About the Day of Silence

This Friday April 15^th, the Day of Silence will be observed in many schools.  As explained at Touchstone:

It is organized by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (“GLSEN”), and on this day, as described on the GLSEN website, “hundreds of thousands of students across the world take a vow of silence.” The ostensible purpose is to raise “awareness of the silencing effect of anti-LGBT bullying, harassment and discrimination.”

Now I am all for efforts to stop bullying.  To be specific, no kid should be bullied because he or she identifies as gay or is perceived to be gay.  Bullying is wrong, period.  As I’ve posted before, I take bullying personally.

But there is a problem with most gay-backed programs purporting to oppose bullying.  The gay activist organizations themselves engage in bullying against those, even other gays, who disagree with their agenda.  In fact, I once supported an anti-bullying organization until it became clear they backed bullying Christians.  (Sorry, I have forgotten the said organization.)

As for GLSEN, their claim to oppose “discrimination” gives a clue to the bullying they support.  They on their website oppose efforts to protect the religious freedom of those who do not want to participate in gay weddings.  So they are fine with, say, a Christian baker being bullied into baking a cake for a gay wedding under threats of fines and being put out of business.

So, although I personally would not go as far as Touchstone in opposing the Day of Silence, I think it would be appropriate to ask schools hosting DoS and DoS organizers – Should Christians among others be allowed not to participate in gay weddings, in gay activist activities, in the Day of Silence for that matter, and the like without harassment, retribution, punishment or any form of bullying?

If the answer is not a clear “Yes”, then I think it appropriate to point out that those backing an anti-bullying campaign should not at the same time be backing bullying.

And that, of course, would disqualify virtually all gay activist organizations.

GLAAD Bullies . . . Gays?

I do not yet know if GLAAD got the comeuppance I put forth as a possibility.  But that the backlash against the GLAAD-pressured suspension of Phil Robertson prompted A&E quickly to lift that suspension and make GLAAD oh-so mad warms my heart almost as much as the Steelers being eliminated from the play-offs.

Why my animus against GLAAD?  Because they are bullies.  Worse, they are bullies who are smugly self-righteous as they engage in their bullying, in their attacks against the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and livelihoods of their opponents.

And do not think that GLAAD only bullies racistsexisthomophobebigoted straight white men such as yours truly.  Gays who do not toe the politically correct gay activist line are targeted as well, too.  Robert Oscar Lopez knows about that first hand and has shared his experience of life on GLAAD’s blacklist.

Really, most gays are victims of GLAAD’s bullying.  Even those racistsexisthomophobebigots who, like myself, disagree with the gay activist agenda know through experience that most gays do not wear horns.  But such good will gays have earned through years of more open engagement with society is not easy to retain when GLAAD and others who purport to speak for gays try to blacklist, silence, boycott, and otherwise bully those who hold to a more traditional view of morality and family life.

Even many gays are coming around to saying it’s time for GLAAD to stop their bullying, that the way to combat bigotry is not more bigotry.

Bullying

This story about a bullied Arkansas high school student has touched a chord with me and with a number of others over at titusonenine.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned here I was persistently bullied up until 8th grade (when distance running success for my school gained respect). Of course, the school* did nothing, except discipline me when I took up for myself. Now, it wasn’t nearly as bad as what the student in the story has endured. And, thankfully, it did end in 8th grade. (Thank God for my past distance running abilities!)

But the damage was done. My interaction with other kids had been so negative for years that it taught me to be a loner. In my teen years and onward, I did grow socially. But in hindsight, I got a real late start on that due in large part to the bullying. I was always a few steps behind. In a word, I was a bit clueless socially for too many years afterward. And in various ways, my life still bears the marks of that.

Of course, we all have our difficulties in life. And God does turn bad into good. I’ve always hated injustice with a passion due to my experiences. I have a great deal of empathy for the struggles kids go through. And, though I haven’t thought about it, perhaps my experience is one reason I’m so opposed – and provoked – by the actions of bullies in vestments.

But I know all too well that bullying is not harmless or some rite of passage all kids should go through. No boy or girl should have to endure it, at least not for months and years on end. And parents and school authorities who don’t lift a finger to stop it are negligent, to say the least.

As I posted over at titusonenine, if I ever have a child who is frequently bullied and the school does nothing to stop it, I will become that school district’s worse nightmare.

Yes, I’m ranting. Bullying and those in charge who do nothing about it really ticks me off.
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*namely Bradfield Elementary in Highland Park, Texas. Lord have mercy, my elementary school years were miserable. My school from 7th grade onward, Greenhill School, handled such things much more responsibly.