MOM; Amanda; Shane; Shawn,
I love you. Thank you for having me. It's been a pleasure. I know this will bring much pain. But, I will, hopefully, be in a better place than this s---hole. Please, put my body in burial, and visit my used body. And make sure to make the school feel like s--- for bringing you this sorrow. This life was a pleasure, mostly having you guys to pull me through the pain.
Hopefully I become the universe,
Seth
This note was found next to the body of Seth Walsh, a 13-year-old boy who hanged himself on a tree at his home last year. Seth came out as gay in sixth grade and was ridiculed ruthlessly by his classmates. He was shoved on the ground, pushed into lockers, beat up, taunted and consistently subjected to derogatory language regarding his sexual orientation. Seth lived a nightmare at school. Instead of being loved for his artistic talents and genuine kindness, his classmates tortured him, treatment that led Seth to believe suicide was his only reprieve.
Seth's suicide is not an isolated incident. There has been a long, recent string of gay youth committing suicide as a result of ridicule at school. Much of the focus on the prevention of anti-gay bullying in school has been on individual school administrations. Officials urge schools to institute harsher punishments for perpetrators and to create a safe space for students to talk about bullying.
School instituted policies, however, do nothing to address the source of anti-gay bullying. Children do not come out of the womb as hateful beings, but learn their behavior from the society of their upbringing. It is not American children, but American politicians and religious leaders who are soaked in the blood of gay youth.
Congress, the White House, state legislatures across the nation, the court system, the Catholic Church and right-wing religious institutions are bursting at the seams with blood. These institutions and leaders are the real bullies who instill prejudice in the minds of youth. It is ridiculous to assert that anti-gay bullying can be solved by harsher school policies when right-wing churches are free to demonize the gay community, and politicians deny same-sex couples marriage. Children inevitably become anti-gay bullies because adult leaders are anti-gay bullies.
Those who oppose gay rights are bullies, plain and simple. Conservative churches argue the Bible says homosexuality is a sin. Yet if Christian groups are going to take one unclear sentence from the Bible and use it to persecute a minority group, then other Bible "sins" including wearing gold, playing football, eating shellfish, wearing blended fabrics such as polyester and having round haircuts should be equally as important. The fact that conservative churches do not consider these other actions to be sins reveals them as organizations that manipulate Christianity to justify personal prejudices.
Anti-gay bullying is incredibly clear in the recent failure of same-sex marriage legislation in Maryland. After breezing through the more conservative Senate, same-sex marriage legislation stalled in the House. One by one, House representatives became spineless as opponents of the legislation spewed religious arguments. Instead of doing the right thing, the House let anti-gay representatives and petitioning religious leaders get away with bullying.
The gay community shares a long history with other social groups also victimized by bullies. Beginning in 1878, an amendment was proposed for 41 straight years to grant women the right to vote. Every year it failed until women finally were granted the vote in 1919 with the passage of the 19th Amendment. Opponents of women's suffrage claimed that granting women the right to vote would overturn God's natural order. Like anti-gay bullies, misogynistic bullies used religion to justify their views and behavior.
Blacks in the United States have been subjected to the same treatment. Bullies, masking their behavior in religion, subjugated blacks. In order to justify slavery, slave owners argued that it was God's will for the black race to be subjugated. When segregation laws were enacted throughout the South, proponents argued it was God's will to keep the races apart. Like anti-gay bullies and misogynistic bullies, anti-black bullies used religion to mask unjust persecution and harassment.
Those responsible for the string of gay youth suicides in the United States are anti-gay politicians and select religious leaders, who both demonize the gay community and deny equal treatment under the law. They instruct American children to view their gay classmates as subhuman, just as their historical counterparts viewed women and blacks as subhuman. By understanding that those who hold anti-gay views are bullies, a more just society can be created where all are loved and accepted. It is my hope that in the future, a beautiful, artistic and caring child like Seth will be loved for his wonderful characteristics, with sexuality as an acknowledged but irrelevant side note.
Jamie Dailey's column appears Fridays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at j.dailey@cavalierdaily.com.
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