This past Sunday was the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, and it put back into my mind the day that took place exactly one month prior, April 17, and the controversy that surrounded it, and surrounds that time of year every year; so I would like to take this opportunity to address the semi-evolved organisms who still have the nerve to call themselves human beings who are responsible for this situation.
Freedom of religion should, in theory, be treated with as much respect and protection as any other human right. But it is, unfortunately, the only right that I am ever suspicious of. Because it is, unfortunately, the only human right that is constantly twisted into things it was never supposed to mean at the time of the Enlightenment, when it was conceived, and constantly twisted into things that it should never mean in any civilised society. It is the only human right that constantly spawns new “rights” that have no justification as to why they should be “rights”, and have been completely unheard of until now, when a conservative Christian decided the existence of such a “right” would be beneficial to their bigotry. It is the only human right that is constantly used to deny the existence of the human rights of others. It is the only human right that warrants limitations on its exercise we don’t need for other rights, because its exercise is so often so intolerable to any place that we want to call a society.
On April 17 of this year, many students in the United States took part in what is known as they Day of Silence, where they do not talk for the day, unless ordered by a teacher, as a protest against anti-LGBT bullying in schools. These days are supported by LGBT equality organizations, most critically in this case, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network. These days are important, because numerous studies on these issues tell us that 90% percent of LGBT students have been harassed or assaulted over their sexual orientation or gender identity. 22% say they do not feel safe at school. 17% have attempted suicide. Well actually, that’s only in schools with a gay-straight alliance. In schools without a GSA, that number rises to 33%.
Conservative Christians react to these reprehensible statistics in a much more troubling way than just adopting South Park’s Officer Barbrady’s approach of “move along, nothing to see here”. Beyond just sweeping it under the rug, they aim to ensure that the most fundamental cause of this horrifying as holy hell reality remains as prevalent and pervasive as ever. And that “holy hell” is not just for alliteration. It is a holy hell, made holy by conservative Christians, and made a hell by conservative Christians, who, every year, consistently unleash a sustained and deliberate campaign against this effort to save lives, by keeping their child away from school that day and urging other parents to do the same, all with the expressly stated goal“to remove GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network)-sponsored political action from taxpayer-funded classes."
The absurdity in this statement is twofold. Firstly, the conservative Christians who signed that letter do not understand that the fact that public schools are taxpayer-funded means the opposite to what they think it means. That fact does not mean that they should discriminate against the DOS based on its message, because a taxpayer-funded institution cannot discriminate against a message. And secondly, it is in this statement that we see one objection that they have to the day: this alleged “politicization of the classroom”. Yes, the message may be somewhat political, but these days, what isn’t? Also note that they object to that the day is sponsored by GLSEN. This does not, and should not, suggest that an external political group is taking over the classroom. The Day of Silence is run like any other political campaign. The message is disseminated by an organization. People, including children, inevitably come across it. Some will be interested in it. Some will choose to take action, by participating in the Day of Silence. But pro-LGBT groups are not forcing their way into schools, and forcing children to sit down and listen to them. (That would be conservative Christians, with all their use of public schools to distribute Bibles.)
But as invalid as the politicisation argument is, at least it can reasonably be seen to not be related to homosexuality and gender identity. At least it can reasonably be see to apply to all political messages. At least it can plausibly be argued that conservative Christians merely want to keep the classroom and politics separate, in order to keep the classroom purely academic. But do not let that distract from the reality that this is a homophobic and transphobic campaign. How do we know? Because conservative Christians raise other objections as well, which go along the lines of “I don’t my children to be exposed to LGBT themes.” That this objection is raised at all signals the progress that still needs to be made. In my own country of Australia, a program aimed at combating anti-LGBT bullying, the Safe Schools Coalition, has run into opposition from at least three socially conservative organizations: Family Voice Australia, the National Civic Council, and most notably, the Australian Christian Lobby. These organisations have described educating children about homosexuality and gender identity as “dangerous”, “controversial”, “a radical sexual agenda”, and “LGBT propaganda”. That anyone could think that about such important education, without which, bullying and suicides will continue, just goes to show how important that education is. Adults need it too, not just children.
In my experience, I have come across two main reasons as to why children should not be exposed to LGBT themes. The first goes something like “it will confuse them.” Well, that’s an interesting way of looking at things, isn’t it? Apparently, providing children with facts, information and knowledge about what it means to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender will confuse them. And I guess keeping them in the dark about it won’t? That makes plenty of sense, doesn’t it? But I find another worry to be even more infuriating, and it’s this: “I want to raise my children in my faith, and this education conflicts with it.” If that’s your view, then strap yourself in, because you are in for a harsh reality check.
You are allowed to raise your children in your faith. I concede that doing so should be legal (but don’t think for a second that that means that, if your faith is a disgusting one I am not going to strongly advocate against what you do and show why it is wrong). But if you want the public schools to raise your children in your faith, then you need to do one of two things: abandon your faith, or change your child’s school, because the public school can never do that. Public schools are not there to promote your faith. If you are worried that the education that your child receives conflicts with your faith, then the responsibility is on you to change your child’s education. When you choose to send your children to public school, you accept the curriculum of the school. As District Judge for Massachusetts Mark Wolf explained in 2007, “[t]he Constitution does not permit [you] to prescribe what those children [in public schools] will be taught.” Public schools are an institution of the government, which exists for the maintenance of civil society. And civil society cannot be maintained unless all citizens understand that it is not okay to bully, harass, intimidate or attack other citizens, for any reason, but especially on the grounds of a characteristic that one has no control over, like sexual orientation or gender identity.
But there is something even more blaringly obvious than I have not covered and now will: the whole case against the DOS smacks of massive hypocrisy. Do not you realize, conservative Christians, that you started this? Do you not realize that your actions have imposed your sick, twisted values more on others than any education about LGBT issues could ever do? Do you not realize that you yourselves have created the entire need for the Day of Silence? Do you not realize that every time you exercise your “right” to raise your children however you want, by telling them of the wicked, sinful nature of their fellow students who happen to be LGBT, that you are the ones forcing your values into the classroom? And just to highlight how much this is going on: on February 23 this year, a parent in the Anoka Hennepin School District in Minnesota testified against an a proposed anti-bullying policy because “the personal religious beliefs of others would still be offended.”
We are only reacting to what you have been doing forever. We are merely trying to nullify the effects of your efforts to shove homophobia and transphobia into schools, and return them to the state that they would be in were it not for your efforts in this regard. Every time you tell your child such a message, you licence hate. You legitimize it. You incite it. You encourage it. And every time you send your child off to school, you are exporting the hate that you have instilled in your child to the classroom, where it will inevitably be unleashed on your child’s LGBT peers, all with your blessing. Homophobia and transphobia are in the classroom, because you have sent it there. So yes, we will deal with this in the classroom, thank you very much.
But anti-LGBT hatred is not the only form of hatred that exists in classrooms. While we do not fortunately witness this in the West, in some parts of the world, hatred of Christians does exist in some classrooms. While they may be blind to the hate that they incite against LGBT students, conservative Christians do get excited about this type of hate, which they are right to do. Persecution of Christians is one of the most serious persecutions the world is facing right now. But can you not see, conservative Christians, that it exists for the same reason that anti-LGBT bullying exists? It exists because Islamic extremists teach their children to hate Christians, just like you teach your children to hate LGBT people. It exists because radical Islamic madrassas teach hatred of Christians, just like schools have become hotbeds of anti-LGBT bullying because of you. What’s the first rule of your religion again, the so-called “Golden Rule”? May I suggest that you, as Christians actually start doing unto LGBT people as you would have Muslims do unto Christians? Or is the Golden Rule actually only the Silver Rule, trumped by an actual Golden Rule of hatred and hypocrisy?
If you devote massive amounts of time and energy into fighting against anti-bullying efforts, then you should be prepared for the result that your children, whom you are making the center of this fight, will view anti-bullying efforts as bad, and thus, view the opposing side as good. In short, you should not be surprised when your child deliberately chooses the Day of Silence as a day to engage in anti-LGBT bullying when they otherwise would not have done so. Indeed, that is exactly what happened this time around. In Pittsburgh, on April 17, anti-LGBT bullies organized an “anti-gay day”, in which they dressed to identify with such a cause, wrote the words “anti-gay” on their hands, and placed homophobic posters on the lockers of LGBT students, which, as it involves the bias-motivated vandalism of another’s property, correctly resulted in the involvement of police. But the fruits of your labour are more than just clothing and posters. In Atlanta, the following Monday, April 20, a gay student, who has been bullied before over his sexuality, was slashed in the face with a screwdriver by another student who used anti-LGBT slurs while doing so. This was a hate crime, no matter how much the deluded authorities who dealt with it would like to pretend otherwise.
And the violence and bullying that took place around the time of April 17 leads me to a depressing conclusion. Conservative Christians have created a situation where any attempt to address a deadly phenomenon of Christian anti-LGBT bullying is now met with an inevitable backlash. It is now impossible to address this problem without inciting the most reprehensible responses. The controversy that they create over these days, these days that are so important that their success could determine if someone lives or dies, has left LGBT students having to deal with even more crap than if the days did not go ahead. If nothing is done, the bullying will persist. If something is done, these human oil slicks will respond by creating even more bullying. Either way, the result is LGBT students being mistreated. Thanks to conservative Christians, fixing the problem could actually cause them harm. This problem may have to get worse before it gets better.
Of course, the horrible truth is that in too many cases (too many meaning 'any at all'), this bullying will turn to suicide, so I would like to finish with a warning to the semi-evolved organisms: if just one LGBT student takes their own life as a result of your efforts to keep them oppressed in the situation that leads to such tragedies, then their blood will not be merely be on your hands. Their blood will be fused and stuck to your hands, stuck tighter than the strongest adhesive could ever make it stick. And don’t even think about trying to wash it off. If you do, it won’t be long before you see that washing is futile, and you will then move on trying to scratch it off. And when you realise that that won’t work either, I promise you this: it will be while uttering Lady Macbeth’s famous words: “Out, damned spot. Out, I say!”