Queer, Isn't It?

“Faggot! Sissy! Queer!”

[19 April 2007]

Increasingly, the sound echoing from our school playgrounds is the sound of hatred and bigotry.

By Michael Abernethy

Faggot.
Sissy.
Lesbo.
Queer.
Gay-boy.
Dyke.
Lezzie.
You’re so gay.

Oh, there’s nothing like the sounds of children playing on the school playground. Sadly, increasingly, it is the sound of hatred, as gay-oriented and homophobic taunts have risen to a level that has school officials taking notice. Well, some school officials, anyway.

Playground bullying and classroom teasing is nothing new, of course. There are few among us who can’t recall at least one incidence of feeling picked on in school. Still, the rise in gay-related taunts and abuse has serious ramifications for how the next generation views gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered individuals. The negative associations of such language are evident even when the recipient of such taunts isn’t old enough to fully understand them.

Take, for instance, the case of third-grader Emmett English in Bethesda, Maryland, reported in the Washington Post story “A Lesson in Cruelty: Anti-gay Slurs Common at School”. After wearing a red Gap sweatshirt to school, the boy was called “gay” by a classmate. The insult troubled him: “I didn’t know what that meant but I knew it was something bad.” (Laura Sessions Stepps, 19 June 2001)

Rebekah Rice knew what it meant when she hurled the insult at classmates who taunted her for her Mormon upbringing. The high school freshman at Maria Carillo High in Santa Rosa was warned about her use of hate speech and the incident was recorded in her school file. (Unfortunately, the students taunting Rice were not similarly disciplined.)  So Rice and her parents are suing the school. The basis of their suit is that the school’s actions violated her First Amendment rights over the use of language “which enjoys widespread currency in youth culture.” It’s the legal equivalent of the childhood excuse, “But all the other kids do it.” (“‘That’s So Gay’ Prompts a Lawsuit”, 28 February 2007)

And Rice is right. Almost all the other kids do it, because they are rarely held accountable when they do. A survey of students by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network reveals that 81 percent of students hear homophobic speech frequently and 66 percent of school children have used homophobic slams such as “That’s so gay” or “You’re so gay”, despite the fact that 72 percent of these kids know someone who is gay. (“Most America High School Classrooms Have at Least One Gay Student”, Contemporary Sexuality, November 2004)  The California Safe Schools Coalition reported in 2004 that 200,000 students were subjected to anti-gay bullying in that state alone.

Granted, the word “gay” has been accepted by society as representative of the homosexual population and is most frequently used in a non-spiteful manner. But in the situations involving Rice and English, the use of the word “gay” was meant to be hateful. Many kids argue that the slurs have nothing to do with sexual orientation, instead meaning “bad” or “stupid”. For years, a similar argument has been made about the “N word”. Many of those who use it claim that it’s not a racial slur, but a slam against anyone who is lazy or shifty, regardless of race. But that lame rationalization doesn’t make the word’s use any less hurtful or malicious. Language based on a demographic characteristic and used to be hurtful causes psychological harm to the members of that demographic group, regardless of the context in which the language is used.

Yet it’s not just the word “gay” that is heard as an epithet in schools throughout the US. GLBTQ,  an online encyclopedia for gay culture, notes that “fag” is one of the most frequent insults used in high schools and all of the slurs listed at the beginning of this essay are commonly heard. In approximately 80 percent of cases, the target of the insult isn’t even homosexual or bisexual, according to the National Education Association.

Whether the recipient of the insult is actually gay or not, the effects of constant homophobic teasing and bullying are staggering. In its 2006 report, “Strengthening the Learning Environment: A School Employee’s Guide to Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Issues (2nd Ed)”, the National Education Association reports how damaging such behavior is.  According to the report, students who are the victims of sexual orientation-based harassment are two times more likely to use amphetamines and are more likely to binge drink or smoke marijuana. The rate of depression is twice as high for these students, and understandably, they are more likely to commit suicide. Their grade point averages are 10 points lower than students who are not harassed. Consequently, they are also less likely to go to college

Most troubling is the propensity for violence in relation to such students. These students are five times more likely to be injured by a weapon at school, and there is a 300 percent higher likelihood that they will carry a weapon to school, either for protection or for revenge.  The Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN) reports that the shooter in five major school shootings (Moses Lake, WA; Pearl, MS; West Paducah, KY; Littleton, CO and Santee, CA) were victims of anti-gay bullying. While there were certainly other factors that led to these tragedies, the GLSEN notes studies which shows that boys react more strongly to being called “gay” than any other form of harassment, including being physically assaulted.  (Kevin Jennings, “GLSEN Statement on Reports of Anti-gay Harassment at Santana H. S.”, 08 March 2001)

Image from Chariotdist.com

Image from Chariotdist.com

What’s more, the increase in cases of HIV and AIDS is correlated with the increase in gay persecution. Education reports that students are so fearful of such persecution that they fail to get educated on safe-sex practices. (“Homophobia ‘as Unacceptable as Racism’ in Schools”, 19 May 2006) The lack of comprehensive sex ed programs has helped to bolster the myth that only queers get AIDS; thus, any student wanting to learn how to prevent it must be queer. For some students, they’d rather risk contracting the disease than stepping forward to learn about AIDS prevention and risk being labeled as gay by their peers.

So naturally, school officials are doing everything possible to deal with the problem, right? That depends on the school district. A growing number of school districts are incorporating sensitivity training about homophobia and sexual-orientation related bullying into their curriculums. Such training benefits both students and teachers, and contrary to right wing protests, it does not promote a homosexual lifestyle or teach homosexuality. What it does do is allow students of all sexual orientations and religious backgrounds to better comprehend the ramifications of harassment.

Still, there are far too many areas of the US which have yet to introduce such training. GLSEN reports the results of 15 lawsuits brought by students subjected to sexually-oriented harassment. These students were subjected to a variety of vile behaviors, including name-calling and verbal abuse by both students and teachers, simulated rape in front of other students, actual rape, banishment from classes, reassignment to special education, physical assault, vandalism, stabbing, being urinated upon, and death threats. In some cases, the victim was gay; in others, he or she wasn’t, but was perceived to be; and in some cases, the abuse begin at such an early age that the victim couldn’t have known what his or her sexual orientation would be.

In all cases, school officials and teachers ignored or dismissed the abuse, sometimes participating in it, and it wound up costing them. Awards to the victims range from $40,000 to $1.1 million. (“Fifteen Expensive Reasons Why Safe Schools Legislation Is in Your State’s Best Interest”, 01 September 2005)

Unfortunately, there are countless more cases yet to be decided, and far too many cases where school officials aren’t held accountable by juries. Most troubling is the undocumented number of cases where the student puts up with the abuse, never raising questions or challenging school policy or actions.

Those who protest anti-harassment training and legislation are those who most open themselves up to the types of lawsuits GLSEN describes. Parents need to fully understand the consequences of ignoring gay bullying. As stated before, students subjected to harassment suffer in their studies and quite personally. It is hard to believe that any parent could endorse practices which make students fail, commit suicide, or bring weapons to school. 

Regardless of personal or religious beliefs, we all want our schools to be safe places, and sexually-oriented bullying makes them less safe for all students. If that isn’t incentive enough for parents to teach their children to treat others with compassion, they should realize that their children could be the defendants in bullying lawsuits and could very well leave high school owing hundreds of thousands of dollars to the “sissy” whose life they made a living hell. One doesn’t have to approve of homosexuality to disapprove of cruelty and persecution.

Kids struggle enough with identity issues, making friends, fitting in, and finding love, regardless of their sexual orientation. Realizing that they are gay or bisexual is a harsh reality for many. A constant reminder of the disdain some in society feel for them is often too much to handle. It is as children that we learn about socialization; gay bullying teaches some children that hatred and condemnation is acceptable, while teaching others that they will never be useful members of society. Is this really a lesson we want taught in our schools?

 
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Michael has been writing for PopMatters since 2000.  His primary focus, aside from queer culture, is television reviews and commentary, and his article Male Bashing on TV has been reprinted in two college textbooks.  He currently lives in Louisville, KY, and is a Lecturer of Communication Studies at Indiana University Southeast in New Albany, IN.  As a teacher, he has an interest in the study of contemporary political rhetoric and argumentation.  He and his partner Jim have been living in un-wedded bliss since 1995.

Queer, Isn't It?

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By Michael Abernethy

05.Nov.09

Neil Patrick Harris is riding high these days. But in years past, if the average person sitting in his or her Barcalounger knew a TV star was gay, it would have been disastrous for both series and star.

Sitting on the Mountaintop

By Michael Abernethy

15.Oct.09

Did Obama calm the rash of criticism regarding his inaction on gay rights with his recent speech to the Human Rights Campaign?

Like ‘The New York Times’—with a Pink Boa and a Tiara

By Michael Abernethy

18.Aug.09

Local LGBT papers are a vital part of our community. They bind us together, and they have played a major role in the development of that community. If only they were more inclusive.

 
 
Comments

I’m going to repost something that I left at Abernathy’s last column as a comment, because it is still applicable, and I still want an apology from this man whose reason and critical eye towards society seem to be very narrow and lacking.  Every column written by him in this vein becomes a further insult to the victims of actual racism and bigotry, and helps to bury the issues of people oppressed on a very real level.  Chiquita Bananas gets caught for smuggling weapons into Colombia ti prolong a horrible civil war which directly stems from racism against South American Latinos of all nationalities, and this is the sort of thing that we waste our time with.  For more precise info on this line of thought, here’s my original post…
I’ll have to agree with most of the posts above that perhaps the author of the original piece took his interpretations of persecution a little far.  I think also, as a minority myself, that something far more general has to be added here.  I am the son of a Native American father, who lived on the Akwesasne Mohawk reservation.  I have had enough in many ways, and I now live in New Paltz, one of the epicenters of the already cooled down gay-marriage controversy, of the complaints of racism coming from the American homosexual community.  Genocide?  What the bleep do you know about it?  Are you ignorant of history, or just stupid? 33 million of my people were slaughtered, given blankets full of small pox and ripped away from our homes.  This country is built on land stolen from all of the various tribes.  Even today, reservation life is still set up by the BIA(Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, DC) with the express purpose of keeping us hidden, of educating our children in the white man’s exclusive history to the expense of our own Culture, and to keeping us poor and subservient.  Even the casino deals are offered only to divide us away from our Culture, and are offered, because some of you might not know this, in exchange for tribes giving up valid land claims.  According to numerous treaties all over the States, that the white man lied about, but are still signed, existent documents, we own a lot of the land that many American cities and states are built on.  Mount Rushmore is, according to a legal treaty, a purposeful defacement of Paha Sapa, the most sacred mountain of the Lakota people, land that still legally belongs to them per the treaty.

Should we talk about the experiences of African peoples, who built the infrastructure of this country as slaves?  Even here in New Paltz, where gay marriages were supported, there is still a fight with the local historical district who has falsely said for decades that “oh no, our ancestors treated their slaves well, that is why many of them styed on long after slavery was abolished in New York State.” The actual evidence for this is supported as well as the constant cover-ups among the same historical society that the old houses of their precious white ancestors have been archaologically proven to be built on the remains of an Indian village that had been there for at leat 600 years, and whom they presumably killed, since no mention now is available of even the name of their particular tribe.

How about the treatment of women in the overall society?  Yeah, if anyone with any brains is reading this, I don’t think I need to elaborate any further.  The “Cleveland Indians” still have “Chief Wahoo” on their uniforms, African people still have an uphill battle to regain some vestige of real Cultural Identity for those that live in the United States that probably doesn’t lie in the ethic of “street rep” and “bling” that is just a distorted image of their white oppressors or just in modern terms, the Republican party, and women don’t get any respect at all.

In the midst of this, you are going to complain about the “racism” against homosexuals?  Has it occurred to you that if all of the peoples I have mentioned, who are a fraction of what we could talk about, recieve the treatment I have outlined, that homosexuals don’t have a chance in hell of even getting a hint of fair treatment?  In many ways, homosexuals get better than some other minorities.  You have shows like the “L-word”.  You have communities, even if they are limited, supporting issues like gay marriage, and indeed it became a nationally discussed issue.  When Syd Hill, Tadadaho of the Onondaga Nation brings a law suit up about a legal treaty that the government has broken and ignored for decades now that gave almost a third of New York State to the Onondagas, where now they live in a tiny tract of worthless, nigh unlivable land, there is no national debate, there is NOTHING.  When people like Cornell West speak for black people, they are not heard, but 50 Cent is revered as a role model.  Women have no strong intelligent voice talking about their REAL issues at all.  So excuse me, but what the hell is your problem?  At least your issue is getting press.  You have not experienced the unending reverbrations of genocide, in fact, you do NOT know what it is, and have no right to even allude to it at all.  Incidents like the Matthew Sheppard torture and murder are reprehensible and terrible, but in fact, despite a lot of what we’re told now and believe, you CAN compare some things, and the violent acts against gay people in this society in no way measure up to the pain and loss and destruction of cultures and races of people who are wiped from all human memory in true genocide.  Imagine 10,000 times Matthew Sheppard, and you might get the Trail of Tears, and that’s just a drop in the ocean of treachery and mass murder.  Yeah, so what I would expect from the author is an apology for even mentioning such things as “racism” and “genocide”, because they do not apply to you.  I do not say that you do not have a fight for recognition and equality before you, and I support you in it, but you do not help the people that complain about the “whining gays” when you put your argument in this kind of context.  I suggest you rethink your method of reasoning about things.  If you really want equality, why don’t you help the rest of us really oppressed people first, and then decide what “racism” really is?

Comment by FellRider from New Paltz, NY — April 20, 2007 @ 7:07 am

“a further insult to the victims of actual racism and bigotry”

Get a clue, FellRider.  If you think gay people aren’t victims of real life bigotry, then you are living in a little heavenly cave.

Why would Abernethy be writing about Native American issues when his expertise is in gay and lesbian issues.

Geez… there’s plenty of bigotry and hatefulness in the world to go around, unfortunately.  No one has a lock on that.

Comment by Steve Sherman from New York — April 20, 2007 @ 8:00 am

Hey, FellRider.  I’ve seen your comments elsewhere on PopMatters.  Try publishing an actual article on your issue, rather than using comment space on this site for your eye-rolling tantrums.

The author does not owe you an apology.  This topic is not your issue.  Write something we’ll want to read of your “ISSUE”, rather than behaving like such a boor.

If I see your comments, again, SIGH! I’ll know to pass right over them, and look for actual intelligent reader responses, instead.

Signed,

a “get real already” reader

Comment by Steve Stayed on Horse from Cheyenne, Wyoming — April 20, 2007 @ 8:08 am

While we’re in Wyoming, here, let’s bow our heads for the murdered Matthew Shepard, killed near Laramie.

Hey, FellRider—you might want to look him up.  You might learn something.

Comment by Alicia Anderson from Brooklyn — April 20, 2007 @ 8:26 am

Currently taking a college course called Asian-American Perspectives, I was reminded in FellRider’s comment of how discrimination has been marginalized against people of many different groups. Why I bring up the course is because Asian-Americans have been stereotyped as a “model minority” because some of them fit a certain image of “success” whereas other minorities “fail.” The harm that this causes is that its influence allows lawmakers to ignore and justify discrimination and problems that Asian-Americans face. FellRider seems to be saying a similar thing about gays—not that they are model, but that what they have suffered is minor compared to other groups.

Moreover, we should remember that hate crimes do not compose the only form of bigotry—gays are victims of institutionalized discrimination, most notably when they are denied basic marriage rights. And when Abernethy is talking about discrimination in schools, we should remember that as a result of horrors like peer name-calling, gay teens have a far higher rate of suicide than their heterosexual “counterparts.” (I put that word in quotes because gays are often posed as an “Other,” helping young heterosexuals raise up and define themselves based on what they are not, as counter to whatever “wrongs” homosexuals represent.)

You cannot speak correctly about what you don’t understand. If Abernethy’s expertise is not in Native American issues, then he has little place in talking about Native American life. That doesn’t mean he should ignore it, but I don’t think he is doing that. He does know about the discrimination that gays face. FellRider cannot know about the impact that the discrimination, however “minor” it may be, impacts gays. Different issues affect different people: if gays are said to be better off economically (which would be a generalization, of course not applying to every gay person), think about the other issues gays face. They face legal discrimination, but a form that is different from that against other minorities. Gay teens face higher risk for drug and alcohol abuse than straight teens. Gays have to deal with homophobia, unique in what it is based upon and how it is sometimes more blatant—in the treatment of schoolchildren, for instance—than other forms of prejudice. (That is not excusing the horrors that, for instance, African-American children face, but to an extent it is still politically correct to call people “fags” and go unpunished.)

What I’m saying is meant to clarify how gays are discriminated against and is in no way meant to marginalize the problems of other groups. I think that statements like those of FellRider pit groups against each other based on the amount of suffering a group has endured (which, of course, is unquantifiable). I don’t think Abernethy is purposefully ignoring other groups; rather, he is focusing on one group and the problems it faces. He did not say anything derogatory towards other groups, and he should not apologize for focusing on his area of knowledge. If FellRider were writing an article exclusively about the unique discrimination Native Americans have faced, I don’t think he would have to apologize either—that is, if he were able to keep the topic to what he knows about.

Comment by Josh from Indiana — April 20, 2007 @ 9:37 am

Interesting…I would point out here that I said that I support gay people in their struggle for recognition.  However, I will stand by earlier comments on the matter.  The fact is, and I mentioned this, that there is a matter of inequality to suffering.  The suggestion to read about Matthew Sheppard is appreciated, but I already have, and the lack of intelligence is on the side of those who will compare these things in the context of finding a solution to discrimination.  One is horrible, the other is beyond a word like horrible.  The instinct of certain people who do these sort of things though, will not be changed if you make an issue about the person they murdered, instead of talking about the whole race of people.  As for sticking to one realm in matters like this, that doesn’t work Bubba, all matters like this are related, and knowledge of the entire spectrum is what brings about positive discourse.  Boorish, I think not.  I’ve traveled the jungles of Colombia, I’ve written about the horrors of Somalia, and my point to writing to issues here, is to have a discourse about those issues, which would seem to be the ostensible point of these forums.  I don’t need to do writing I don’t get paid for, as it is my only means of support, and to do serious writing, ALL aspects of a problem must be addressed, and that’s a lot of work.  What I write here is only based on what I already know, not new research.  On that point, you can have an opinion, but a lot of folks have those.  You need to have a logical, reasonable argument to back it up.  If a perspective on something given by another irks you, especially if it’s someone like me whose main purpose here is to play devil’s advocate to issues that interest me, then you need to look at why that perspective bothers you, and if you can refute it in a manner that includes a solid argument.  In terms of the “get real” reader, you’d better chew on that for a bit, and learn how to effectively argue even those you percieve to be boors.  Otherwise, why are you leaving comments here at all?

Comment by Fell Rider from New Paltz — April 22, 2007 @ 6:57 pm

I argue that the current cultural and popcultural focus on the discrimination against gays and the protests against such discrimination only serve to obscure the real issue of discrimination vis a vis such issues as genocide and racism.  If the problems with Native Americans and African descended peoples have not been addressed up until this point, and the gay discourse takes the place of resolving these already festering issues, then no progress is made for anyone.  Convoluted, perhaps, to those used to writing their unsubstantiated opinions in less than a paragraph with no reasoning argument to back it up.  The gay debate is part of a larger discourse on overall racism.  If it is treated as something seperate, then it DOES become a fracturing influence…As for recent attacks on me and my motives, I take it as a compliment that I have made certain people feel unsafe or uncomfortable in my stance on these issues, although I am dissapointed that none of these people seem to have the capability to explain why I am wrong or to fully understand my argument, apparently only using bits and pieces that are either all that they comprehend given their own limited perspectives, or that in this one paragraph, text-messaging utopia, that nobody now has the attention span to read or think about an argument that does not include moronic abbreviations and mono-syllabic language.LOL…Putting an actual article up on this site, or just discussing one really are no different.  The argument and the discourse that follows that necessarily will reveal some truth if it is argued well on all sides is the measure of value as discussion.

Comment by FellRider from New Paltz — April 23, 2007 @ 6:33 am

Policing speech is the answer? If it weren’t for freedom of speech this article wouldn’t exist for commenting. We’ve got to prioritize our “rights”. If it’s a “right” to never be exposed to offensive language in Junior High School then we honestly ought to shut them all down, or at least the one I attended.

To avoid this problem we should teach our children two things:

1)Be sensitive to the feelings of those around you and do not use offensive words. However, my parents taught me to avoid all sorts of offensive words (primarily 4-letter ones) that I use to this day.

2)Better yet… be comfortable enough and proud enough with who you are that you don’t allow yourself to become offended by the insensitive. Anyone knows it’s much funner to tease and continue teasing when you get a strong reaction.

If we learned to lose our viceral reaction to hate the hater perhaps we’d learn to love ourselves a little better.

Comment by David — May 4, 2007 @ 2:06 am

— PopMatters sponsor —

FellRider, your message seems to be, “Stop complaining because other minorities have it worse.” Do you really believe that the homophobic incidents Abernethy talks about here are justified? Because really, if you say that gays do not suffer in comparison, it sounds like you’re saying these incidents are not ones to which we should pay much attention. And like it or not, not paying much attention to such incidents allows them to be perpetuated.

Also, don’t just compare the horrors; consider how you really can’t compare them because they affect people in different ways. That is, racism might hurt people in different ways than homophobia does, but the effects of both are horrible and not worth comparing for the sake of opposition.

Comment by Josh from Indiana — May 7, 2007 @ 9:01 pm

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