In one of the readings we were assigned by Don Sabo, "Masculinities and Men's Health", the health of men is discussed, both physical and mental. It is about age, color and sexuality of men, and how those things affect overall health. Something that I found interesting was the small part about the mental health of gay and bisexual men. It says that the social responses of being gay or bisexual can impact the health of these men and may lead to emotional confusion and even suicide. They have to deal with homophobia everywhere, even in the healthcare field, which can cause health problems not only mentally, but also physically. They can even lose health insurance, according to the article, if their homosexuality is known.
The part of this article I chose to do more research about is the emotional damage being gay has on young men, specifically college-aged. An article I found on ABC news stated,
"According to a recently released study by Campus Pride on how gay students are treated in higher education, gay students experienced significantly greater harassment and discrimination, and they were more likely to seriously consider leaving school because of it."
I knew that it was a big problem among people my age, but I didn't know how bad it has become. The article I read was about a young man who ended his life after his roommate put a video of him having sex with another man on the internet. It was the fifth gay suicide in three weeks, according the the article. It described the situations on all of the cases, and stated that almost none of the bullies were being charged with any sort of crime.
In the article it discussed how, as a society, we could make homosexuality more acceptable. A big part was to have openly gay celebrities discuss it to let everyone know homophobia is not okay. Celebrities discussing it would open up the topic to the people who really need to hear it.
As I said before, I knew gays being bullied was a problem, but I didn't realize the real effect it had. I had no idea there were so many suicides occurring because of it. I think it is awful it is such an epidemic and nothing is being done about. I have heard there are support groups and clubs for LGBT, but it seems like that is obviously not enough. There needs to be actual punishment for bullying, especially if that bullying ends in injury or suicide. It is disgusting to me that these bullies in the article were not charged when they clearly had a large impact in the suicide.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/gay-teen-suicide-sparks-debate/story?id=11788128#.T-vKZBdfEpU
Elizabeth Kramer
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