A New Young Hero

I was very active politically back in the 1980-90’s, I marched on Washington DC. I attended political rallies and worked at getting petitions signed. Then I just stopped. I guess I felt that I was just not making a difference. I was so wrong in thinking that one person could not make a difference in the political/social arena. I have discovered a young man that is making a difference here in Tennessee.

Marcel Neergaard is a Tennessee boy who was home-schooled for sixth grade and even contemplated suicide due to severe anti-gay bullying, bullying that many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocates say could have been fostered in public schools throughout the state if the “Don’t Say Gay” bill had actually passed.  

The bill, rejected in 2012, aimed at banning talk of sexual activity other than "related to natural human reproduction." It was resurrected by Representative John Ragan (R-Tenn.) this year as the "Classroom Protection Act." It included an amendment requiring school officials to inform parents if they have reason to believe the child might be gay. The bill also required schools to provide counseling for such students so as to prevent “behavior injurious to the physical or mental health and well-being of the student or another person.” 

 From what I can decipher from reading the bill, it would have required Teachers to respond to students trying to report anti-gay bullying by saying basically “that subject is inappropriate for your age group”. If the student was able to speak to one of the few school officials who can discuss homosexuality such as nurse, counselor, or principal that official would be required by law to report the gay or lesbian student’s sexuality to the student’s parents.

The proposed “Classroom” bill failed in March but prior to that, Regan was honored in 2012 with the educational “Reformer of the Year” award by the StudentsFirst, a group dedicated to defending the interests of children in public schools.

Marcel did not think Regan deserved such an award and wrote a petition to have StudentsFirst retract their award to Regan. Marcel was able to get over 50,000 + signatures for his petition.

StudentsFirst founder Michelle Rhee not only did she rescind the recognition, but Rhee also denounced Ragn’s bill as “ill-conceived and harmful legislation” that would have “cultivated a culture of bullying”.

This young boy is a hero in my eyes and his parents are heroes for supporting their son in this venture. Here is Marcel’s video:   http://youtu.be/U54Px3jvr_Y

So Thank you Marcel for renewing my faith that a single person can make a difference in bringing about political/social change. That one person standing up for what they know is the right thing is a force to be reckoned.

We should all be proud of who we are, we should not let anyone bully us or anyone. We should stand up for ourselves and for those not able to do so on their own. 

Keep Dancin’ Larry B.

Living in the Belt

I have no problem with anyone having strong convictions related to religion, politics, or even breakfast cereal.  I do have a problem when said person thinks it is their duty to force that conviction onto others. I believe everyone has the right to believe and to live freely without interference from their neighbor or government. IF that believe and freedom is not encroaching on another’s freedom or believe and is not harming any other living being.

That said I have to state living in the Bible Belt is interesting and quite amusing to me. The so call Christians believe it is God’s will that if one does not follow their particular teaching then it is wrong and should not be allowed. The political candidates/parties think they should intervene in individual’s life due to pressure from these so called Christians.   One such issue that has currently been in the works involved the elementary schools, a law was being considered that the schools could not teach anything related to human sexuality other than the “Normal” Heterosexual  issues, at least till a certain age or grade, it was the “NO GAY” proposal.

Luckily, some politicians figured this was not a good idea and it has been tabled at this time. But can you imagine how kids with Homosexual parents, or family members that were homosexual, bisexual, and transgender would feel totally isolated.  Would they not wonder why their family or family members apparently did not exist in their school program?  Yet People wonder why there has been an increase in suicides and bullying.

I have been out of being a political activist for a few years, but living in the Belt has inspired me to jump back into the mix. What I see is the Bible Thumping, Ultra Conservative, and Tea Partiers making a lot of noise but not offering a lot of solutions. If they get what they desire; it will return us to a time where, I would be jailed or worse because of who I am.  Now I ask you why we have been in Afghanistan and Iraq for all these years, if we are going to let similar type of groups control our country.  Think about it and my question to this group is a simple one… WWJD?