By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
In response to the recent spate of suicides by homosexual students, a new anti-bullying program by the U. S. Department of Justice tells lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered youth to “call on the federal government for help” if their schools don’t stop the bullying.
CNSNews.com is reporting that the program debuted Tuesday at James Hubert Blake High School in Silver Spring, Maryland.
“If you have been targeted for harassment or bullying because of your sexual orientation, because of your gender identity or expression, or simply because your classmates see you as different, I am here to tell you that the Civil Rights Division will not stand for it,” said Tom Perez, the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division during the program.
The program included a videotape in which mostly gay and lesbian Civil Rights Division employees (and one who identified herself as intersex) shared stories of being bullied at school and offered hope to beleaguered youth.
“When I was in grade school and high school, I was bullied. But now I prosecute bullies,” said one employee. “Don’t be ashamed of who you are, just keep on being yourself.”
According to CNS, the video was produced by the Civil Rights Division staff for submission to the national “It Gets Better” Project, which was launched after a string of suicides of homosexual students who reportedly had been bullied. The focus of the project is to reassure youth that life gets better after high school.
After the presentation, students were invited to sign the “It Gets Better” Pledge, which reads as follows: “Everyone deserves to be respected for who they are. I pledge to spread this message to my friends, family and neighbors. I’ll speak up against hate and intolerance whenever I see it, at school and at work. I’ll provide hope for lesbian, gay, bi, trans and other bullied teens by letting them know that ‘It Gets Better.’”
Reader comments on the CNS website about the program were mostly negative, accusing the Justice Department of giving special treatment to LGBT youth even though they are not the only students bullied.
“Everyone is a potential bully victim,” one reader wrote. “But if you’re a LGBT youth, you now have the Federal Justice department on your side. Special rights anyone? A class above the rest?”
“Bullies will be bullies,” another commented. “I find it interesting that this angle for homosexuals is being applied. What about the drugs and gangs in schools? What about black on white? What about the Latino gangs and attitudes? . . . I am against bullies of all kinds, but this is nothing more than a sexual social experiment with our children.”
Other comments expressed concern that Tom Perez was pushing the program. Perez is the same Justice Department employee who was accused by a whistleblower of dropping what many considered to be an “open and shut” case against members of the New Black Panther group in a 2008 voter intimidation case in Philadelphia.
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