One morning I happen to be awake at 6am (don’t ask, because I don’t have an answer for why I was awake) and I came across Rick Mercer’s rant on the Globe and Mail website, which is on Youtube, by the way. The clip was a reaction to the suicide of Jamie Hubley who was 15, gay and bullied relentlessly. (Go to the link at the bottom to hear what he has to say, since it’ll be better than me trying to paraphrase it) Anyhow, I thought the article wasn’t fair to Mercer. The writer says that Rick Mercer is pro outing successful gays and is saying that anyone who doesn’t come out is a coward.
I don’t think the point of Mercer’s rant is not to out gay adults, because it’s not only their responsibility to help gay teens, it’s everyone’s responsibility, and Mercer even says that. The point is that our world has changed. When I was young and being bullied, I hated my life, but I never thought to kill myself, I never even considered it. And I think it’s because I was only bullied at school. After school I could run home, cry and be away from everyone. Now our lives are deeply laced with social media. Kids are now being bullied online through emails, Facebook, Twitter and I’m sure some people have gone as far as to post hateful vlog messages on Youtube or their blog for the world to see. This allows for complete strangers to hate on you. You have no escape unless you shut yourself off from the world. And isolation is dangerous when you’re young, confused and filled with doubt.
Mercer is right – saying ‘things will get better’ is no longer enough. And unfortunately since a lot of the bullying is happening outside of school, the Principals and teachers may feel powerless to punish whomever was responsible. The dream of everything getting better now requires proof, something for these kids to look up to. Someone for them to relate to and actually see that those who’ve been through the same ordeal have been able to overcome. We are no longer a culture of dreams and imagination; we’re a culture of concrete proof, of things that we can see and touch or else we don’t believe it.
It is anything but easy to come out, and on many occasions I have comforted a friend of mine when he was afraid to come out to his family; I’ve wiped the tears of his pain from his eyes. No one can deny how much damage secrets cause to oneself. But courage is what we need at a time like this when attitudes towards gays is still in the process of being changed. There needs to be more people who stand up and speak out for the greater good, but also so that they no longer have to chained by the secrets of their lives.
Here’s the link to the article, which also has Rick Mercer’s rant:
