How would you feel if you were scared to go to school everyday? Or worse yet, you wanted to end your life. Unfortunately across the country this is how too many kids wake up every morning knowing that they are going to be a target for bullies, simply because of their sexual orientation.

People who are gay are three times more likely to commit suicide, and that is because these bullies make them feel like they should not be in this world, and like there is something wrong with them. Most of the time these bullies are harassing gays because they are insecure and want to fit in. This is sickening that people are getting pleasure by destroying someone else’s happiness. In this world that we live in, it is considered not right, or not normal if you are gay. If you do come out you are just another target for bullies. American Psychological Association states, 78% of gay people are bullied, which is an appalling amount of humans getting tormented for being themselves.

There are too many stories of people getting harassed for being gay, but Jamie stood out to me. Jamie was a victim of gay bullying, but in the end he pulled through and became an inspiration for many people. Jamie was tortured by his classmates, because he was openly gay. His classmates started with words like “fag” and “homo.” Soon enough it got physical, and they would spit on him, punch, kick, and beat him on a daily bases. As soon as bullies started to hurt him physically, Jamie’s family went to the principal. This did not change anything! Mary Podlesny, the principal, rationalized this problem with the “boys will be boys” behavior. For Jamie everything got worse, and when he refused to take this torment, it caused him to make drastic decisions. This story is just one of the many gay bullying incidents that has happened, but we need to realize that whether it is verbal or physical bullying it needs society’s attention.

Almost everyone who is gay gets bullied, and most of the time these victims are not getting any support in school. This is unfair that adults aren’t realizing that this is a real problem, and that we can’t just ignore it, or not let it bother us. Schools are not taking this problem seriously at all, they are just taking this torture as pranks or teasing. If schools aren’t noticing that this is a serious problem, kids are going to feel like they are alone and have no one to turn to. With no one to help them this can lead to many things, like depression. People need to be more aware of kids getting harassed for being gay and start to take action so that we can make school a better place for kids to be themselves.

Schools need to start making a difference in these kids lives. An easy way to do this would be to make everyone aware of the problems and consequences of bullying. Before teachers can start to make a difference, they need to be educated on the effects of bullying. The school can set up meeting for teachers and invite parents too, so they can learn that getting bullied for being gay can really impact a student’s life. Now that the schools teachers are educated they can take awareness to these bullying problems holding an assembly in the schools, and show everyone that gay bullying is really affecting people. The principal could have kids who are going through bullying speak and have everyone see that they are really getting hurt by others words and actions towards them. Also the principal could have real consequences for these bullies, not just a warning. If schools start to take a stand to bullying then hopefully it will be a chain reaction for everyone to make a difference.

Gay bullying is a real injustice, and nobody deserves to be treated with such little respect. People are getting bullied for being themselves, which it is extremely unfair and it needs to stop. If you are somebody getting bullied for expressing yourself and doing what you believe, you have the right to fight back. You deserve to have society fight with you.