Whoever thought bullying was acceptable is wrong. The idea of going up to some random person you hardly know and teasing them about their appearance, ideas, religion or lifestyle just puts chills down my spine. What bothers me the most is when someone gets harassed for their sexuality. And those who cause the problems hardly ever realize what they are really doing to the conscience of the person they’re bullying. The victim might be angry or it may not faze them, or they could consider committing suicide if the ridicule gets harsh enough.

Homosexual suicides are becoming more common. You may have known about this problem before or you may just be slowly starting to hear about them on the news. Most of the time the cause is from rejection or bullying, brought on by other kids or family members. According to Paul Gibson, Therapist and Program Consultant, gay youth are 2 to 3 times more likely to attempt suicide than other groups of young people. It’s sad to say that people are ending their lives just because of the words of rude, ignorant people.

This topic is something that needs to be brought to the attention of adults, teens and young kids.

According to a 2009 study by Family Rejection as a Predictor of Negative Health Outcomes, adolescents who were rejected by their families for being homosexual were 8.4 times more likely to report having attempted suicide.

Every person is entitled to have an opinion. But when your opinion is being preached so harshly that the ending result is death, there is no longer any need for it. Even if the result isn’t death, people will still be suffering. And something to remember is that suicides are something that can be prevented. It just goes to show that, “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all” actually does mean something. So the next time that you feel like saying something rude to someone, step back and bite your tongue. Just because some people get enjoyment for one second after harassing someone, that will never be worth more then the loss of one person’s life.

By Chelsey Damalas