On the last day of my first term as a high school art teacher I finally experienced the voice of homophobia from one of my students. I knew it would eventually happen and I would have to speak up without getting too emotional. The last period of the day came and the bell would ring in about 5 minutes. My students were busy socializing and making art and out of that I heard the word "faggot". I immediately looked up from my desk at the student who said it and I said "I will not tolerate homophobia in my classroom. Do you understand?" The boy said he was only joking. No one in the class was paying attention at this point so I walked over to him so that we could talk. He explained that he wasn't being serious and that it was only a joke. He made note that I had turned pale and that I looked personally hurt. He exclaimed his apologies and asked me why it was such a big deal. Asked me if I was gay or something. I said yes, but that that was besides the point. We talked about how that word can affect someone. How hurtful it can be and how much hate spreads when it is used. He didn't understand, because he was still under the impression that being gay is a choice. We ended up talking about the recent suicides that are occurring with our gay youth. He didn't know about it, so I took the time to inform him. He felt awful and was really trying to understand. Eventually the bell rang and he had to leave shortly after. Anyway, that was last week and, today I got online and saw this article on huffington post and thought I would share my experience (see article below). When I heard this student say that word in my class I was so scared for the students that might be gay who heard him. I don't want my students to feel that kind of shame and hate, even if it's coming from someone who isn't intentionally being hurtful.
Kenneth Weishuhn, Gay Iowa Teen, Commits Suicide After Allegedly Receiving Death Threats
A gay Iowa teen has taken his own life after friends and family say that classmates sent him death threats on his cell phone and made him the subject of a Facebook hate group.
As KTIV is reporting, 14-year-old Kenneth Weishuhn Jr. began to be teased and bullied by classmates at South O'Brien High School after he came out earlier this year. "People that were originally his friends, they kind of turned on him," sister Kayla Weishuhn, a sophomore, is quoted as saying. "A lot of people, they either joined in or they were too scared to say anything."
The anti-gay teasing reportedly also continued online, where classmates created a hate group against gays and added Kenneth's friends as members, and got even worse when the freshman started receiving death threats from students on his phone.
Weishuhn’s mother Jeannie Chambers said her son told her, "Mom, you don’t know how it feels to be hated."
Details on Weishuhn's death are otherwise scarce, but
a Facebook group has already been started in the teen's memory. "Unfortunately, the culture most of us have been raised in has been the mindset that you get 'picked on' in school and that's just part of growing up," one user writes. "Bullying is like most other crimes, the only way it's going to stop is if the offenders get caught and are prosecuted."
Adds another: "I hate to think of what he must have gone through to decide suicide was his only option. I hope and pray all of these bullies feel responsible for what happened."
