Public Policy and Bullying

For those of you who haven’t yet heard about it, UVM is having a one day display this week called “1,100 Backpacks,” which is an exhibit traveling the nation to commemorate college suicides.  While students obviously commit suicide for a variety of issues, I would like to focus this entry on the recent awareness of suicides for young gay students, many of who are the subject of bullying or harassment.  After the large number of gay teen suicides this fall, numerous individuals and organizations, from Apple employees to Lady Gaga, have been working to spread awareness about this issue. 

While I think that it is great that so many organizations are working to increase awareness about this issue, I believe that more needs to be done to institute effective policies to protect individuals from harassment.  I believe that much of the changes need to start in schools, from elementary on up.  If schools are mandated to implement policies that require students to be educated about homosexuality from an early age, and institute harsher sanctions for bullying, I believe that more gay teens will feel safe and accepted by their communities.  It is also important for teachers to be trained to accept, or at least tolerate, gay students, so that they do not contribute to the problem themselves and are better equipped to stop bullying.  Also, there needs to be increased penalties for adults who harass individuals for their sexual orientation, and more laws that prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation.  While I realize that these changes could be extremely controversial, especially for the religious right, I believe that it is necessary for our country to do more to protect all citizens from bullying and harassment.

For those of you interested in the exhibit, you can learn more here:

http://www.uvm.edu/bored/calendar/-send-silence-packing-1100-backpacks