In the prologue of Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison, the narrator says, "Or again, you often doubt if you really exist. You wonder whether you aren't simply a phantom in other people's minds. Say, a figure in a nightmare which the sleeper tries with all his strength to destroy. It's when you feel like this that, out of resentment, you begin to bump people back. And, let me confess, you feel that way most of the time. You ache with the need to convince yourself that you do exist in the real world, that you're a part of all the sound and anguish, and you strike out with your fists, you curse and you swear to make them recognize you. And, alas, it's seldom successful." In this context, it is being used to describe the life and feelings of a black person in a racist world. Today, many people claim that racism is dead, America is a home of the free and a country of equal opportunity and so on - but is it really?
People in the lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual (LGBT) community face bullying and discrimination every day. These people try to blend in, and try to hide who they are. They try to make themselves invisible, like that of the narrator in Invisible Man, described in the quote above. And when their cover blows, the effects can be devastating. They get tormented for being who they are, and are constantly ridiculed with derogatory words and sometimes even physical abuse. According to an article on bullyingstatistics.com, nine out of ten LGBT teens reported being bullied at school. Of those, half reported being physically harassed, and another quarter reported being physically assaulted. Twenty-eight percent of LGBT teens feel forced to drop out of school, and according to voilencepreventionworks.com, twenty two percent skipped school over the course of just a month because they felt unsafe.
But it doesn't stop there - from a young age, kids hear derrogatory words thrown around about sexual orientation, and it becomes acceptable to say those things, and it also becomes an insult to be associated with those words. Many straight kids are called these things just based on their appearance - so now it becomes ok to insult someone on their personality based off of your opinion on how they look? This is what America is teaching their children. Land of the free, I'll say.
What's worst might not even be the fact that they are bullied - sure, everyone gets bullied. I was made fun of for being short, for acting silly, for being a Christian, and so many other things. But when I was bullied, I felt safe going to my teacher and saying, "Mrs. Summers, David is making fun of me again for calling me short," and I knew that the problem would be solved. David would get a final warning, and the problem never resurfaced. But teens in the LGBT community get ruthlessly bullied, and then when they want help, they often don't ask for it because they are afraid that the teachers and supervisors around them won't help them because they are intolerant to their lifestyle.
Intolerant to their lifestyle.
We have created a society where kids feel as if they have to take the bullying, teasing, and physical abuse that comes to them because the people they look up to won't help them.
How messed up is that?
Now, back to Invisible Man, the book that got the opening quote for this blog entry. In Invisible Man, the narrator fights and fights society, trying to just get along, pursue his dreams, and be who he wants to be. But eventually, he just gives up. In the end, he becomes an "invisible man" and blends into society, giving them exactly what they want. And this relates so strongly to the LGBT community - they have to either face the bullying and teasing that comes with "coming out of the closet," or they can deny themselves who they are, hide their feelings, and pretend they are something they aren't. Like the LGBT community, growing up hearing derogatory words about who they are, the black community of the narrator of Invisible Man was put in the same situation. It was made clear to him from a young age that he was an outcast, not an equal, and could never be fully accepted by society. If America so fully rebukes how we treated blacks 60 years ago, how can we say what we do to the LGBT community today is ok?
