Quote:
Originally posted by fabbriche
Are the kids really that hostile in America? Thank God I don't live there. I thought the West was supposed to be tolerant about homosexuality since they are more liberated. I'm from a very conservative country but homosexuality is accepted here. Nobody makes fun of you being gay, well, almost.
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We're still a very Judeo-Christian focused country. Our laws, attitudes and history have closer ties to these religions than many other countries. The typical Judeo-Christian/Conservative view here tends to have a homophobic/heterosexist view of life. Our children are conditioned in a specific, rigid way that affects their behavior, whether for good or bad. Our country flipped a **** over rumors that our President wasn't Christian. They get riled up if he doesn't thank God at the end of speeches.
Basically, it will take a while before our country is as gay-friendly as say, Canada. Only a handful of states allow same-sex marriage and the majority of the country treats LGBT people as second class citizens (in terms of legal rights).
You'd think we'd be more gay-friendly, but we're such a backwards country in more ways than one. That's one of the leading reasons for the conditioning of children to act in ways that result in incidents like these. It's unfortunate, but there are people fighting to change this.
Bullying will always exist and is part of the socialization of children. There's more to it though, especially in this case. What many don't realize here is that depression is a disease, like cancer. It's easy to say that children should have thicker skin, but when you are suffering from a disease it's never that easy. Vicious bullying like this should never be excused, and the administration of the school seemed to fail (based on news reports I've read). There is also the involvement of cyber-bullying, which extends the experience to home. They don't even feel safe in their house.
We need to educate the ones who are bullying and ready those who may suffer. There are two sides to the coin and to say we should focus solely on one and not the other is ridiculous.
