Fifiteen Year Old Girl Gets Suspended For T-shirt!!

This evening when I was watching the local news a story in particular caught my eye. Normally I'm not a big fan of the news, however I felt compelled to watch this particular story. It was about a fifteen year old girl who got suspended for wearing a shirt to school. What was so wrong with this shirt? Nothing as far as I'm concerned. However according to the Fort Smith Arkansas school district this particular shirt disrupted the education process. Now that I have your attention let me explain what it was that the shirt had on it. Fifteen year old Sommer Collins wore a homemade shirt to school, in which displays gay pride. As you can see in the picture the words 'Proud to be a Lesbian' and 'Support Homosexual Love.' are written on the t-shirt itself. These are what initially got her suspended.

In no way is the shirt offensive it contains no slandering on the school's part nor any sexual content. Collins was speaking out against an act previous to her deciding to make the shirt. The day before her teacher made her take off a rainbow bracelet, which has become a symbol for the LGBT community. The teacher claimed it supported an immoral cause, and what right does that give her to judge what's moral and what's not? It doesn't. Are rainbows suddenly going to become outlawed, just because one group or the other decides to use it as a symbol? Will there come a day when Lucky Charms will no longer be available, simply because there's rainbow marsh mellows?! I'd hope to think not. There is no right in the action the bracelet was harmless, the shirt was harmless. Therefore the girl should not have been suspended for three days, along with not being able to make up the work she missed. Which was one of the 'consequences' of her suspension. Collin's own mother who was appalled by the action asked the teacher in question, what was so wrong with the shirt.

The teacher went on to reply that the word: Homosexual referred to a sexual act. For those who know that this is not the truth, that homosexuality refers to person who likes a member of the same sex, rather than the opposite. In no way does it have anything to do with the act itself, obviously this teacher needs to go get the dictionary to look up the definition. This girl has done nothing wrong as far as reasons go they are unjustified and invalid. The school obviously just wants an excuse to nip any support for homosexuality in the bud. Showing that they are obviously homophobic persons who care more about what they think is not right. Rather than their students who just so happen to be gay or lesbian. This is the message they are sending out with having suspended Collins. Furthermore her shirt didn't even violate the school dress code!

No where in the handbook does it say that it is against school policies to wear an article of clothing, or accessories pertaining to the support of homosexual love. Collins parents both have filed a formal complaint against the school. The board is looking into the matter as we speak, one can only hope that the right thing is done in the end. All I have left to say is that people need to come to their senses,this right here is only displaying how ignorant humans can be. A petition has been started to tell Arkansas schools that supporting gay pride doesn't merit suspension. If you'd like to become a part of the petition follow the link below.

http://gayrights.change.org/blog/view/arkansas_ninth_grader_suspended_for_wearing_a_gay_t-shirt

Wear Purple on October 20th!!

Lets face it bullying on any level is just plain wrong. No matter what the reason, there is never any justified excuse to bully a fellow human being(s) As it can be said just because its not right, doesn't mean someone's not going to do it. My thoughts on this is that when bullying does happen, for those who know its going on to speak out! Just sitting around hoping the problem will go away, or better yet hoping someone else will step up to the plate isn't going to solve anything! This could be equally addressed to school principals, who have been faced with the issues of students letting it be known that he or she is being bullied. Yet instead of getting the root of the problem, all that was done was a stern 'talking to' and a mere slap on the wrist. Merely talking with the bully, and writing it off as a warning does not solve the problem more often than not. Nor is giving a lunch detention, in hopes of reprimanding the bullies behavior, by taking away the right to sit with their friends at school.

The fact of it is more needs to be done, so that bullying can be put a stop to in schools along with anywhere else it might arise. The main focal point of my blog post involves the recent topic of five young boys who committed suicide due to homophobic bullying. When I heard about this I couldn't help but feel disgusted, with how it came to the point in these boys lives, where they felt they had no choice. They were picked on and pushed around so harshly, all because of the gender they chose to love. That's what it is people its a gender nothing more!! Who they were didn't change, just because they preferred boys to girls. To me loving a person isn't about gender, its about loving a person for who they really are on the inside. No matter what anyone's beliefs no one has the right to bully, a person to the point where they'd rather choose death, over having to face one more day of bullying.

When it gets to that point honestly, its horrid to think that someone has been through that much. Nevertheless it does happen, and what's more its happened to five young boys who didn't deserve a life of being harassed. After reading about the details of what happened with each boy, there was a factor I noticed about each. The problem was reported to the school's principal, only to have nothing being done in the end. Basically the message that was sent to me was, that the schools involved couldn't be bothered to solve the problem. My reaction to this is what the hell?! Here you have a student, and in this case a group of students who are crying out for help! Yet because of their sexual orientation, the case wasn't addressed because no one saw fit to do anything about it.

This really irks me how anyone can just sit back, little lone a school educator who is suppose to reach out to its students and do nothing about the bullying. What's more is these boys were so young, two of which who were only thirteen! Thirteen! They were barely starting to experience the world, and already they faced such situations, that no one especially not someone so young should ever have to go through. I urge my fellow human beings to stand up for those who they know, someone whose being bullied. Because no one should have to face being bullied all by themselves.

Getting to the point of the title on this blog post, I'd like to tell everyone about an event that Facebook has going on right now. There has been a day selected solely for the purpose of honoring these boys, as a way to speak out against homophobic bulling. All you have to do is wear the color purple on the 20th of this month, simple huh? The following is a link to the facebook page in case anyone wants more information on the event. ://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=130718953645848

For now I leave you with these thoughts in mind to really think about. If you saw someone who was being tormented everyday, for simply choosing to love who they loved. Would you honestly have the courage to stand up for them?