"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."
I'm not an expert on love, but I know this much- when it comes to love, what matters is what is in the heart and mind, not what is between the legs. If you have ever been in love (or thought you were in love like me) you should know that when you find someone that you want to hold close to you and cherish for a long time, it's not a feeling that you can necessarily pick and choose who to find that with. For some people, it will be with a man, others it will be a woman. Whatever the case, love is a universal feeling - or a psychological drive to be with someone so to speak - that you cannot control.
But today isn't about where you stand on the political issue of LGBT rights, it's about the youth who are bullied because of it. According to this article, gay and lesbian adolescents are two to three times more likely to commit suicide than their straight counterparts. How can anyone stand idly by when around 30 percent of all suicides have been linked to a sexual identity crisis!? Anyone and everyone deserves to feel safe in being who they are, especially in school, I should know. High school students are ruthless against those who seem to weird or too ugly or too anything for their tastes. LGBT teens have reported being five times more likely to miss school due to not feeling safe after being bullied for their orientation, and approximately 28 percent of those students drop out of school entirely. Schools are meant to educate youth, to enlighten us, not to make us fear for our well being due to who we are. No matter your political view on LGBT rights, everyone should agree that no one deserves being bullied out of their education - or their lives - just for expressing who they are.
In 2010, Spirit Day was founded by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and Brittany McMillan. McMillan also believes that an ideal school is "a place where you can go, learn, have fun and make friends without being afraid of being hurt mentally or physically". She also condones the term "gay" being used in a derogatory way. Sure, someone may not intend to offend anyone, but it still hurts. I have quite the foul mouth myself when I talk to my friends causally, but I never say "fag", "nigger", or "gay" unless I am quoting someone or something such as Huckleberry Finn, To Kill a Mockingbird, etc. or just using it as an example as I did above. If I really wanted to say ass, cock, cunt, or twat, I would. Some women may think that words such as "cunt" and "twat" are offensive and derogatory towards women, but, to me, they just mean a woman's genitals and nothing more.
On that strange note, I will leave with a quote from Brittany McMillan about her long term goals for Spirit Day: "At the end of the day, I want Spirit Day to make just one person feel a little bit better about his or her self, to feel safe enough in their own skin to be proud of who they are. And even if it only stops one person from ending their life, that will be enough."
Love,
Akemi
PS I know that this post is a day late for Spirit Day, but I was very busy yesterday and couldn't finish until now. I apologize for the inconvenience.
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