So on Friday, I co-facilitated the Safe Space program here at AU for the first time. Our audience consisted of 55 students in the STEP program (Summer Transition Enrichment Program). STEP is organized by our Mutlicultural Affairs office. Today they brought me M&M's as a thank you! (yay for M&M's).
A couple of things about the presentation: 1) it was the first time I had facilitated the discussion, 2) it was the largest group that the GLBTARC had presented Safe Space (which meant 4 hours instead of 3) and 3) it was mandatory for STEP participants - this is not usually the case. Traditionally, Safe Space is voluntary training so it was a little unusual to present this to a group who may or may not have wanted to be there, especially given the subject matter. And that question did come up around break "shouldn't this be voluntary?" Our answer was basically (since Matt our fearless leader had left the room) that we were just providing information. What the students did with it after they left the training was up to them, but this is part of the culture at AU and they needed to be aware of what was going on here on-campus. AU is traditionally rated close to the top of lists for GLBT friendly campuses (1st if the list is alphabetical!) but I think that a lot of students who aren't aware of GLBT issues don't really know that or think to even pay attention to things like that.
I was more than thrilled to be part of that presentation. It means a lot to me to finally be able to work towards understanding for a cause that means a great deal to me. I have a significant number of friends who are part of the GLBT community. I think of the friends who simply cannot enjoy the same rights that I have because they love someone of the same sex and it pains me.
Additionally, the number of incidents where members of the GLBT community are bullied, tormented, have their self-esteem eroded away, are disowned or disavowed by their own family, friends, community is staggering. It amazes me that the bullying is allowed to continue under the umbrella of Christian righteousness. Hate is not a good look for anyone and forcing someone to choose between their family and being true to him/herself is unconscionable.
It also leads me to another area of research that I'm working on. The 2012 ACCA (American College Counseling Association) has a conference in Oct 2012 (at DisneyWorld!!) and the main theme is bullying prevention and specifically GLBT bullying prevention. So I've been thinking that there are basically 3 groups involved in bullying: the bullies, the bullied and the by-standers. In order for any intervention to be successful in deterring bullying behavior all 3 groups need to be targeted. The bullies need to be identified and educated on proper social interaction, the bullies need to be able to cope with the abuse and have the skill & knowledge about how to handle a bullying situation and the by-standers need to send a clear social message that bullying behavior in any form will not be tolerated. Peer pressure is an amazing thing and can be used to positive ends on this front.
So how do you get bullies to stop being bullies? How do you get kids who are being bullied to stand up for themselves? As Rev. Schaffer suggested when Westboro Baptist came to protest here at AU - offer those who show up to hate you love or at least coffee & donuts maybe. That takes a lot of inner strength that sometimes (a lot of the time) is not so easy to find - is that a learnable skill? And finally how do you get people to rally around and say enough is enough? How do you convince people that spewing hate and instilling fear and emotional abuse is NOT an acceptable way to deal with people who are different from you?
