Students, community gather to oppose bullying, homophobia

In the wake of a rash of high profile bullying-related suicides in the last few weeks, students at Michigan State University and members of the greater Lansing community gathered on campus for a candle light vigil Wednesday night.

About 250 people showed up and listened as speakers shared their experiences with bullying and encouraged each other to stand up for others.

Dr. Lee June, vice president of student affairs and services, addressed the crowd by discussing the suicide of an 18-year-old Rutger’s University student. The student had been secretly recorded in intimate moments with his same sex partner. His room mate and another student set up a camera in the dorm room, and invited others to watch. The student jumped off the George Washington Bridge as a result of the public outing.

“We need to do things to make sure what happened there doesn’t happen here, or anywhere else, again,” June told the crowd.

Sarah Midzackowski, chaplain for Canterbury MSU, an Episcopal church group on the campus, also spoke.

“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry that so many of you have experienced spiritual harm at the hands of religious leaders,” she said. “More than anything else, I want you to know you are loved.”

Nick Pfost, chair of the MSU Alliance of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Students, and the first openly gay men to be elected to an MSU homecoming court, also spoke to the crowd. His opening remarks brought laughter when, after introducing himself and his various positions on campus he quipped, “I am not being stalked by the Attorney General.”

“What strikes me the most is not the bullying that happens on the campus — people throwing garbage and such, that’s horrible — but the bullying in the home,” Pfost said. He recounted the terror of meeting the mother of his male partner. The mother was unaware of her son’s sexuality.

Ultimately, Pfost sees hope in the future.

“I hope that when we’re parents that we’ll be better parents than the people causing these problems today,” Pfost said.

The problem of bullying-related suicide, or bullycide, is not something happening in other states, says anti-bullying activist Kevin Epling of East Lansing. Epling’s son, Matt, committed suicide as a result of bullying and legislation pending in the state Senate bears his son’s name.

But Matt is not alone in having taken his life. Epling says at least seven Michigan youth have committed suicide as a result of bullying: Tempest Smith, 1988-2001; Matt Epling, 1988-2002; Chrystal Eaton, 1988-2003; Kristina Calco, 1989-2005; Austin Murphy, 1991-2007; Alex Harriso,n 1993-2009; and Kimberly Linczeski, 1998-2010.

State lawmakers have been struggling to pass legislation to address bullying since 2000.

“When Matt’s Law failed to pass in 2008 the only real reason I heard was that Sen. Alan Cropsey (R-DeWitt) did not have time to read it, although it had been in committee for almost a year and very little had been changed in two years. Both Democratic and Republican leaders talked with him at the time and he refused to let it be read,” Epling said of the legislation. “I have not heard anything this session from his office. We will be reaching out to his office yet again. We also have some Senators (and outside entities) falsely claiming the bill provides special protections. There is nothing in the bill that affords that, yet it is still talked about that way. Which in a way harms every child in our schools because it has delayed passage.”

Epling is referring to comments made by the American Family Association of Michigan’s Gary Glenn and other national leaders. They say the anti-bullying legislation is way to push a “homosexual agenda.”

“They’re using their own bigotry and bias to get in the way of common sense reforms,” says Dee Hurlbert, assistant director of the MSU Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Resource Center. “There is no other group for which it is open season in school like LGBT youth. I can see no motive for [the opposition to anti-bullying laws] other than tacit approval of bullying in schools.”

“I think anti-bullying efforts are important for those being bullied and those who bully,” says Denise Maybanks, senior associate vice president for student affairs at MSU. “Legislation or not, it’s essential we address those issues.”