As a child, it was important that you understood these two realities: 1) kids can be cruel and 2) the playground is host to some of life’s harshest lessons.  But it seems that throughout the generations, kids have gone from cruel yet puckish to viciousness without boundaries.  The childhood recess ritual has transformed into almost 24/7 harassment.

Bullying is a topic that has gotten a lot of attention lately with some state legislatures having passed or considering laws regarding school bullying as well as cyberbullying.  However, bullying has recently grabbed national headlines for more macabre reasons – the deaths of Jaheem Herrera (11 year-old from Georgia), Carl Walker-Hoover (11 year-old from Massachusetts) and Maria Herrera (12 year-old from New York).  Each child endured incessant taunting and teasing, even after parents alerted the schools numerous times of the situations.  And each child chose to end his or her own life.  What drives a sixth grader to think, “I could live to see old age, but life will never get better so puberty will have to do”?  They should be thinking about riding bikes, caffeine, sugar and the next cool shows on Nickelodeon and Disney.

These kids weren’t alone in their suffering.  Bullying is considered the most common form of violence.  According to the National Association of School Psychologists, each day 160,000 students skip school for fear of being bullied.  In 2005, the U.S. Department of Justice reported that 77 percent of students are bullied emotionally, verbally or physically.  Specifically speaking to LGBTQ youth, 33 percent of men and 34 percent of women experience some kind of violence at home AND school.  They’re also four times more likely to attempt suicide than heterosexual students.

The abuse that happens in schools leaves emotional and, at times, physical, scars.  Psychologists believe victims of traumatic bullying cases can exhibit signs of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, even later in life.  PostSecret, the website where people can anonymously bear their souls, recently displayed a card that said “The girl who bullied me throughout elementary school has cancer.  I’m not sure if I should pray for her or thank God for punishing her.”  Clearly, many adults carry memories from their younger days of someone considered bigger, stronger, cooler or more popular picking on them for being too feminine or masculine, too fat or thin, too short or tall, too smart or dumb.  How about you? Do you still carry a grudge?

With the understanding that bullying greatly affects many within the LGBTQ community, Lexington Fairness has partnered with the Family Counseling Service to develop PROJECT SPEAK OUT.  We are collecting anonymous stories from local middle and high schools and from college students about their experiences with bullying in the school systems.  Some of these accounts will be used to create a reader’s theater-style performance piece to be presented to students, parents, educators, administrators, and the greater Central Kentucky community.  The goal is to create an emotionally poignant performance that demonstrates the seriousness of school bullying.  With permission, all of the original stories will be posted online.  Society has always chalked up kids teasing one another as just kids being kids.  It was a way to make you tougher, stronger, wiser.  Nowadays at work, we take light jabs at coworkers as a way to relieve the stress.  Kids, likewise, need a release.  But bullying has become more that just playful joking.  It has become a form of acceptable violence.  As a human race, we must establish boundaries and draw a line in the sandbox, so to speak. Please join Lexington Fairness in participating in PROJECT SPEAK OUT and in helping educate the public on the severe nature of bullying.