On Thursday, January 27, 2011 at 7 p.m., the Treasure Valley Metropolitan Community Church, along with The Community Center, sponsored a showing of "Bullied," a documentary produced by the Southern Poverty Law Center, that is designed to counter anti-gay bullying in schools.
The documentary is about Jamie Nabozny of Ashland, Wisconsin, who was tormented in middle school and high school while the bureaucracy of the school system, from the teachers to the principal to the school board, showed pronounced indifference and neglect of their charge to keep this young man free from bullying, that progressed to harassment and ultimately to physical violence.
This blatant neglect of protection from bullying and violence, led this young man to the brink of suicide. His mother was doing her best to help him, but what she didn't realize was the school district personnel would not listen to her, nor would they take action on her son's behalf.
Her son took charge of his destiny and was very lucky to find a social worker and legal help to take on his case.
The documentary was well produced and told this young man's story well, although it brought up more questions than it answered.
Discussion after the film brought to light what little information is available on the subject of bullying to the children in the various school districts in the Treasure Valley. Two young people attended the showing, one a young woman of 14 years that is still progressing in her school district, the other a young man of 19 years who has graduated from high school in the Treasure Valley.
The young woman described her journey, and the violence perpetrated upon her. She fully identified with the subject of the film and the continuous assault on her body, mind and psyche from other classmates. Only a handful of teachers and one principal was able to identify her problems and stepped in during her developing years in middle school. She was removed from the school district to an "opportunity" school, which turned out to be the best move for her. She is now thriving in her studies and intends to go on to college.
The young man was accompanied by his mother to the documentary. He was able to get through the school system without too many scars, yet he could identify with the film having seen his peers suffer similar abuse in high school.
The question of the night was, what can we adults do to help bring about a better atmosphere free of bullying for all children in our schools? Should some kind of diversity training be introduced in schools? How young should we begin this training?
We need to find a way to make the public aware of the less-than-adequate job our public schools are providing for the safe and secure environment that our children need to learn properly in our schools.
One suggestion is to develop a Gay/Straight Alliance group in each high school so students who are questioning can safely gather for discussion and education about each other's similarities and differences.
The adults attending were surprised to learn from the teens that a documentary like this could not be shown in school, that they are forbidden from talking about things like drugs, anything relating to sexual or gender issues, anywhere near schools.
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