Calwest:

You have raised the most pertinent point about the discrimination of this program. The education system says it is committed to zero-bullying and yet it sees fit to only have special programs for combating bullying of kids with sexual differences. If they are serious about bullying they will want to make school safe for all kids. Kids bully because of a perceived difference and every kid has an equal right to ‘safety’.

Programs that focus on sexual issues are not only giving information about the rights and respect due to kids of any sexual minority but by singly out those issues they are also showing kids that those who belong to such minorities are more important to the school than those who do not but are also bullied. It is also saying that sexual issues are more important than any other personal issue that a student may be dealing with. It puts sexual issues out of all proportion and kids then wonder why sexual problems are more urgent than any other problems. Then they begin to worry unnecessarily about their own sexuality because although they do not feel concerned about their sexuality they begin to think that maybe they should.

It puts sexual issues out of all proportion because those adults who create the programs have their own sexual issues out of all proportion and the more dramatic they can make them the more important to themselves they can appear and this makes up for their general insecurity as people.

Programs like this are elitist and create a class of people who think that their problems are far more important than anyone else’s. Kids who have sexual issues then become so narcissistic that they themselves become the bullies because they have learnt that society has not just included them but exalted them above other kids.

Hi Suse,

I don't think I linked pedophiles to homosexual men: my point was - perhaps clumsily put - that pedophiles of all varieties would be happy to get on to sites that these poor kids - girls as well as boys - are tricked into accessing, and grooming them. Both homosexual and pervert-heterosexual, and mostly men, I should imagine - unless you have other information ?

I've always been an atheist, by the sway. Sorry, that religious crap won't work. Do you have any other arrow in your quiver ? No ?

But I will repeat: when I was at school, some of the bullies may well have been gay, or at least ambivalent, just the sort of kids that this 'brilliant' initiative would tap into: some bullies certainly didn't seem to have any interest in girls. I would suggest that this lack of empathy may have been the reason for them to pick on us smaller kids if we seemed to be more interested in girls than in them.

Just surmising. And some of their 'rough-housing' did seem to involve shoving our faces up against their arses and farting. Maybe that was a clue. They weren't the nicest of people.

Joe

Loudmouth, I know you are an atheist, but most others on this subject aren't. Not that I am saying there aren't homophobes amongst atheists, just as there are decent people amongst theists.

We had anti-bullying lectures even when I was at school...eons ago. My daughter's school had a strong anti-bullying program, including having acting groups come to the school to act out how bullies operate, and how to tackle this bullying.
I am sure these measures were not just dealt with at her state primary school and later at the local Catholic college, but were widespread amongst most good schools, so I don't see how anyone can say we haven't been trying hard to stamp out bullying for ALL children?

Obviously, this one-size fits all anti-bullying strategy has not been effective for gay or transgender kids, or the government would not be wasting time and money on this new initiative? Gay and transgender teenagers may need more help to stop the suicides and mental health issues. How can any reasonable person have a problem with that?

Hi Suse,

Are you suggesting that normal kids don't think about suicide ? This is half the point - that kids between 10 and 16 or so are often in all sorts of doubts about life generally, about their place in the world, about all their various social relations, about the future, about what might be their inadequacies in coping, etc., etc.

And this sort of idiotic program would be just the thing to tip them over. We'll see.

And yes, I did use the word 'normal' deliberately. So sue me :)

Joe

funny enough I have found those practicing homosexuality not nearly as nasty and sick as those pushing the agenda. Funny thing that.

Suseonline:

“Obviously, this one-size fits all anti-bullying strategy has not been effective for gay or transgender kids, or the government would not be wasting time and money on this new initiative? Gay and transgender teenagers may need more help to stop the suicides and mental health issues.”

You think that governments only ever do what is reasonable? They can’t be manipulated and bullied?

“Gay and transgender teenagers may need more help to stop the suicides and mental health issues.”

Bullying is bullying. It is just as devastating to all teenagers. Why would gay and transgender teenagers commit suicide and have mental issues as a result of bullying more than other teenagers bullied for different reasons? It is about bullying and not the reason for the bullying. How arrogant to suggest that their pain is of a greater degree than those bullied for other reasons. It probably is a fact that they suicide more and have mental issues more often but all that tells us is that these kids as a group up more unstable than other kids. It is never logical to commit suicide. It is irrational behaviour and any kid who thinks that suicide is a rational response to being bullied at school has serious mental issues. Any adult who tries to manipulate the argument by suggesting that such a response to bullying is logical is really clutching at straws.

The question should be asked why these kids are more unstable than other kids in general and the answer is not because of bullying