RSSSchool Bullying, Gays, and Asher Brown
Gene Lalor | September 29, 2010
School bullying is as indefensible as school cheating, and as common.
Bullying, especially among boys, (girls usually have more devious methods of harassment), is as much a part of the school experience as that cheating. It’s always been and probably always will be.
I can visualize young Greek boys sitting on the grass in the Athenian sun as Socrates attempted to share with them, using the Socratic Method, of course, his views of knowledge and virtue as the rambunctious Plato taunted Demetrius because his tunic was torn.
Asher Brown, a student at Hamilton Middle School outside Houston was probably bullied for most of his childhood but especially during his two years at Hamilton. He was different and differences, departures from the norm, often bring out the nasties in some kids. Things got so nasty for Asher that he went home, grabbed his stepfather’s 9mm baretta and shot himself in the head. He left no suicide note.
As his stepfather explained, “My son put a gun to his head because he couldn’t take what he was hearing and the constant teasing.”
Asher’s grieving parents say Hamilton administrators had looked the other way as their son was “bullied to death.” They say their son had “come out” to them over the summer and that they readily accepted his new status, his self-identification–at the very unripe age of 13–as a homosexual.
His parents contend ”they had complained about the bullying to Hamilton Middle School officials during the past 18 months, but claimed their concerns fell on deaf ears.” They further charge that they had made “several visits” and had “made numerous phone calls to the school that were never returned.”
Hamilton “officials said Monday that they never received any complaints from Brown’s parents before the suicide about the way the boy was being treated at school,” a denial that infuriated the parents “who accused the school district of protecting the bullies and their parents.” Their charge was substantiated by “Numerous comments from parents and students on the Web site of KRIV-TV Channel 26:” http://bit.ly/cLDmC9
I have a number of issues with the Asher Brown story.
First. something stinks at Hamilton Middle School and, based on personal experience with public school administrators, that stink is probably concentrated in the offices of the principal and assistant principals.
Second, let me say that no one at any age should be so teased, taunted, harrassed and tormented–for any reason–by his or her peers that he or she sees as his only recourse the taking of his own life. When the suicide involves a child, and at 13 Asher Brown was very much a child, the act is far more tragic, and needless.
That said, and I didn’t know young Asher nor do I know the circumstances surrounding his treatment at his middle school aside from what his parents claimed, but there has to be far more to Asher’s sad story.
For example, why did his parents simply “accept” a child’s conclusion that he was gay rather than seeking professional and/or spiritual guidance on why and how Asher believed that at 13 he was mature and competent enough to make that life-altering judgement?
I also would have to ask whether the recent prevalence of gay entertainers and sit-com characters influenced Asher to believe the homosexual lifestyle was a viable alternative to normality. Reports suggest he was possibly effeminate which doesn’t necessarily translate into homosexuality.
Finally, in researching this sad tale, I came across any number of gay commentaries, all of which had a similar theme, that societal toxicity toward gays was at least a contributing factor in the tragic death of Asher Brown.
Those same sources included such comments as, “Yes, the bullies and their despicable behavior are responsible for Asher’s death. But so is the toxic, virulently anti-gay environment that continues to swirl around all of our children,” references to “conservative crackpot, Ann Coulter,” and to “Hatemongers Maggie Gallagher and Brian Brown, of the so-called National Organization for Marriage:” http://bit.ly/b2uWPp
It would seem that the best route to a rapprochement with those despicable, toxic, virulent, crackpot hatemongers is not through such negative invective but via an understanding that they are not despicable or toxic or virulent crackpot hatemongers but normal, average, everyday people who cherish normality, traditional marriage, and freedom for our kids to attend school without having gay propaganda foisted upon them.
Maybe when homosexuals begin to act civil Asher Brown will be able to rest in peace.
Contributor's website: http://www.genelalor.com/
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