Comments on: Clay Aiken, parents join lawmakers to push anti-bullying bills

By: Anne

Anne — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 04:30:50 +0000

This comment really hit a nerve.

“I agree with you totally. There is definitely a major hate wave against Gays in “some” churches. Somehow they have managed to twist the written word to suit their preferences and this is a problem that is going to take some time to correct.”

The TWISTING is done by those who believe gay behavior should be considered acceptable. Churches continue to change (and twist the scriptures) in order to make the gay lifestyle acceptable in an attempt to keep or gain church members. Those are man’s views, not God’s. That being said, according to the Bible, the gay lifestyle is no more immoral than that of those having sex outside of marriage.

Bullying individuals for ANY reason is wrong. Man and politics will never be able to change perverted or violent (bullying) behavior, only God can and will.

Can people not see that Clay Aiken is only now speaking on behalf of gay rights because his career is in the toilet?

By: corinne

corinne — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 00:08:18 +0000

Hard to support the It Gets Better concept when your experience does not support that, Perhaps the legislation is being lobbied now because the political climate is better now than it will be next year.

By: Skeeter Sanders

Skeeter Sanders — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 14:40:59 +0000

I have no confidence that the proposed Safe Schools Improvement Act and the Student Non-Discrimination Act will have any chance of passage in the House after the Republicans take over in January. The new batch of GOP freshmen will be more right-wing than the Republicans who were swept into control of Congress in the 1994 election.

There won’t be enough time in the lame-duck session of the outgoing Democratic-controlled House to get the measures passed — and even if they did, the bills would likely run into a GOP filibuster in the Senate.

I agree with Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) — we can forget about any pro-gay legislation passing in Congress as long as the Republicans are in control. It’s going to require legal challenges to anti-gay laws in the courts to win full civil and constitutional rights to LGBT Americans.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 02:55:12 +0000

If they haven’t done so yet, GLSEN needs to reach out to the Trevor Project and all of the people (Adam Lambert, for one) who’re supporting the “It Gets Better” campaign, because they’re essentially approaching the same problem from two slightly different directions and they would probably have a lot more sway if they joined forces.

By: Rosemary Peppercorn

Rosemary Peppercorn — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 23:06:47 +0000

Bill’s comment is correct.

By: Vickie

Vickie — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 13:07:19 +0000

I am almost emotionally spent on this subject, having ranted about it all through the month of Sept. Now, I am just sad. I still get angry, though, when I read idiotic comments about bullying in general, and “why is anti-gay bullying any different?” I have come to the conclusion that some people will simply never get it, because their world view is so warped.

Two small facts in your article need correcting, though(forgive me; I’m compulsive this way sometimes): Louis van Amstel is not the host of DTWS; Tom Bergeron is. Louis is a professional dancer who sometimes competes on the show. And, your sentence,”…said Aiken, who came out as gay in 2008 after winning the runner up title of best singer on the widely viewed television show “American Idol.”” makes it sound like he competed in 2008. It should have read “…said Aiken, who came out as gay in 2008, 5 years after winning the runner up title of best singer on the widely viewed television show “American Idol.”"

By: barb

barb — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 04:10:14 +0000

I agree with you totally. There is definetely a major hate wave against Gays in “some” churches. Somehow they have managed to twist the written word to suit their preferences and this is a problem that is going to take some time to correct. The government is all consumed by the” vote” factor and some churches by the”holier than thou” attitude…morality seems to be on the sidelines right now.You would think that bringing everyone together to live with acceptance and equality would be at the forefront because it would alleviate so many of the world’s problems…so much for thought.

By: carla

carla — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 02:58:33 +0000

The singer, Clay Aiken appears to be really “good” guy as well as having a really “good” voice. I had a child who was bullied in school. It is worse than many people believe. Thank you, Clay Aiken and others who are working on this problem

By: Joey

Joey — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 02:27:05 +0000

When I read this article, I was shocked to sya the least. I honestly never knew that bullying had such a tragic effect on students. I just do not understand how people could possibly treat others in such a way as to make them want to cause harm to themeselves. I really just think that this occurs because people do not understand how much name calling or any type of bullying can hurt someone. It can really push someone over the edge and make them do things that they would otherwise not even think about doing. I think that people need to start taking into account the way that they treat others. People should treat others the way that they would want to be treated. Eventually, people will have to be able to live with the fact that everyone is their own person and there is not one thing that they can do to change it.
I feel that this bill should be passed because it really is a step in the right ditrection. It seems that there really is not much being done to prevent bullying in school systems. I would have to agreee with this article one hundred percent when it says that noboby should ever have to fear going to school. One possibl solution to the problem could be that there is constant patrolling within schools in order to decrease the amount of bullying being done. I cannot say that I understand everything that these students have been through but i really think that it is wrong that they had to go through all of it. In class, we learned that teachers are able to prevent bullying by being aware of everything that goes on throghout the schoolday. I feel that awareness in this situation would definitely be a helpful tool in pinpointing the problem with schoolsystems and bullying.

By: Pat

Pat — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 02:20:53 +0000

Also, parents need to reinforce to their children that it’s not okay to make fun of / bully someone just because they are different.

A little tolerance and understanding goes a long way in helping to see that people who are ‘different’ have the same rights that everyone else has.