scared Americans to their children, and the children, who lack full reasoning skills, are turning their fear into hatred.

   Seth Walsh was only 13 when he took his own life. Seth hanged himself in his backyard after years of anti-gay bullying. Can you imagine having experienced years of anti-gay attacks at the young age of thirteen? At such a young age, children should not yet be concerned with such issues. Children should not be viciously attacking their classmates to the point that they feel they have no other escape. The most terrible part of Seth Walsh's suicide is not the loss of a young life; it is that the bullies who drove Seth to take his own life cannot be charged with a crime.

   School administrators have done little to nothing to combat such problems in middle and high schools. The principal of Walsh's middle school has a B.A. in Child and Family Crisis, but was unable to see a problem in the way Seth was treated.  

   Justin Aaberg, who also hanged himself after years of anti-LGBTQ bullying, was the fifth student in his graduating class to commit suicide this year. Of those five deaths, three have been attributed to anti-gay bullying.  However, the school district still refuses to address the issue, stating that "such matters are better handled in the home," and teachers should "remain neutral on the subject." Aaberg's high school was recently in the news after the district paid a $25,000 settlement to a former student who was tormented by both his peers and teachers for being perceived as gay. The student, who identifies as straight, had to transfer from the district due to the bullying.

   Schools need to take a stand—not for or against gay rights, but against bullying. In every case, it was reported that students at each school had reported anti-gay bullying and that administrators had ignored the pleas from the bullied students for protection.  It is appalling that one district has had five suicides in one school year, all in one graduating class.  

   Schools need to reinforce the idea that Americans have a right to privacy in their personal lives, a right that has been set by the Supreme Court of the United States.     

   In Texas v. Lawrence, the Supreme Court stated that consulting adults had the right to privacy in their bedrooms, abolishing anti-sodomy laws for all citizens, gay or straight. That did not stop Tyler Clementi's roommate from broadcasting Clementi with another man over the internet, twice.  Clementi's roommate streamed Clementi with another man to over 150 people using Skype.  The next day Clementi jumped off the George Washington Bridge, updating his Facebook status one last time, "Jumping off the GW bridge sorry."

   It's hard to imagine something like that happening at SUNY Albany, but it's not out of the realm of possibility. Just the other day, three female students in a car almost caused an accident while parking in Indian Quad. The driver was driving too fast, took a sharp turn and almost crashed into an oncoming car. Even though they were in the wrong, the driver and her friends yelled at the driver of the other car, a male student, and called him a "fag."  

   You cannot walk through the Campus Center or across the Podium without hearing someone say the words "that's so gay," "fag," or "homo."  When will the time come that those words are spoken to the wrong student?  When will SUNY have its turn on suicide watch? When will it be your roommate or one of your friends? It's something we all need to think about. Learn to listen and learn the signs of someone contemplating suicide.

   As hard as it is to say this, Sarah Silverman said it best in her "It Gets Better" video. Children are not born with this type of hate. Adults are teaching this to their children and then acting shocked when their children bully someone to death. When will Americans take responsibility for their actions? When will we as a country take a step back and think about how this hate is affecting our students, our children, and our future? These children were our future. Now they're gone and their parents have to face the pain of knowing they out-lived their children. These are six parents who would never teach their child to make fun of someone who was different from everyone else, six parents who embrace the differences in us all.

   Embrace those differences. It is what our great country is built upon. We are the greatest melting pot in the world, but somehow we have seized in the face of this new addition. We must teach our children that it is safe for them to be themselves. If we don't, the future leaders of our country will continue to kill themselves and we will lose potentially great businessmen, politicians, musicians, artists, and friends.

   For those of you who are struggling, people love you and care about you.  You can take it from someone who has been there before- it does get better.