A few days ago a rolling stones article came out about the gay bulling in my school district. It is called
One town's war on Gay Teens. I cried as I read it. A lot of controversy has been sparked by this article, but to me, a student in the Anoka-Hennipin school district, it seemed pretty accurate. Of course, I am not gay, and I don't go to Anoka high school, I go to Coon Rapids high school. However, I hear stories, and see the bulling. Since some of the suicides, there are a lot of anti-bulling posters and many assemblies on suicide prevention, which they don't talk about in the article, but I feel as none of the school districts efforts have actually helped. Not everyone up here is anti-gay and bullies, but there are many "rednecks" that are very stubborn, close minded and rude. I wish everyone could just accept other people's life choices, and I also wish that nobody was driven to feel that suicide was the only option. I don't know any of the kids who killed themselves, but I have friends, who could be on that path. We give them help, but the only real solution is for certain people to just shut their mouths and walk away.
If you don't like gays, or blacks, or whites, or mexicans, or fat people, or people who wear dresses, or blondes, or me, or anybody, just walk away. Nobody is gaining anything when insulting and other incidents occur. Also if someone is having a bad day, talk to them, and if anyone says they are going to kill themselves, even if they say there are joking, take it seriously and help them out.
I love you all, and the world would be worse if any of you died!
~Rachael
