LGBTQ+ Bullying in High School

LGBTQ+ Bullying in High School

With his album Everyday, Logic released a song called 1-800-273-8255 in 2017 which aims at creating awareness about LGBTQ+ bullying and youth suicide. Since suicide is “the second leading cause of death among young Americans age 15 to 24” (Santhanam 2019), this issue has been gaining attention prominently in the last years. According to the Suicide Awareness Voices Of Education, “lesbian, gay and bisexual kids are 3x more likely than straight kids to attempt suicide at some point in their lives”. In a century and world in which progress happens so rapidly and impressively in almost every scope of life, it is just not comprehensible that our progress in social matters is so stunted that people are still rejected and harassed because of their (not hetero-) sexual orientation. The following entry is inspired by the music video for this song; and the picture of how high school life is depicted in it will be analyzed. Even though we will present objective facts and statistics to support our findings, this text will not and cannot be fully value free.

The 1-800 music video is about a young man in high school who struggles with rejection in his familial relations and harassment in school due to his sexual orientation. At first, he experiences homelessness, because his father did not accept him for who he is, and his crush’s family also kicked him out. Therefore, he has to sleep in the basement of his school and prostitutes himself. When he hits bottom, he thinks about committing suicide. Fortunately, there is a turning point in this plot, due to someone telling the protagonist all the things worth living for, and everyone lives happily ever after. The music video’s intention is not only to create awareness that LGBTQ+ bullying is especially a very prominent and serious topic in schools nowadays, it also intends to give victims hope to push through rough patches and to seek help. The song’s title is the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline’s phone number and so far, the song has had a huge impact and induced many affected people to call the 1-800 number.

Various academic studies have dealt with the issue of LGBTQ+ bullying in high schools, but only to a manageable extent. Most sources only dealt with it as a subcategory of school bullying and therefore there is limited access to data and analyses concerning discrimination against the LGBTQ+ school community. Nevertheless, the core thesis of every research paper was the same, students in High School who identify themselves with the LGBTQ+ community are at jeopardy of becoming victims of verbal and physical harassment. According to Dupper, who based his article on a survey taken by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), 84.6% of LGBTQ+ students in American High Schools were verbally harassed and 63.7% physically (Dupper 41). These numbers are more than shocking and show how LGBTQ+ students are one of the groups that are confronted the most with bullying and harassment. The study also shows that the numbers of LGBTQ+ victims have remained constant over the last decade which is an alarming number. In addition to this, bullying is not limited to the school but often continues on the internet. In a time where social media plays in an important role in the identification process of young adults, the cases of cyberbullying have increased tremendously. In contrast to bullying in school, cyberbullying can be done anonymously and is therefore more difficult to recognize, as well as to prevent.

Being constantly bullied has major consequences for the victims. The feeling of insecurity and helplessness leads to the fact that LGBTQ+ students tend to skip class more of the than other students, in extreme cases this is followed by dropping out of school completely before they graduate. But it does not stop with educational failure. LGBTQ+ students often have psychological issues as a consequence of being bullied. For example, they feel isolated, show runaway behavior, anxiety and depression. In combination with the lack of acceptance in the family, this can eventually lead to homelessness, self-harming behavior and suicide. “In fact, suicide remains the third leading cause of death of LGBT youth” (Dupper 43). Discrimination based on sex or gender is not federally prohibited by any law which makes it difficult to even define what sexual bullying really is. Most notably, the reasons for sexual bullying are often related to political or religious attitudes against homosexuality. The United States still has certain areas where a conservative worldview considering sexuality is the standard. There, homosexuality is seen as “unnormal” and even as a disease which could be healed and sexual otherness is marginalized and seen as inferior. This contradictory view to contemporary natural and social sciences creates a dangerous atmosphere for the LGBTQ+ community.

One of the major questions regarding bullying in general is: how are we able to prevent it? Especially in schools, a public place, prevention is possible and more than necessary. Antigay behavior is often not responded to by school personnel even though the incident was reported by the victims. This emphasizes the sense of helplessness of LGBTQ+ students or bullied students in general which leads to not reporting such events. There are many different methods in order to establish successful possibilities to prevent school bullying and LGBTQ+ bullying in general. Schools need to create sexual harassment policies and train their staff to be able to intervene in certain situations. But most importantly, schools need to enhance their curricula by teaching young adults about what sexual harassment is and looks like, as well as a more tolerant worldview on contemporary concepts of sexuality which means that students need to be aware of the fact that heterosexuality is not the normal concept, just one of many. Therefore, it is important to create an inclusive curriculum in schools in order to have an integrated aspect of prevention on the educational level. Moreover, schools should enable students to become cooperative learners, recognizing the chance of otherness to broaden one’s own horizon (Smith & Sharp 84f.). Another method to prevent bullying is to establish certain committees where students feel safe and have a chance to talk about their issues.

An example for certain methods preventing LGBTQ+ bullying was created by the UN’s Free & Equal Campaign, which lists eight important points.

Ensure that school environments are safe, inclusive and supportive for all students, including those who are LGBT and intersex.
Give students and their families access to objective, accurate information on sexual orientation, gender identity/expression and sex characteristics.
Offer teachers in-service, training and support on how to deal with bullying and violence against LGBT and intersex students.
Take action to tackle cases of bullying, insults and slurs against LGBT and intersex students.

Lead by example: Do not propagate negative and harmful stereotypes about LGBT and intersex people.

Refer to a person using the pronouns, gender and name that they use to identify themselves.
Do not refer to, or reveal, a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status without their consent.
Partner with local civil society organizations and the wider school community to mobilize action or mark specific days to combat discrimination against LGBT and intersex people.

LGBTQ+ students are frequently being bullied and High Schools do not protect them sufficiently. Therefore, new methods of prevention are the key to improving the situation and raising awareness among students, especially on the educational level, is very important.

To find out whether or not the music video depicts a real picture of high school life in the United States, in regard to LGBTQ+ bullying, we came up with a questionnaire. Its questions are categorized into four parts which go from rather superficial and an outside perspective to a deeper understanding of this issue, personal experiences and thoughts. With the first three questions of the questionnaire, we lead slowly into the topic by having the participants watch Logic’s 1-800 music video. This visual impulse helps to evoke personal feelings towards the issue of LGBTQ+ bullying and gives an insight into how an affected kid’s life in high school might look like from a different perspective. After dealing with rather superficial questions concerning the video and the artist, five questions about personal experiences with bullying are supposed to be answered. Here, it was important for us to get to know more about what high school life really looks like from Americans who attended such a school. Because not every participant answering the questions would be a member of the LGBTQ+ community, we left the questions more open so that also heterosexual people have the chance to report what they experienced from the outside. Hence, the answers either deal with personal stories from LGBTQ+ people, similar situations of harassment towards straight people or people who know of someone in their high school career who struggled with those issues mentioned. In case there are volunteers who take the time to share personal experiences, the response from their school as an institution is important to come to know. Since schools are supposed to be a safe place for pupils to learn and to develop their personality, there should be policies to prevent any kind of inequality and harassment, or measures to punish inappropriate behavior and hatred.

Assuming that most schools do not have particular policies to protect LGBTQ+ kids, category three in our questionnaire evaluates the institutional context. Under the headline “Prevention” we not only aim at general policies which are often not very visible to students, we also want to know if the schools’ curricula cover any topics considering LGBTQ+ bullying. Creating awareness about this sensitive issue, school can become a safer place for pupils, and many instances could possibly be prevented. Awareness is often the first step towards tolerance, possibly even acceptance, and is essential to solve this social grievance which is especially severe in school.

For the last category, which we labelled as “Reasons and Consequences of LGBTQ+ Bullying”, we aimed at a reflexive level, where people are supposed to empathize with the victims and predators. By switching perspective and seeing bullying from affected people’s eyes (in case those answering the questionnaire are not members of the LGBTQ+ community or have luckily not come across with this type of bullying) sympathy and hence awareness can be created. Thinking about consequences from which victims might suffer leads to a better understanding of why dealing with this issue in school is inevitable and can save people’s lives literally. When switching to the perspective of bullies, this sense of awareness solidifies itself. The last part of the questionnaire is supposed to open people’s eyes if they still have been closed until then. Reflecting about what is going on in their personal environment is important for this. Either participants dig deeper into LGBTQ+ bullying in high schools and gain additional knowledge, especially awareness and are sensitized through this experience of self-reflection, or they have the chance to share their stories. This can either confirm or disprove our thesis that high schools are “a breeding ground for harassment of LGBTQ[+] children” (JoAnn Jarolmen 2014: 158). The last question “Do you want to add anything?” gives everyone the opportunity to share thoughts to open up further discussions.

In the course of finding participants and hence generating results to verify or falsify our assumption about high school life, we came across massive hurdles which we were only able to overcome partly. Still, we will present exemplary answers from two participants. The first volunteer has never come across the issue of LGBTQ+ bullying, but had to face a different kind of hostility in school and answers the questionnaire from an outside perspective. Our second participant is a member of the LGBTQ+ community who actually suffered from this type of harassment during his high school years. Those are two very different takes on this issue that show a slight tendency in the same direction. For reasons of anonymity, participant A will cover the outside perspective whereas participant B will give actual insights of what LGBTQ+ bullying felt like and how his school dealt with it. Because we feel like people need to read the exact responses to this and to contrast the answers visibly, the questions and given answers will be copied in the following and commented after every category.

Watch the music video of Logic’s song 1-800.

How did the music video make you feel? Why?

A: “The video made me feel empathy sadness for the boy because no one could understand him.”

B: “Sad, very sad. Mostly because I have some personal experiences with and around this. It certainly brought up some very unpleasant memories for me.”

Do you think that the music video is a realistic representation of High School life?

A: “I think the video has a lot of similar representation of high school life”

B: “I think it’s pretty realistic. I feel like much of high school generally is trying to figure

out yourself, figure out love and sex, and navigate parents as you’re becoming an adult.”

Do you think Logic’s approach towards LGBTQ+ bullying has had any impact on victims and predators?

A: “I think Logic’s approach has made both sides think about their actions and how one could affect the other.”

B: “I would say maybe yes and no in different ways. I think the approach is great. I think that addressing issues through this medium is great. However, I think that it won’t address LGBTQ+ bullying very much (though I’m hoping I’m wrong). I didn’t really see any instances of classmates DOING the bullying. It felt like it revolved more around the parents.

I do think that some bullies who are not so resilient will be changed by this approach, but there are so many people who despise LGBTQ+ people and really want their actions to result in LGBTQ+ people committing suicide. It’s terrible.”

The first distinction which is visibly recognizable it the length of the answers. Since participant B is emotionally more attached to this issue, he elaborates on the questions a little bit more than A. Both feel sad after having watched the video because of empathy (A) or due to “personal experiences” and hence “very unpleasant memories” which arise again (B). Moreover, A and B confirm that the representation of high school life regarding LGBTQ+ bullying, depicted in the music video, is realistic and that Logic’s approach might actually help people.

2. Personal Experiences with Bullying

Do you think being called gay is an insult? Why/Why not?

A: “I don’t think being called gay is an insult because that’s what the sexual orientation is called. If it were any other sexual derogatory term, then it’s of course an insult.”

B: “I don’t think being called gay necessarily is an insult, because I’m very gay. Haha! In the 2000’s, it seemed like gay was being used to say something was stupid (e.g., “That’s so gay!”). THAT is insulting. I like men, but I’m not stupid. What other word would be used instead of gay to refer to people in the LGBTQ+ community? Because I’m more offended by other words – obviously fag/faggot for example. I’d probably be thrown off if someone called me a homosexual, even. I think it’s safe to say that we re-appropriated the word gay. J”

“Schools seem to be a breeding ground for harassment of LGBTQ[+] children.” (JoAnn Jarolmen 2014: 158). Would you agree with this statement? Why?

A: “Well children only repeat what their parents and elders say in the walls of their own home. So, by bringing all of these kids together on daily bases does allow schools to become a breeding ground for this type of behavior.”

B: “Again, I agree with parts of it and disagree with others. I mean, I was ONLY bullied at school about being gay. I disliked school so much because I would be harassed almost every day and lived in panic and anxiety over going to school and having to face some harassment. However, I do feel to some extent that it really starts at home with parents. A lack of LGBTQ+ exposure and parents with conservative ideologies I truly think can start putting ideas in kids’ heads. Yes, kids are just mean – but I think they start getting it from somewhere. But I think at schools is when kids really learn how to harass LGBTQ+ students.”

Have you ever experienced any form of bullying or discrimination against yourself or others? If yes: Elaborate.

A: “I haven’t openly experienced any type of discrimination although in America we are still behind in terms of race relations and so I have experienced mockery of the way I talk in schools of black and Spanish majority. I have been told I talk white or dating a white woman makes me hate my own race.”

B: “Oh, yes. Every damn day at school! Name calling - I’ve had my head shoved into lockers while being called a fag. In the middle of classes, other students would pass me notes just to harass me. I became a target for all of the bullies at my school, probably more than most people.
It wasn’t only at school. I don’t think that I was discriminated at school (though I could be wrong), but the most extreme situation was when I was working at a Sonic Drive-In (if you don’t know what this is, it’s essentially a fast food restaurant) and my supervisor found out I was gay. He forced me to quit my job because I stopped getting put on the schedule. Just prior to finding out I was gay; we had a conversation about having me be on the schedule 30 hours a week. He found out, and I went from 20 hours a week to 3.”

In which way has the school taken action in this situation?

A: “It’s not paid much attention to.”

B: “My school didn’t do anything. One teacher even witnessed me being called a fag by someone, and she didn’t do anything about it.”

How do you feel when experiencing LGBTQ+ bullying?

A: “I feel sick to my stomach because these kids don’t have a choice in their orientation. I think it will all eventually change.”

B: “Shitty, to be completely honest. At least back when I was younger. Nowadays, that bullying is more in politics, so it’s just frustrating. I don’t get bullied really, probably because I’m very tall and can be intimidating when I’m yelling.”

In this category it is very clear that participant A and B agree on many different aspects. The term gay does not have a negative connotation for them, but both acknowledge that this term can be used in an insulting way, when following negative or denigrating intentions. Question number two opens up the discussion about school being “a breeding ground for harassment of LGBTQ[+] children” (JoAnn Jarolmen 2014: 158) and lead participant A and B to refer to the children’s family home. Parents explicitly as well as implicitly teach a particular set of values to their children. At home is where kids learn how to behave and who to accept; the school is rather the place where hatred and bullying are executed. Even though A has never experienced LGBTQ+ bullying himself, he is able to empathize with victims and draws parallels towards racial harassment, that he had to face. By contrast, the second participant came across LGBTQ+ bullying and discrimination due to his sexual orientation “[e]very damn day at school” and also in other environments. With this not being enough, both A and B recall that their schools had never taken any action in this issue or had even participated by willingly condone discriminating behavior. A school’s ignorance in connection to this issue is very difficult. The institution and its teachers should educate, protect and sanction in this matter so that every student has equal chances and is not afraid to go to school.

3. Prevention

Does your school have any policies against bullying in general? Against LGBTQ+ bullying in particular?

A: “Yes, our high schools have anti-discriminatory policies toward LGBTQ+ bullying behavior.”

B: “My high school didn’t have anything of the sort.”

Does your school curriculum cover any topics considering LGBTQ+ bullying/awareness? (Famous advocates for LGBTQ+ equality/rights in US history?)

A: “When I graduated from high school in 2012 there was no curriculum that contained it, but college curriculums do contain it and are incorporating it more.”

B: “We never addressed anything like that.”

Do you have any ideas how to prevent LGBTQ+ bullying?

A: “We need to educate the kids at a young age then they will grow up to be more socially aware adults.”

B: “In my opinion, schools need to be addressing LGBTQ+ issues, history, etc. It’s good for LGBTQ+ people to live openly as their authentic selves too. I think younger generations are really shaping what society looks like with regard to this because they are more likely to see LGBTQ+ people live openly. This includes how we’re represented in media as well.”

The first question already shows that school policies differ immensely from each other. Whether policies against LGBTQ+ bullying are included or not, depends on the state and possibly also the need to manifest such policies due to it being a (prevalent) problematic. Nowadays, parents and kids can search online for schools having a particularly LGBTQ+-friendly reputation. This reputation results from those policies and trained teachers who know how to create awareness in class and how to take action when it comes to discrimination and LGBTQ+ bullying. In this questionnaire we come to know that both participants did not have topics considering LGBTQ+ awareness or bullying in their curricula, but A thinks that this has been and is still in the process of changing. Furthermore, both emphasize the importance of including these topics in every school’s curricula to educate pupils which is the best way to prevent LGBTQ+ bullying.

4. Reasons and Consequences of LGBTQ+ Bullying

Do you have any ideas why one’s sexual orientation is one of the major reasons of being bullied?

A: “It’s only because people don’t understand it.”

B: “Ignorance, I think. Toxic masculinity and patriarchy as well.”

What consequences do victims experience? (you might want to refer to the music video)

A: “They experience lack of hope and overall hopelessness. They also experience risk of suicide.”

B: “Suicide is a big one. I’ll be transparent here – I had a suicide attempt when I was 16 because of all of the intense bullying. What I wish I knew then was how awesome my life would be now. I realized after my failed attempt that I could change the way my life looked. That included moving out of the state I lived in, which was really conservative, and going to college. The people who bullied me, as I stalk them on Facebook from time to time, have really sucky looking lives now! (And I’m totally hotter than them, ha!)”

Do you believe that every student no matter which sexual orientation they have, have equal chances in school/life?

A: “Yes, I do believe every student has equal chances at life and school although some may find it harder than others.”

B: “Of course I do!”

Do you want to add anything?

A: -

B: “Thank you for exploring this topic. It means the world to me, and I’m sure it’s touching for other LGBTQ+ individuals as well.”

Question number one in the last category invites the participants to utter speculations of what might lead people to bully LGBTQ+ peers. Since B had to make personal experiences with being bullied in school because of his sexual orientation, his answer is a little more diversified. The impression that he engaged with this issue more than the other participant also comes across in the second question. In the course of him being bullied in school, he sadly had to face suicidal thoughts and even went further and attempted to take his own life once. Fortunately, his life changed after high school and is, as he describes it, “awesome” today. Again, both agree that technically every student has equal chances in school and life, no matter which sexual orientation they have. This fact and the assertion, that schools are more and more including LGBTQ+ issues in their curricula let us have hope for a LGBTQ+-friendlier, more inclusive and more positive future, which allows every student to feel safe at school, to develop themselves and to live their true selves freely.

Finally, in connection to the last answer we want to thank our first volunteer for the helpful responses from an outside perspective and for supporting us with our questionnaire. Since our biggest hurdle was to get people to answer (or even to respond to emails) we were very thankful for his immediate cooperation. Moreover, we want to commit a special thank you to our second volunteer, who shared very personal details about the time being bullied in school and who welcomed us to see the issue of LGBTQ+ bullying from the eyes of an affected person. His answers to our questionnaire moved us deeply and made us once again clear how important this issue is. Therefore, we are very honored to hear that “it means the world” to him and that we were able to cope with this topic appropriately, even though we are not members of the LGBTQ+ community ourselves.

Sources:

Duffy, Maureen P.; Sperry, Len; Mishna, Faye; Dupper, David R.; Vernberg, Eric M.; Biggs, Bridget K. (2014): Oxford collection of bullying and mobbing prevention. Set of five (5) books. New York, New York: Oxford University Press.

Dupper, David R. (2013): School bullying. New perspectives on a growing problem. New York: Oxford University Press (Oxford workshop series).

Meyer, Elizabeth J. (2010): Gender and Sexual Diversity in Schools. An Introduction. Dordrecht: Springer Science+Business Media B.V (Explorations of Educational Purpose, 10). Online verfügbar unter http://site.ebrary.com/lib/alltitles/docDetail.action?docID=10397013.

Smith, Peter K. (Hg.) (1995): School bullying. Insights and perspectives. reprint. London: Routledge.