Anti-bullying Leader Engages in Bullying Again
Posted: April 29, 2012 Filed under: Political 2 CommentsOne of the best known efforts to support young gay people who are feeling down, is the It’s Gets Better Project, run by Dan Savage. It seeks to encourage young GLBTQ* who are feeling oppressed, bullied or without much hope.
But the organiser himself engages in bullying. In April 2012 he offended high school students in Seattle with impolite public statements. He criticised their religion, but in a disrespectful way, and then he followed this up with a mean statement about the group personally. Details here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2136502/Dan-Savage-blasts-Christian-teens-walked-lecture-criticised-bullsh-t-Bible.html?ito=feeds-newsxml . Apparently he later apologised in writing.
But it’s not the first occasion or last of his bullying. The recent bullying follows an nasty campaign from many years earlier, towards a politician he didnt like; Rick Santorum, as detailed here: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2017153741_santorum04m.html and much worse, as detailed in the following video. And his unkind approach has continued subsequently, eg calling people pathetic and expressing hope that Sarah Palin develops cancer, and then more recently, this.
Interestingly, there are claims that GLBT people have suffered from his actions too.
And of course bad behaviour is not limited to one individual. Sadly, it comes from a variety of individuals and in a variety of forms, eg theft and defacement, vandalism, violence, physical intimidation, beatings, bashings, online bullying, hacking, intimidation, persecution, harassment, spitting, death threats and even killing. Politicians and even a media tycoon have lamented this. Perhaps even arising as bullying by way of legal actions. It’s also sad when it’s Christians calling for tolerance, who end up engaging in bad behaviour.
The political debate over homosexuality and same-sex marriage, also has elements of nastiness. Sometimes it’s major players in the debate who let fly. And the same happens outside the USA. In May, one of the Australia’s key proponents of same-sex marriage sought to promote the labelling of one of his political opponents, Lyle Shelton as “vilelyle“.
stasis online 
Again, the oppressors take the role of victims. Be glad you can marry the person you love, people of other sexualities can’t. When you are forbidden by the government to marry the person of your choice you can complain about bullying, until then, just be glad you are lucky enough to be of the state religioun in the United States Theocracy.
Thanks for your feedback Jon. I guess you include yourself in those who are oppressed. If that’s the case Im sorry you feel oppressed. But who are these so-called theocratic oppressors? Sure religion has an influence, but prior to late last century, no country had laws that affirmed same-sex marriage, irrespective of which religion or whether a given country even had a religion. Certainly in the debate on same-sex marriage, religious arguments are raised. This is probably because it’s religious people who most clearly see an easily articulated distinction between same-sex marriage and their fundamental ideology. But non-religious people often also are not keen on legalisation of same-sex marriage – it’s just harder for them to articulate why, so their voices are less dominant on the matter. In Australia for example, prime minister Julia Gillard describes herself as an atheist, but she does not support legalisation. In the USA, the Democrats supposedly removed God from their platform, but overall, they still seem double-minded about legalisation. What Im saying that yes, there is a religious element to the debate, but it’s not ALL about religion, and USA is not a theocracy either in theory or in practice.
Best regards.