To put a little more perspective to this post, in 1972 I was arrested in a small community outside Fort Worth, for no other reason than because I was Gay. I was beaten over the head with a rather large flashlight, physically injured, humiliated and thrown in jail overnight. That has always been my concept of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, in the context of being Gay, since then. Watching this video has been a major emotional healing!

I had seen something about Joel's speech, but did not listen to it until you posted it here. Thank you Joel. Thank you SpiritManSF, this needs to be heard and people need to understand. I looked at the room and saw people standing up and applauding. I wonder if everyone did. If they did not not, I hope that they took some mental time to process what Joel said and can come to the conclusion that the bullying is wrong and see what harm it does regardless of their prejudices. There were enough people in that room who stood up and applauded to also let those who might have had a doubt, that they are in the minority, even in Texas. I grew up with an appreciation for all kinds of people. Really. I am going to be 55 years old and my parents who served in WWII knew what hatred, irrational hatred could do. They taught us to embrace humanity to appreciate people and to show hospitality and kindness. Somehow in all this religiousity rebirth in this country, that simple message has been overturned with institutionalized hate. Too bad for us. It is up to people like us to continue to speak out and reinvigorate anti hate campaigns, whether they are religious led or just plain ignorance bred. Speak out for justice and anti bullying, speak out for humanity. R

This brought tears to my eyes too!..I think that this Dan Savage project is monumental

The current out cry against bullying is monumental and it is LONG overdue. I have two pieces of good news to share. The Parent Action League in Anoka County in MN that has been fighting against GLBT safety is schools shut down their website yesterday. They had been arguing about their rights to their opinions which is a moot arguement in and of itself, but also defended the actions of bullies under freedom of speech. They wanted to have a Speak Out Against Homosexuality day the day before the Day of Silence. (Insert eye roll on my part here- I think that is pretty much everday in that school from what I hear.) Also since I work in a neighboring high school alternative program and we get a fair amount of kids from that school there has been a lot of discussion going on about the high incidence of suicide in that district among gay students and discussion is always good. The second piece of good news is that students are starting to speak up and two of our graduate mentors have joined OS to post their own stories.