Thursday, November 3, 2011
Gay Teen Boy Abused: Bullying & Homophobia
This video goes to show how sad our soceity is that when it comes to even helping the kids of our tomorrow we push them aside just because of mere differences. This video talks about a boy named Peter who is abandoned and left to fend on his own just because he is gay. Although the police know that he is being abused and it is confirmed by his peers as well, they do nothing to help this little boy who is in need of a helping hand. This video really touched my heart because it opened my eyes to the pain people are going through just because they are not what soceity wants them to be.
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I understand the homophobic feelings that the people of Cornwall are feeling, perhaps the dominant religious background of the town has an effect on how the population treats homosexuals. I’ve grown up to develop these homophobic feelings due to my faith, however I feel what the city council and police are doing is wrong. Whether their feelings of hatred towards the gay is justifiable or not can be argued, however the real issue here is that they are taking it upon themselves to express their hatred through different forms of abuse. What makes this worse would probably be the fact that the abusers are authority figures. These authority figures have lost their sense of professionalism and justice because they were blinded by their homophobia. I can relate to this because of my own homophobia, however I would never take actions into my own hands for the decisions of another.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with your statement on how you have homophobic feelings due to religion because I would say in a way, I am influenced by how I treat and view gay people based on my religious views. This is because religion is such a big part of some people in where we use it as a guide to how life should be lived and how we should live it. This lifestyle has made it so that we are not use to seeing things outside our religions views because we have already differentiated right from wrong. I truly believe that maybe they are not use to seeing a teen boy within their community who is gay so they are uneducated on how to help him or maybe they are just doing all this in hopes that he will change what he is. Although, he is gay, in my opinion lets forget the fact that he is gay. They should see him as the human being he is and the fact that he is only a kid who needs the help of his community, but is being abandoned by even the law that is suppose to protect him just because of what he is. Do you truly believe that if this young man was not gay he would be treated as such?
ReplyDeleteMy answer to Esther’s question is: Peter would definitely not be treated as such, if he was not gay.
ReplyDeleteMy reaction to the video is: This is outrageous. Poor Peter does not deserve the kind of treatment he received from most people, especially the Cornwall County Police. As Esther put it, no one should objectify a homosexual for their choice of being one. Most countries have legislated homosexual marriages as legal and the fact that homophobia is still an underlying issue raises some concern. Everyone must have the freedom to shape up a unique gender identity for themselves. Thanks to the people who shed light on Peter, students like us are able to at least expand our awareness of homosexuality and homophobia with an open mind. Peter’s case also reinforces the dominant discourse that heterosexuality dominates homosexuality in the society. People who are heterosexual present themselves in a more superior, open, and an aggressive manner compared to those who are homosexual.
Esther,
ReplyDeleteInteresting video! Can you comment on the medium used to convey the message of the video? How does the prevalence of videos like this one raise awareness of these types of issues?
Askhay I totally agree with your statement. It is definately people like Peter who share their stories with the world to make us aware of what is going on these types of issues. A topic that some people keep a secret and are afraid to speak about because of the fear of being judged.
ReplyDeleteThe prevalence of videos like this one raises awareness on these types of issues because YouTube is a worldwide site where people from all over the world have access to. To put these types of issues on such a public site its more likely for others to view it which is a way of spreading knowledge. Also, with a site like YouTube there is a likely chance it'll get viewed by people unlike if it were on a private site where people had no access too.
After viewing this video i felt very bad for peter because he is just a child, the same age as us living on the streets by himself. I can't even imagine what it must be like for him to have his mom not even acknowledge his existence anymore. It is surprising to me that in this day and age the police and government officials would outright be discriminating, degrading and targeting the very people that they are supposed to be standing up for and protecting.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that this video is on youtube is spreading the message about what is happening to people like Peter, but it is not enough. The media, especially the news has not been showing us what is happening to these people and a video just simply being on youtube has an effect but unless someone goes to search about it on youtube, people wont see it. It makes me wonder, why are news stations focusing on such minimal things like how tomorrow is going to be daylight savings time (not really) when there are far more important things going on like Peter's story.
I wonder to myself how these police departments and government offices can get away with the things they do. I know they may have their own beliefs about homosexuals and how it is wrong but this is the reason why Church and State are separated. You have your beliefs but you are in no position to deny someone help and ignore them because of it. You are in a higher authority position and when someone asks you to help them, you should, not make it worse for them. I greatly appreciate what the Lidburys have done for him and i encourage everyone reading this to write the people or Cornwall a letter/email. Whether you have your homophobic thoughts or not, no one deserves to be treated like this
The first thing that comes to my mind after watching this video is WOW. I cannot believe that story; it's so sad and disturbing. It almost seems like a storybook or a movie, but to know that its true is jus plain sad. I agree with Sumayah, I cannot imagine how he lives without his mom being there to support him and comfort him. I understand homophobia but this is just ridiculous. The fact that no one helped him is the worst part. I cannot imagine what he is going through and I feel very bad for him. I realize that sometimes being gay is against a religion, and IV herd of many cases were families abandon their son/daughter because they are gay. I completely disagree with that decision because they are you child, they are your own blood, you brought them into this world and I cannot comprehend the fact that someone can jus give up on their child and abandon them with out even caring what can happen to them.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with what you said Esther, just because of the little differences we notice in someone else, we as society make them into a huge deal, and we push people apart. We use our brains, not listen to our heart, we have become cold hearted people that even if we someone in a lot of pain, we just tend to pass by them without noticing them, or just stand their and watch the person in pain. Everyone in this world thinks about themselve, about what they want, what they are going to do, and what their needs are, they never have enough time to pay attnetion to look at anyone else. I am very happy that atleast one family stood up to help out Peter and support him like his own family, and make him feel welcomed, and help him with all his problems, and the things he was facing. As for Peter I felt very sad to see him go through such a difficult time on his own, his own family was not even their to look after their child. These days parents are too busy with their own life that they don't even have time to look back at thier own child that they gave birth to. This is just ridiculous. As for society, they look for minor mistakes to put people down, and to make fun of people, they never lend thier hand to help out people, or to do something good for others, but they only make it worst for people. What ever Peter went through, something very similar happed to my gr:9 teachers best freind, he was gay, and just becuase of this reason he got killed by his own freinds. they tied him in the kitchen after the party ended, and kikced him, punched him, hit him, and at the end he died, and they threw him in someones car. People act so stupid. Honestly these days no one raises their hand to help out one an other, people have become so selfish! I also believe that if Peter was not gay, he would not have been treated this way, because even now days, we have become so opened minded but still their is hesitation towards gay people and lesbians in society.
ReplyDelete