Thursday 3 September 2009

Examiner: Boy targeted by anti-gay bullies on YouTube

27.8.9 by Kelvin Lynch


A young boy named Simon posted this video back in April in response to people on YouTube calling him a "homo". The video has spawned a slew of parodies and anti-gay hate speech that is unpublishable here. The comments are perverted, disgusting, and even racist.

In the video, Simon appears to be in a rage (rightfully so) because of the online bullying. He demands people stop calling him a homo and stop using clips of his video to make fun of him.

The National Mental Health Association says,

While trying to deal with all the challenges of being a teenager, gay/ lesbian/ bisexual/ transgender (GBLT) teens additionally have to deal with harassment, threats, and violence directed at them on a daily basis. They hear anti-gay slurs such as “homo”, “f--got” and “sissy” about 26 times a day or once every 14 minutes. Even more troubling, a study found that thirty-one percent of gay youth had been threatened or injured at school in the last year alone

The NMHA adds that LGBT teens are at high risk because ‘their distress is a direct result of the hatred and prejudice that surround them,’ not because of their inherently gay or lesbian identity orientation. They are two to three times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers. LGBT teens in U.S. schools are subjected to such intense bullying that they’re unable to receive an adequate education. Twenty-eight percent of gay students will drop out of school.

Simon doesn't say he's gay, but he's obviously upset that he's being bullied.

So this is what America has come to - bullying a young boy on the Internet for fun. It's unbelievable that YouTube has allowed this to go on for 5 months.

What's next? Online gay executions cheered on by rabid gay-hating fans?

No comments:

Post a Comment