Brutal anti-gay attack may blind young boy

NY Daily News via the Randy Report:

Kardin Ulysse, 14, has undergone two surgeries on his right eye since the June 5 beatdown at Roy H. Mann Junior High School in Bergen Beach. It is unclear whether the bullies’ multiple punches or the broken shards of lens from his eyeglasses caused the damage to his cornea. “The doctor says he needs a transplant,” Pierre Ulysse said. “For me to send him to school with two eyes and come back with one eye is really absurd. “I want the world to know about this,” he added. Kardin, an eighth-grader, was set upon by a pair of seventh-graders who were calling him a “fucking faggot” a “pussy,” a “transvestite” and “gay,” according to a Department of Education occurrence report. While one schoolmate pinned the victim’s arms, the other rained punches on Kardin’s face, head and neck. Kardin broke away and the fight continued in the cafeteria until school safety officers and school aides finally intervened.

Read the rest of this post...

CNN contributor Dana Loesch defends kid who says Obama turns kids gay

From the Advocate:

CNN contributor Dana Loesch is defending the 14-year-old talk radio host who said President Obama "is making kids gay."

Loesch, who is also host of The Dana Show on radio, went on Twitter to defend Caiden Cowger from outrage.

"Another conservative teen under attack for being ... a conservative teen," she wrote. "Remember when adults praised civic participation?"

Later she added, "Love the NOH8 bullies. Love the irony of that statement even more."

Loesch is apparently a member of the STFU wing of the Republican party. The only free speech they recognize in America is their right to speak their mind, unfettered by your criticism. If you exercise your right to free speech by disagreeing with them, or - gasp! - openly criticizing them, they wet their panties and whine about how unfair it is that you get to express an opinion too.

"The NOH8 bullies."  These are people who are trying to stop bullied gay kids from killing themselves.  And Loesch mocks them.

Not every conservative is a hateful idiot.  But damn if CNN doesn't seem to find the worst of the bunch to put on contract. Read the rest of this post...

Ravi apologizes, finally

A tad late. And the apology doesn't even sound honest.

"I accept responsibility for and regret my thoughtless, insensitive, immature, stupid and childish choices that I made on Sept. 19, 2010, and Sept. 21, 2010," Ravi said in his statement. "My behavior and actions, which at no time were motivated by hate, bigotry, prejudice or desire to hurt, humiliate or embarrass anyone, were nonetheless the wrong choices and decisions. I apologize to everyone affected by those choices."

No desire to hurt, humiliate or embarrass?  And he only apologizes now, after the judge chastised him for not apologizing.  I'm glad he finally apologized, but sometimes you can wait so long that it simply looks self-serving. Read the rest of this post...

Straight Florida teen attempts suicide, parents say was taunted as "gay"

It's an angle to the anti-gay bullying story that many people hadn't considered. Namely, that lots of straight kids are victims of anti-gay bullying, and thus are at risk of hurting themselves. HuffPost:

A Florida teen is suffering from brain damage after attempting suicide a year ago -- a victim, his parents say, of being subjected to anti-gay bullying in high school.

Gray's parents told News Channel 8/Tampa Bay Online that their son tried to kill himself at home after being tormented "nonstop" by bullies at Zephyrhills High School in Pasco County, Fla. "Gay Zach, fag, queer -- it was nonstop," Lynn "Sissy" Gray said, describing the taunts her son used to receive, even though he was not actually gay and had a steady girlfriend.

Read the rest of this post...

Ravi and Romney

Mike Signorile:

The Dharun Ravi verdict and sentencing represents a dramatic shift in society's view of anti-gay bullying and of bias crimes against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. Just compare what Ravi did to Tyler Clementi to what Mitt Romney did to a nonconforming student at his prep school in 1965, according to five of his classmates who spoke to The Washington Post. Ravi spied on his gay roommate and humiliated him, or as the charge stated, intimidated him. He was convicted of several crimes.

Mitt Romney and his buddies not only bullied a boy who some perceived to be gay, but engaged in what very much looks like an antigay assault, holding down the crying boy while Romney cut his hair. It was what we would today call outright gay-bashing. Romney not only didn't face any criminal penalty but there were no ramifications for him at his prep school. At the time, such acts were sloughed off with a "boys will be boys'" mentality. Today, we've been seriously debating whether a student who intimidated -- but didn't physically assault -- his roommate should have received 10 years in jail and be deported versus a lighter sentence.

Mike goes on to note that, of course, the Clementi case is different in that the student ended up killing himself. But Mike makes a good point. The things Romney did were out and out bullying, pure and simple. And had he done them today, there'd be calls for him to be expelled. Read the rest of this post...

Did college kid who bullied roommate to death deserve more than 30 days in jail?

This is the case where a Rutgers student set up a Web cam to spy on his roommate have sex with another guy and then blurted it out to the world on Twitter.

I'm conflicted about this one.  Not about whether he should get jail time, he should.  But how much time, and whether he should be deported.

Look, kids do dumb things in college - and they don't think of the consequences.  Having said that, in this case the consequences were a young man's suicide.  That's no small matter.

I'm not sure the roommate should do time, I do think that if he doesn't do significant time, he should be deported.  A young kid is dead because of his insensitivity, stupidity, and from all appearances, mean-spiritedness.  He has to pay some price for that.

A few key grafs in the story.  This from the judge:

"I heard this jury say, 'guilty' 288 times--24 questions, 12 jurors. That's the multiplication," Berman said. "I haven't heard you apologize once."

No apology?

And if this is true, Ravi, the roommate, sounds like a bit of a dick, and much more than simply a kid who goofed up.

Tyler Clementi's mother Jane Clementi recalled the day she helped her "excited" son move into his Rutgers dorm room and the coldness Ravi showed by not getting up from his computer to say hello.

"He never even paused to acknowledge that Tyler was in the room," she said. "He never stopped what he was doing, no greeting, no smile, no recognition, no nothing."

If that's true, then I much less sympathetic to the guy. He sounds like a jerk. I can have some sympathy for an otherwise nice guy who played a prank that went too far. I have much less sympathy for the "you don't exist" crowd. We all have to deal with them every day of our lives.  And it's their overall contempt for people around them that leads to results just like this.

Apparently, some gays don't think Ravi should be punished at all because it won't serve as a deterrent to others, they argue.  Really?  I'll bet you a lot of colleges out there are a heck of a lot more careful about dealing with gay students after this case.  And you'd better believe that the more these kind of cases happen, and are prosecuted, the stronger the message will be sent through the culture at large that you mess with gay kids, you pay a price.  Don't tell me that the students at Rutgers, at the very least, haven't been somewhat educated about anti-gay bullying throughout this whole experience.

I do, however, agree with Dan Savage's criticism, which is different:

Dan Savage, a gay columnist whose video campaign, “It Gets Better,” began in response to other suicides of gay teenagers just before Mr. Clementi, 18, jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge, argued that simply locking up Mr. Ravi was a lost opportunity to talk about the other institutions and people “complicit” in Mr. Clementi’s death.

“What was he told about being gay growing up, by his faith leaders, by the media, by the culture?” Mr. Savage said. “Ravi may have been the last person who made him feel unsafe and abused and worthless, but he couldn’t have been the first.

“The rush to pin all the responsibility on Ravi and then wash our hands and walk away means we’re not going to learn the lessons of these kids.”

As usual, not much to add to Dan's words, other than an ironic "amen." Read the rest of this post...

Top Romney aide gleefully outed transgender woman, ending her political career

Romney adviser
Eric Fehrnstrom

Eric Fehrnstrom is called Mitt Romney's "most trusted" adviser. Well it seems that Mr. Romney's most trusted adviser is alleged to have "glee"-fully outed a transgender women, ending her career in politics.  This from GQ:

Fehrnstrom saved his cheap shots for smaller-time Massachusetts pols. When a political activist and gadfly named Althea Garrison was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, the fact that she was transgender was an open secret in Boston political circles. But Fehrnstrom was the first one to put that information into print—"I can remember his glee when he found the birth certificate," says former Herald reporter Robert Connolly—thus bringing a swift end to Garrison's future on Beacon Hill.

Glee.

This is particularly troubling news, coming on the heels of the revelation earlier this week that Mitt Romney physically bullied a gay student while in prep school.

“He can’t look like that. That’s wrong. Just look at him!” an incensed Romney told Matthew Friedemann, his close friend in the Stevens Hall dorm, according to Friedemann’s recollection. Mitt, the teenaged son of Michigan Gov. George Romney, kept complaining about Lauber’s look, Friedemann recalled.

A few days later, Friedemann entered Stevens Hall off the school’s collegiate quad to find Romney marching out of his own room ahead of a prep school posse shouting about their plan to cut Lauber’s hair. Friedemann followed them to a nearby room where they came upon Lauber, tackled him and pinned him to the ground. As Lauber, his eyes filling with tears, screamed for help, Romney repeatedly clipped his hair with a pair of scissors.

The incident was recalled similarly by five students, who gave their accounts independently of one another.

And don't forget that Mitt Romney bullied an anti-bullying commission while he was governor of Massachusetts.

Angered that his name appeared on a press release touting a gay pride parade, Governor Mitt Romney moved yesterday to curtail the activities of a 14-year-old advisory commission on gay and lesbian youth.

The commission chairwoman, Kathleen M. Henry, said she was called yesterday by Beth Myers, the governor's chief of staff, who told her that the governor planned to issue an executive order ''revoking our existence" and creating another youth commission whose purview would be all of the state's youth, not just gays and lesbians. The commission would have all new members, she said.

Romney eventually shut the anti-bullying commission down entirely.

It's interesting that a gay Romney spokesman is forced to resign simply because of who he is, while the anti-LGBT spokesman gets off scot-free. Read the rest of this post...

Classmate: Romney is lying about anti-gay bullying incident

A former classmate of Mitt Romney's says he thinks Romney is lying about not remembering an incident at prep school in which he allegedly physically bullied a suspect gay classmate. The Romney camp is reportedly so worried about the story that they're urging friendly former classmates to step forward and defend Romney. Messy, messy, messy. Read the rest of this post...

Gay Iowa teen kills self after bullying

Quite a large story from AP. Here's an excerpt:

Kenneth, who attended South O'Brien High School in nearby Paullina, came out about a month ago to family and friends, and he quickly became the target of threatening cellphone calls, voicemails and online comments, his mother said.

His sister Kayla Weishuhn, a sophomore at the school, said her brother's life took a marked turn for the worse after he came out.

"He was pretty popular, he had a lot of friends, but once they found out he was gay a lot of them turned on him," she told Sioux City television station KCAU.

Now for the really bad part:

[Dan] Moore [the superintendent of the South O'Brien Community School District] said the district has no plans to change its policies, but that it is still examining the circumstances surrounding Kenneth's death and will explore ways of better impressing upon students that bullying is unacceptable.

Right, I mean if it ain't broke don't fix it.  Jesus. Read the rest of this post...

Firing of anti-gay MI former asst AG upheld, harassed gay college kid

You remember Andrew Shirvell, the former Michigan assistant attorney general who serially harassed a Michigan college student simply because he was gay. He got fired by the state. Then he appealed. He just lost the appeal. AnnArbor.com:

A hearing officer with the Michigan Civil Service Commission has upheld the firing of former Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell as a result of his campaign against former University of Michigan student body President Chris Armstrong.

In issuing the decision, hearing officer William Hutchens wrote that Shirvell was found to “have engaged in harassing conduct of the basest sort.”

More from our earlier coverage:

With 27 postings to date, Shivell’s blog is filled with language you’ll never hear him use in a court room, calling Armstrong “nazi like,” a recruiter for “the cult that is homosexuality,” and a proponent of a “racist, anti-Christian agenda.”
In other internet postings, Shirvell’s language has been even stronger: calling Armstrong “Satan’s representative on the Student Assembly,” even posting a photograph with a swastika attached to his face.

“How under any circumstance, regardless of whether or not you agree with somebody’s lifestyle, is something like that defensible,” asked Jones.

“Well, he is promoting a satanic lifestyle, and he is a fierce advocate for it,” said Shirvell.

“By being openly gay,” asked Jones.

“No,” said Shirvell. “By being somebody that’s there to promote special rights for homosexuals at the cost of heterosexual students.”

Read the rest of this post...

Ravi "feel[s] energized" by Tyler Clementi verdict

Clearly someone isn't getting any PR help.  You don't tell people "the verdict actually made me feel energized," when a kid is dead.  I realize some people - some straight people at least - feel sorry for Ravi, the roommate who did the cyber-spying - they feel as if he's being railroaded for a simple prank-gone-wrong - but this guy sounds like a bit of an idiot.  Contrition is what you show after a young man is dead following your public humiliation of him.  You don't talk about how jazzed you are. Read the rest of this post...

BREAKING: Ravi found guilty of bias-related cyberspying on now-dead gay roomie Tyler Clementi at Rutgers

Good.  From NJ.com:

Former Rutgers University student Dharun Ravi was found guilty today on most counts in connection with using a webcam to spy on his roommate’s liaison with another man, in a high profile case that sparked awareness of cyber-bullying and harassment of gay teenagers.

Ravi, 20, was found guilty of bias, invasion of privacy, hindering apprehension and witness tampering for spying on his former Rutgers roommate, Tyler Clementi, an 18-year-old freshman, with the jury concluding that he targeted Clementi, because of his sexual orientation.

The bias intimidation counts carried the highest possibility of jail time, and Ravi now faces the possibility of deportation to his native India.

Good. Kick him out. Here's more:

Although Ravi was found guilty of all four bias intimidation counts, he was not convicted of all the charges within each count.

One witness testified that Ravi was "uncomfortable" having a gay roommate. Another read a text message in which Ravi explained his computer would "keep the gays away."

More background on the case here.

The sentencing is set for May 21. Read the rest of this post...

Rutger’s student who spied on now-dead gay roomie with Web cam could face deportation

No sympathy here. AP via the Wash Post:

After nearly two weeks of testimony, the case that kick-started national conversations about gay youths and Internet privacy was sent Wednesday to a jury that must decide whether a former Rutgers University student is a criminal or just a young man who was confused by seeing two men kiss.

Confused by seeing two men kiss? Seriously, we're gonna play that card now?

Dharun Ravi, now 20, is accused of viewing a few seconds of his roommate’s intimate encounter with another man in their dorm room and telling people about it in text messages, tweets and in person. He could face years in prison if convicted of charges including invasion of privacy and bias intimidation, a hate crime.

Gee, wonder whose side the AP reporter is on. "A few seconds."

Lawyers gave their summations Tuesday in the case, which has gotten enormous attention since the events of September 2010, when the roommate, Tyler Clementi, jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge.

Ravi could also face deportation to India, where he was born and remains a citizen, if he’s convicted. An expert says the risk of deportation is highest if he is convicted on the most serious charges.

Last year, prosecutors offered Ravi a plea bargain that called for no prison time — and help avoiding deportation.

And he turned down the plea. Too bad. Now he gets to face justice.

Speaking of Justice, boy the Tyler Clementi Wikipedia page sure reads like someone's defense lawyer got to it. You see, the wiki page claims in its "background" section, Ravi was worried for his safety because the gay roommate had invited a creepy older man over - that's why he was spying on the gay roommate having sex, because he was concerned.  Funny that the rather biased wiki page doesn't mention Ravi's gleeful tweets about catching his roomie having sex, nor Ravi's seeming offer to anyone with iChat to watch the show two days later. Here's ABC telling us what wikipedia doesn't:

On Sept. 19, Ravi appears to tweet, "Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went into molly's room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay."

Ravi faces two additional counts of invasion of privacy for allegedly attempting to use the camera to view and transmit another sexual encounter involving the same student just two days later, said Kaplan.

On Sept. 21 Ravi posted, "Anyone with iChat, I dare you to video chat me between the hours of 9:30 and 12. Yes it's happening again."

So much for Ravi's "troll panic" defense.

And how is this not obstruction of justice?  And in fact they are going after him for witness tampering and hindering arrest. From another ABC article:

On Sept. 22 [Police Officer Krzysztof] Kowalczy asked Ravi if he had any idea where Clementi was or if he had been acting unusually. Ravi said he didn't know where his roommate was, but that Clementi had been acting normally earlier in the afternoon.

Ravi told Kowalczy about Clementi's Sept. 19 date with an "older, slightly overweight" male with a "scrubby beard and short black hair," the officer testified, but did not mention that Clementi was upset that Ravi has used his webcam to catch Clementi and the man kissing. Ravi also didn't mention that Clementi was angry over Ravi's tweet inviting others to watch Clementi's second date on Sept. 21, the officer testified.

The search for Clementi ended when police discovered that he had jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge.

Funny, no mention of this fact either on the wikipedia page. Hopefully someone who isn't affiliated with the defense team will take a look at that page and make it truly unbiased. Read the rest of this post...

R-rating prevents kids from seeing anti-bullying documentary

I’m a little late to this story, but there is a new documentary coming out from The Weinstein Company entitled, Bully. While it would seem a movie about the problem of bullying wouldn’t be too controversial given it's about what kids deal with everyday, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has given it an R rating.

Here’s the problem – kids are the ones who need to see this and an R rating stops it from being played in a lot of schools. It’s rated R for the language, which fails to recognize that every word in this movie has been heard in every high school in America.

The irony here is that the MPAA seems to be trying to protect kids from seeing what bullying looks like while the movie is trying to show the impact of bullying in an effort to elevate efforts to stop it. These kids don't need to be sheltered - they see it or live it every single day. Looking the other way doesn't stop kids from bullying, it doesn't reduce the damage done by those words and actions, and doesn't stop kids from seeing suicide as a reasonable escape from bullying. Sticking our heads in the sand isn't the solution (it clearly hasn't worked so far).

There’s a petition at Change.org that you can sign telling the MPAA to reduce the rating to PG-13. Take a second and sign on and share it.

Here’s the trailer:
Read the rest of this post...

TN school principal tells kids "if you're gay you're going to hell"

UPDATE: And she's gone.


Haywood High School (I'd recommend starting with the Super)
* Marlon King, Superintendent: kingm.haywood.k12tn@gmail.com - tel. 731-772-9613

Principal: Dorothy J. Bond bondd1@k12tn.net

Vice Principal: Michelle Tillman tillmanm3@k12tn.net
Assistant Principal/AAA Summer School Principal: Drayton Hawkins hawkinsd@k12tn.netmailto:hawkinsd@k12tn.net
___________________
UPDATE: The ACLU is getting involved.  Sayonara...

What is it about Tennessee?  What a hateful state.

They'd better hope that a kid doesn't kill themselves, or get gay-bashed, or that school district is going to be facing a multi-million dollar lawsuit. It's a fact now. The school district has a serious legal problem now. Anything short of totally rebuking this principal will send the message that they're soft on anti-gay abuse, and that will be used against them the first time a child is hurt. More from Andy at Towleroad.

Dorothy Bond (right) is the principal at Haywood High School in Brownsville, Tennessee. She's accused of making insensitive remarks during a meeting with students. Parents are hot under the collar and the comments could drive a wedge between people living there.

“At first she was talking about PDA and she turned around and she directly pointed to the gay people and said if you're gay you're going to hell and if you're pregnant, you're life is over,” Amber Whittiemore said.

Note that the school non-discrimination policy (bottom of the page) does not cover sexual orientation or gender identity:

Haywood County Schools does not discriminate in its programs or employment on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, disability, sex, age or genetics.

Read the rest of this post...

MN school district changes policy blamed for bullying

AP:

The new policy commits the north suburban Twin Cities district to providing “a safe and respectful learning environment for all students.” It says that when contentious political, religious, social matters or economic issues come up — it does not specifically cite sexuality issues — teachers shouldn’t try to persuade students to adopt particular viewpoint. It calls for teachers to foster respectful exchanges of views. It also says in such discussions, staff should affirm the dignity and self-worth of all students, regardless of race, religion, gender or sexual orientation.

Minnesota still has a ways to go. The bigots are pushing a ballot initiative to pass a state DOMA this November, and here's a surprise, the Mormons are once again lending a hateful hand.

It still cracks me up that the Mormons are so intent on sucking up to the religious right when there is simply no way that an evangelical Christian who thinks that Catholics aren't even Christian will ever accept Mormons as fellow Christians. The Mormons are being used for their money, period. Ironically, if they stopped being so proactively hateful, the Mormons would have a better chance of being accepted on the left than on the far right. Read the rest of this post...

Roland Martin and the deniability of homophobia

Sometimes we're too sensitive. But I'm not buying that this is one of those times. The best homophobes skirt the line expertly. It doesn't change that what they're doing is wrong. I wrote in my other post, linked above, that perhaps it's subtle, the homophobia surrounding mocking men who wear pink or men react positively to homoerotic ad. One of our readers, Soullite, had a great response in the comments:

I don't think it's that subtle, really. Back in my more homophobic tween years, me and most of my friends would have decked anyone who said this to us [meaning, if they made fun of them for wearing pink etc], because we'd know damn well what they were saying. If a 12 year old would know it, I'm not buying that a grown man wouldn't know that this guy is basically pointing and screaming 'fag!'

I think the big problem here is we let grown ups hide behind a smile and a fake-ass attitude of 'what, me?' We all pretend not to notice what's really going on out of some misguided politeness or a fear of calling these bastards out. But really, this sh*t isn't too subtle and there ain't a man over 10 who doesn't know what's going on here.

Read the rest of this post...

Gay brother talks about Tyler Clementi’s suicide

I didn't realize, or recall, that his brother is gay.

The older gay brother of Tyler Clementi, the Rutgers University freshman who took his own life in 2010 after his roommate used a webcam to secretly tape him having sex with another man, says the grief of his brother's death is still at times "overwhelming." Having written a series of letters to his brother in the March issue of Out magazine, James Clementi explained in an interview on my radio program on SiriusXM OutQ that he feels guilt as well, having finally come out to his parents, but only in the aftermath of his brother's suicide. And he wants the world to know what his brother was truly like, believing that Tyler's "humanity was lost" in the media barrage.

"It's been very bittersweet, I guess," 26-year-old Clementi said. "And I have really conflicted feelings about it. You know, I've always -- all my life I've dreamt of being open with my parents. And this is not the way in which I would have wanted that to come about. I feel a lot of guilt about the sacrifice that was made just so that I could be accepted by them. I don't think that that's the right way that it should have ever happened."

James says he always had a sense that Tyler was gay, but hadn't spoken to him about it until just months before Tyler jumped from the George Washington Bridge, taking his life.

Read the rest of this post...

Bully

It's an interesting question.  Does a trans person have the unquestioned right to tell a newspaper not to report their former name (aka their birth name) alongside their current name?  Is this a form of outing? Did the subject of the story assume part of the risk by agreeing to be in the story - should you assume anonymity while at the same time appearing in the country's largest gay paper? Does it matter that the trans woman didn't object to her name being published until two years after the story was published? And does it matter that her former name is apparently readily available to anyone who does a Google search?

Here is part of what the trans woman argues, then I'll get into what the editor of the paper said:

Even if in previous articles I have consented to having my birth name printed (which I have not explicitly done), I still have a right to request that it not be done in 2011. In 2009 I was interviewed for an article with Xtra when they published my birth name. While I did not have a major problem with that 2009 article, I did feel uncomfortable with my birth name being used. But I was promoting a new film project and the writer was a friend of a friend and I didn’t want to be contentious. The issue is not that people know my birth name; they can find this by looking at my past film work that features my old name. But I don’t want to be referred to by my old name at all nor do I want to encourage it. Especially among people I grew up with who may still not understand my transition.

And then the question arises, even if you disagree with her logic, is it her choice to decide what she's comfortable with, regardless?

There's an ongoing controversy in Canada over the editor of the largest gay paper having included a trans woman's former (birth) surname (the facts are a bit confusing) in a story about her two years ago.  She consented to the story, and did not object at the time to the publication of her last name.  She subsequently objected when the editor, Danny Glenwright, posted a link to the story on Faceboook for their mutual childhood friends, in essence "outing" her to them as trans.  The story is far more complicated, and illustrative of the inability of many to discuss trans issues publicly, with those whom they may disagree, without going ballistic.

Here's more background from the editor of Xtra, the gay paper, explaining what happened, and why he did it.  Note the reference to the fact that he was bullied as a gay boy by the same trans woman.

When I first read the name of Andrea Houston’s sex worker source a lump formed in my throat.

As her editor, I had been hounding her to find a sex worker for her story about violence against sex workers — ahead of the Dec 17 International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. I was not prepared to run such a story if it didn’t include the voice of someone who is affected by the issue.

That’s the type of journalism I practise; that’s the type of activist I am.

Nevertheless, I was also more affected than I was prepared to be when I learned Lexi Tronic was that source.

In another place, at another time, Tronic was responsible for some of the worst bullying I ever received as a young, awkward (not yet happily) gay kid in Winnipeg. I recently wrote about my experiences in the pages of Xtra in the wake of Jamie Hubley’s suicide. This week I remembered writing that piece and thinking specifically about Tronic, who was the perpetrator of much of the taunting I recalled in it.

Then note the comments left below the story, particularly the references to the editor having been bullied.  Here are a few illustrative ones:

If this is any indication of how you acted when you were 14, I would have bullied you too. What a fuckin' punk.

And besides, even if she did bully you, it is an embarrassment, that you, as a grown adult, would drag up something from your childhood to justify disrespect to the trans community.

I find it completely intolerable that you would use a publication that you write for as the platform for your private therapy issues at the expense of an entire community.
If in fact Lexi did bully you as you say when you were 14, explain to me the context of bringing it up in connection to you being called out on being transphobic for irresponsibly using her birth name? What does one have to do with the other? That's what I really want to know because call me weird, but if I were left to assumptions, I would assume that you did it on purpose because you have a personal vendetta against her due to your unmanaged childhood experiences.

As a queer, cisgendered femme who has written for Xtra in the past, I am appalled that this transphobic article and non apology were both run. However, I'm unfortunately not surprised. I would like to believe that Xtra can change and shift away from being a paper that pretty much writes about white gay men with money, but I'm not holding my breath.

Yes you got bullied, so did everyone.

This is clearly not an apology. Cisgender privilege includes feeling entitled to call the shots on what defines transphobia and being able to publish it. I am very disappointed.

Here is a rare civil comment that actually makes an excellent point in a non-abusive way:

Outside of the trans issue is the Sex Worker issue. I work in the sex trade. My real real name is never to be revealed even though many people know it. I am often quoted in media and know many of those reporters personally and they don't reveal my legal name on Facebook or other social media. My job is criminalized in many ways and therefore -so am I. Revealing my real name could result in an investigation and charges. Although I appreciate Xtra and the support and enlightenment provided there about prostitution, I don't see how you don't see that this was a serious ethical infraction with potential life altering ramifications for the named person.

Then note what the trans woman herself wrote about the bullying:

I was pretty mortified by Danny’s response. I really thought we had worked it out. I am not trying to get into a pissing contest with Danny about who is the bigger victim in this situation, himself for being bullied in grade 4 by me, and/or 24 years later being accused of transphobia [cissexism, to be more precise --Savannah] by well-networked and vocal supporters of myself on facebook. But I do feel that as a trans woman and a sex worker with a grade 9 education there is a bit of a power imbalance between myself and an editor of the largest gay publication in Canada.

I will also point out that Danny is a cisgender white male who appears able-bodied. I understand by the tone of his response (he opens with the line: “when I heard the name…a lump formed in my throat”) that he feels defensive and wronged and presumably victimized by me, but I don’t really have the institutional power to oppress Danny. I don’t have the power of the law, the school system, the police; I am marginalized, despite having powerful and vocal allies.

Further, I feel that Danny reacted so strongly because I tried to stand up for myself, and people have supported me, and I feel I have been subject to oppression a second time by Xtra with Danny’s response to the boycott supported by myself, my friends and allies.

Imagine the reaction had a gay leader tried to minimize the childhood bullying of a trans person, especially had they been the bully in question.

I don't know the answer here, and I don't know who's right. I do know that when a gay man writes about having being severely bullied as a child, and he clearly is still traumatized by it today, the tenor of the comments following his editorial, and the seeming dismissal of his pain by the person who bullied him in the first place, is troubling (note that she'd never apologized for the bullying until after this incident blew up, and even now her apology comes across as somewhat of a non-apology (he couldn't really have been bullied if he's a gay white man without any disabilities)).  Did he cross a line?  Quite possibly. (Again, I'd like to hear more about what actually happened - the details are still somewhat fuzzy).  Did the responses he received cross a line?  Absolutely.

We need to learn to be able to discuss these issues, ask questions about them, and even sometimes disagree on them, without eating our own. Read the rest of this post...

Department of Justice releases report on bullying

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Office of Justice Programs
Friday, December 16, 2011 Contact: Starr Stepp
(202) 307-0703
www.ojp.gov

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE EXAMINES IMPACT OF BULLYING IN SCHOOLS
New study recommends strategies to address bullying and support victims

WASHINGTON – The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) today released Bullying in Schools: An Overview, the first of five bulletins examining bullying in schools and support schools can provide bullying victims. Bullying is a complex social and emotional problem impacting children and schools. In extreme cases, victims face shooting, physical assaults or other harassment that may cause them to turn to suicide.

“Parents and schools across the country worry about the devastating harm bullying can cause, and we share this concern for our nation’s children,” said Jeff Slowikowski, OJJDP’s Acting Administrator. “This new study highlights the impact of bullying and recommends effective anti-bullying strategies that schools can implement to keep students safe.”

Conducted by the National Center for School Engagement in 2007, the OJJDP-funded study focused on the connection between bullying, truancy and low academic achievement and examined whether engaging students in academics or extracurricular activities mediates these factors.

Bullying does not directly cause truancy, researchers found. A caring school community where students are challenged academically and adults support them can serve as a powerful antidote. Victimization often distances students from learning and contributes to myriad other problems, including truancy and academic failure. The researchers found “bullying in a box” curriculums—generic, pre-fabricated anti-bullying curriculums—to be an ineffective substitute for intentional, student-focused engagement strategies.

The researchers further recommended these strategies for schools:
• Offer mentoring programs;

• Provide students with opportunities for community service;

• Address the difficult transition between elementary and middle school (from one single classroom teacher to teams of teachers with periods and class changes in a large school); and

• Start prevention programs early.

OJJDP’s bullying series examines the relationship among bullying, school attendance, school engagement, and school achievement; presents survey findings of young adults bullied in grade school; provides teachers’ observations on efforts to ameliorate school bullying; and compares findings to existing research on bullying.

This bulletin, Bullying in Schools: An Overview, is available at: www.ojjdp.gov/pubs/234205.pdf

The full report, Peer Victimization in Schools: A Set of Quantitative and Qualitative Studies of the Connections Among Peer Victimization, School Engagement, Truancy, School Achievement and Other Outcomes, is authored by Ken Seeley, Martin L. Tombari, Laurie J. Bennett, and Jason B. Dunkle. It is available [here].

Read the rest of this post...