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“[…] We must not bury our heads in the sand. Bullying based on sexual orientation is real.
“Where is the amendment to the Equal Opportunities Act to outlaw discrimination in employment on the basis of sexual orientation?…”
The following Letter to the Editor on the reality of bullying of LGBTQI individuals in our society was submitted to Wired868 by Louis W Williams of St Augustine:
Reference is made to a letter to the editor authored by Mr Kevin Baldeosingh and published in the Express newspaper on 16 October 2024 entitled: Activists misrepresenting data on bullying.
I am not gay, and I am not one of the activists referenced by Mr Baldeosingh in his letter. I am simply an elderly person whose life experiences and training have equipped me with a certain measure of wisdom.
Common sense make before book sense. Despite this, it is fashionable for intellectuals to quote from relevant scientific studies in support of their opinions — a so-called objective test/analysis.
In this regard, it is nowadays accepted that there is a causal link between lung cancer and the smoking of tobacco products. However, several decades ago, the tobacco companies were able to produce scientific studies disputing such a link.
Wise individuals were not persuaded by the findings of such studies, given what they were able to observe from the impact that smoking tobacco had on their friends and relatives.
To his credit, Mr Baldeosingh, in support of his position regarding the bullying of LGBTQI students, quoted extensively from a study commissioned by certain gender activists which attested to his view that LGBTQI students were not “… the most victimised in the victim Olympics”.
Mr Baldeosingh asserted, based on the findings of that study, that LGBTQI students were both bullies and were bullied, accordingly: “… bullying based on sexual orientation is not particularly prevalent…”
Mr Baldeosingh informed us the survey under reference revealed that “… 59.3% of the students felt that all LGBTQ people deserve to be treated with respect…”
I have not read the actual study myself, and therefore, I have no reason to doubt the claims made by Mr Baldeosingh about the findings of the survey. However, those alleged findings are very curious, given my own (“unscientific”) observations.
Admittedly, it was several decades ago. However, I attended an all-boys secondary school. Homophobia was very pervasive at that school. Even some members of staff were known to make snide remarks at students they considered to be gay, to the amusement of their fellow classmates.
Those students were bullied both verbally and physically in the most brutal way by individuals and groups of other students. Some deviant students were known to jump on the backs of gay students fully clothed but with erect penises simulating sexual activity.
Many of the gay students had slender physiques, and it was easy for others to “advantage” them. Later in my school life, I observed that gay students stuck together in groups of five or six to protect themselves from physical attacks by other students.
There was no counter-bullying by gay students. Complaints to the administration were met with a mild rebuke of the miscreants and the refrain: boys will be boys.
A few years ago, I had a discussion with a very small group of recent secondary school graduates who informed me that there were no significant improvement to what I have described above.
In fact, I was told that with the advent of social media, it has got considerably worse with the adverse impact of cyberbullying. The only positive development is the greater sensitivity of many teachers regarding such matters. However, much more needs to be done.
I have seen the impact of the bullying of gay colleagues in the workplace by both supervisors and peers. Again, without any significant retaliation.
I was on an interviewing panel, and a gay candidate was overwhelmingly the most suitable person for the job based on his resume, work experience, and performance at the interview.
However, though one of my fellow male panellists agreed that the gay candidate was the best choice based on the criteria, he intimated that we should not hire “bu**ers”. The other panellists, all male, nodded in agreement. It took some convincing to get them to change their minds.
We must not bury our heads in the sand. Bullying based on sexual orientation is real.
Where is the amendment to the Equal Opportunities Act to outlaw discrimination in employment on the basis of sexual orientation?
This tells us who we are.
Photo by Giovanni Dall’Orto.
Granted, we are not as homophobic as one of our Caribbean neighbours. However, that brings no comfort to me.
We must fix this situation of bullying and sexual harassment based on sexual orientation.
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