Just two weeks before the National Day of Silence, set for Friday, April 17, an 11-year-old boy in Springfield, Massachusetts hanged himself. Young Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover would have turned 12 on Friday. His mother, Sirdeaner Walker, found his body April 6 when she went upstairs to check on him. He had wrapped an extension cord around his neck.
Walker told Boston-area media outlets that her son had been bullied repeatedly at school, and that many of the taunts were homophobic. Her son's classmates called him gay on a daily basis (he did not identify as gay), made fun of his clothes, and threatened to harm him, according to a report by WCVB-TV. Walker said she called school officials "every week" in an effort to get them to respond to the bullying and harassment. She said that the latest effort by school officials to mediate a conflict between Walker-Hoover and a girl consisted of them eating lunch together for a week. Walker said the plan was poorly conceived and failed to help her son.
This tragic story is just the most obvious reason why public school administrators across the country must do more to combat bullying by students. According to the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network, Walker-Hoover's suicide is the fourth by a middle school student this year; three others took place in different cities in Illinois in February.
GLSEN, which sponsors the National Day of Silence, conducted a study in 2005 that showed two of the top three reasons students said their peers were most often bullied at school were actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender expression. The top reason was physical appearance.
"As was the case with Carl, you do not have to identify as gay to be attacked with anti-LGBT language," said Eliza Byrd, GLSEN's executive director. "From their earliest years on the school playground, students learn to use anti-LGBT language as the ultimate weapon to degrade their peers. In many cases, schools and teachers either ignore the behavior or don't know how to intervene."
The time has long passed for school officials to address this dire issue professionally. Here in California, we have one of the most complete anti-bullying policies in the country, but such harassment remains pervasive as ever.
It seems as though school administrators are reluctant to publicize efforts to make campuses safe for all students. As we report this week, the San Francisco Unified School District recently launched a Web site for LGBT students and staff but did not issue a press release to highlight the endeavor, which includes links to LGBT and allied youth groups and district curriculum. We only found out about it when someone called us. In response to our inquiry, a district spokeswoman told us this week that an announcement would be made in Friday's newsletter.
In the East Bay, a lesbian pastor is still getting angry e-mails from high school parents weeks after her participation in diversity day events. Her crime? Telling the students about Web sites such as PFLAG and the Gay-Straight Alliance Network. Apparently, parents came home to find their children looking at these sites, which are geared toward gay and straight people and probably the most helpful information teenage students can receive. Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays is one of the oldest supportive groups around. The GSA Network helps students form gay-straight alliances at public schools. These types of student groups are some of the most effective ways to teach tolerance and respect for all students.
During the Proposition 8 campaign last year, we saw first hand how intimidation by the Yes on 8 camp muzzled LGBT leaders from discussing kids and schools. In fact, the inability of the No on 8 campaign to respond effectively was one of the great failures of the campaign. Yes, students in California schools learn about different family relationships. Yes, parents can choose to remove their children from participating in these lessons. Some do. Many do not.
The bottom line is that school officials should be unafraid to speak out and speak up for student safety. Bullying has no place in schools. Often, the students who bully are hiding their own insecurities and lash out at those who appear to be different. Kids can be cruel. School officials need to address this problem. Friday's National Day of Silence would be a good opportunity to start the conversation.