Stop the Hate: A Rhetorical Intervention on LGBT Bullying

Mental health has rarely been a topic of discussion for the general public. It is one of those things that is just more comfortable to sweep under the rug. Unfortunately, this lack of discussion is one of the main causes of bullying; many people, especially kids, do not fully understand the side effects of it. Kids need to be aware of this and know that their negative actions toward their peers have tremendous consequences. This is true even more for kids who identify with the LGBT community. This change in the way people view the connection between mental health and bullying, particularly in the LGBT community, starts with just one person but requires the whole of humanity to make a difference.

The purpose of this campaign is to bring awareness to the problem of LGBT bullying and to inform them on the long-term mental health risks and how to potentially put a stop to this issue. In order to accomplish this, there are a number of things that I aim to change about this issue’s public image. First, I want to change the seemingly vial attitude toward the LGBT community, especially in teenagers. I also want to change how these said teenagers behave around their LGBT peers. Another thing that I wish to change is the behavior of the kids; I aim to encourage more positive peer to peer interactions in all schools. GLSEN is the organization that I am creating this campaign for; they focus on creating safe and affirming schools for LGBT students through positive peer to peer interactions as well as educator to student interactions. Their audience as well as mine is both LGBT students as well as non-LGBT student allies. They are key to addressing the issue because they are ones who can really make a difference in schools through their positive actions toward each other and potentially end this particular bullying. My audiences believe that LGBT bullying is an occurrence that happens far too often and needs to be stopped. I know this because there are still on going programs across the country which focus on ending LGBT bullying.

After doing some research, I have found that society does not have a good understanding on really any aspect of LGBT bullying. They consider it the same as non-LGBT bullying, which in some ways it is. Both tend to feel unsafe in school and by association let their grades drop. They are also both at an increased risk for mental health problems like depression and anxiety; consequently, this leads to suicidal thoughts in many cases. According to the Mental Health America website, LGBT youth are four times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual counterparts. This is always the big risk of bullying, but the issue is how it is still occurring with all of the current policies in place. The answer lies in the question: the majority of the current federal policies only apply to non-LGBT students. LGBT student do not receive the same guaranteed protection since many school districts are non-inclusive in their policies. This needs to change in order to bring about more awareness on the issue. Through my research I have also found that LGBT bullying is not a problem commonly discussed or addressed in schools. Logic’s video on a bullied gay teen brings this topic into light. He makes his audience think about it and tries to bring hope to them. This source also connects back to the non-inclusive school policies. It shows that schools need to change their actions toward bullying so that all kids are protected under the same law.

I will be using an informative poster mixed with suggestions for getting involved to project my campaign. I chose this form of media because GLSEN focuses on reaching all types of students and I thought that posters had the ability to do that efficiently; they can be placed anywhere in schools and can effectively catch students’ eyes as they pass depending on the design and layout. I chose this form of writing because these students need to know the facts of LGBT bullying and what they can do to help prevent it and provide support to those who are victims of it. I believe that my audience will respond better to posters because they are portable and have an easier time catching the eye than ads on the phone do. With phone ads, many people, myself included, usually scroll past random ads that pop-up and do not take the time to even look at them. With the posters, students are more likely to stop and read them, especially if they see them frequently on their way to class. It has the ability to spark their interest about getting involved and possibly listen to the posters advice.

In order to bring attention to my campaign, I plan to distribute these posters around the school with permission from the student office. This way, they are in approved, public areas and are more likely to be seen by the students for a longer period of time. I also plan to email GLSEN and show them my poster; I will do this in order to see if it is something that they would possibly use as one of their own methods of distribution or if there is room for improvement by their standards. I believe that these strategies will be effective because they both draw attention to my campaign in a positive way and can reach a large scale audience in a shorter time.

Ending LGBT bullying is important because it can save lives and help decrease mental illness in LGBT youth. It can also provide the public with more knowledge on the issue and potentially make mental illness a more common discussion in society. With this campaign started by me, a single human, imagine what humanity could accomplish by working together to combat LGBT bullying.