A new initiative to draw attention to bullying and in particular that of lesbian and gay youngsters is sadly very timely. In the last week I think there have been three suicides recorded here in the United States where we are on holiday. The most recent followed a university student being filmed and outed by his room mate and another student.
I watched a chat show this morning on which Whoopi Goldberg took a prominent part (I am a great fan of her) and was saddened that the underlying homophobia was over looked in favour of lessons on ethics and awareness of the immediacy of today's information technology. Of course those involved didn't want the outcome they have caused and received... I do not dispute that, but cannot help feeling that the environment in which these young people were being "educated" carries a large share of the blame - as do their families. A life has been lost for no good reason at all and there is a danger in forgetting that it was a gay man who has died needlessly on account of his sexuality. This is as barbaric as the appalling crime in the Islamic world against women who have been raped and been brave enough to report it.
There will be sympathy expressed for all the families involved: I hope those directly involved reflect every day of their lives on the enormity of the deed they have done.
Gay bashing and bullying isn't a cyber crime - when it leads to this sort of event it is murder and should be treated as such.
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