Bullying happens at school. It happens at church. It happens in all kinds of communities, in fact in every community.
Bullying is a form of abuse of power, when one young person or a peer group abuses a vulnerable young person over a period of time. Bullying happens among young women and young men, among boys and girls. It can be physical or emotional.
There is evidence that a community or a school or a church can take steps to create a culture of respect that reduces bullying significantly. As people of faith we are called to help our communities reduce bullying.
Staff across several ministries of the United Church of Christ have gathered together resources on this page from a number of points of view. Just as the reduction of bullying must be a collaborative endeavor, this page is our effort to bring the perspectives of several portfolios on the UCC national staff.
News
June 14, 2011: The U.S. Department of Education released guidelines "affirming the principles that prevent unlawful discrimination against any student-initiated groups" at school. The Department issued this guidance specifically to support the right of students to form gay-straight alliances at their high schools. "Gay-straight alliances (GSAs) and similar student-initiated groups addressing LGBT issues can play an important role in promoting safer schools and creating more welcoming learning environments."
October 18, 2010: Faith leaders released ecumenical statement, Clergy Against Bullying, calling on “the Church Universal to join us in working to end the violence and hatred against our lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender brothers and sisters.” This is a ground breaking alliance of of high level mainline Christian leaders and faith groups that fully include lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people signing a pledge “to be LGBT and straight people of faith standing together for the shared values of decency and civility, compassion and care in all interactions.” You too can sign the petition.
UCC Leaders Say Urgency Is Needed in Addressing Anti-Gay Bullying is the October 5 statement from the UCC's Collegium of Officers.
Resources from the UCC
General Synod 27, July 2009, passes resolution to support LGBT students in public schools and their advocates. "Affirming Diversity/Multicultural Education in the Public Schools" seeks to create a progressive Christian witness in support of organizations that provide diversity education at school to build tolerance for all people, particularly lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals and families, along with people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds, abilities, social classes and faiths. The resolution was sponsored by the Northern California, Nevada Conference, where UCC pastors who provide diversity education and public school districts that include information around gender identity and sexual orientation in their curricula have been harassed by organized protests and lawsuits.
Background and Definitions
Reflections
Information from other Organizations
October, 2010: Here is new guidance for schools and legislatures to develop laws and policies that protect the rights of LGBT students: Safe at School: Addressing the School Environment and LGBT Safety through Policy and Legislation. This resource, from the Great Lakes Center for Education Research & Practice, the National Education Policy Center, and the Williams Institute of the University of California School of Law, makes recommendations about improving school climate, reforming curriculum and teaching practices; recommends policies regarding iimproved climate in school sports; and even presents a sample draft bill that can be adopted by any state legislature.
National School Boards Association “Dealing with Legal Matters Surrounding Students’ Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity” helps with issues like formation of a Gay-Straight Alliance, student rights around dress, curriculum and LGBT issues, issues around events like “Day of Silence,” rights around same-sex couples attending student events, and harassment of students based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The UCC Justice & Witness Ministries and 12 other organizations endorsed tihis resource.
From the Safe Schools Coalition, guidance for schools and issues relating to LGBT Concerns.
GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network GLSEN's website contains regularly updated materials on ways to stop bullying and harassment. Here are samples:
PFLG, Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, has published Bringing the Message Home 2010, an excellent guide for legislative advocacy.
October 2010, from the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, SIECUS: 2009 National School Climate Survey Reveals LGBY Youth Still Face Significant Harassment.
National Education Association
Spring 2012: School Crisis Guide.
NEA's Bully Free: It Starts With Me Campaign
NEA has released a comprehensive and important resource, A Report on the Status of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender People in Education: Stepping Out of the Closet, Into the Light. This in-depth report grew from NEA's National July 2008 Summit on GLBT Issues. Here is a taste: "This report is about young people.... about our students—gay, straight, male, female, queer, transgender—missing school, underachieving, or dropping out. It's about student-on-student cruelty, which in our schools we refer to as harassment and bullying. It's about their parents and guardians and the communities in which they live. It's also about educators reaching out to students who are in emotional and psychological distress. And it's about all of our colleagues, gay or straight, being able to do the best job they can do... We are acutely aware that the conflicts over issues involving sexual orientation and gender identity divide American society—as well as American schools, which are a microcosm of our society." (p. v) This guide includes tips for educators, links to additional resources, and an extensive bibliography.
"The ABC's of School Bullying: Tips for Parents and Teachers" is an excellent short practical resource from NEA to help adults intervene to stop bullying. Search the NEA's site for additional excellent resources.
United Methodist Board for Church and Society has posted an excellent resource guide for a discussion on abuse and bullying. Appropriate for use with adults and adolescents.
Here is information from the Seattle Based Safe Schools Coalition.
National Association of State Boards of Education
What Works—and Doesn't Work—in Bullying Prevention and Intervention is a short, practical guide describing effective and ineffective strategies for reducing bullying at school.
Cyberbullying defines this web-based behavior and evaluates strategies schools and families can employ to eradicate it.
Southern Poverty Law Center Teaching Tolerance, the journal published by the , has made reduction of bullying a regular feature of coverage to support non-violent conflict resolution. Search this site.
- Cyberbullying: The Stakes Have Never Been Higher for Students—or Schools, Fall 2010 issue, explores syberbullying, defined as "the repreated use of technology to harass, humiliate or threaten." The article describes strategies that can be taught at school and practiced by adolescent including on-line safety skills and strategies for students to use to reject digital abuse in their own lives.
Videos
It's Elementary (1999) is a wonderful film from Groundspark, formerly Women's Educational Media, that shows what happens when schools and teachers introduce the subject of homophobia in an age-appropriate way into elementary and middle schools. In every location and for every child from first through eighth grade, students know about this subject and have misinformation they have gleaned from peers and the media. The children experience a sense of relief to be allowed to discuss the fearful messages they have absorbed and to give up their fear as they separate myths and stereotypes from facts.
That's A Family! (2000), also from Groundspark, lets children take viewers on a tour through their lives as they speak candidly about what it's like to grow up in a family with parents of different races or religions, divorced parents, a single parent, gay or lesbian parents, adoptive parents or grandparents as guardians.
Oliver Button is a Star (2001) (now available for $5.00 from the Twin Cities Gay Men's Chorus) is the artistically stunning 56 minute video based on children's author-illustrator, Tomie dePaola's book, Oliver Button Is a Sissy. As dePaola himself reads the story to a group of children, it is musically dramatized by the Twin Cities Gay Men's Chorus—spliced with childhood home-movie footage and current interviews with dePaola himself, arctic explorer Ann Bancroft, dancer and choreographer Bill T. Jones, and make-up artist Kevyn Aucoin. dePaola's own illustrations are animated and spliced into the film as well. This video celebrates the extraordinary gifts of four children who were teased, bullied, and harassed because their interests and behavior didn't conform to gender-defined expectations. We also learn about their parents and other adults who were their allies.
Worship Resources
Prayer from the Hibbert Trust, in the UK, including the following words: "Bullies' words sting and slice through me. Bulllies' words twist into shapes that beat me and leave me like a trampled leaf... Help us to disentangle the knots of confusion and misunderstanding. To understand the hurts that others feel - that we have ignored. Help us to speak of what we feel. Help us to know when others need to speak so that then we can l listen."
A LItany for Safety in Our Schools, by Rev. Bill Johnson
