On Bullying

Openly gay Fort Worth, Texas, City Councilman Joel Burns gave an impassioned plea to youth struggling with their sexual identity during a meeting Tuesday night, urging them not to despair in the face of intense adversity.

I used to think of Gay And Lesbian Marriage (GLAM) and Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT) as peripheral issues which ought not to be allowed to distract from the really pivotal issues such as progressive taxation, universal (single payer) health care and not spending the rest of our next generations' (our kid's and their kid's) heritage in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Now I'm not so sure. The suicide of talented freshman Tyler Clementi at Rutgers University has affected me deeply. Unexpectedly. And I thought, what a waste. I also started thinking about what happens when high school and college bullies finally grow up. What becomes of them? What kinds of citizens to the evolve into. And the more I thought on those points, the more I have come to shrug off what may have been my lingering, latent and unconscious homophobia.

I now think stopping and re-educating our bullies is a high national priority.