Two teens walking down the street in Gay Village, Toronto, loudly discuss their plans for the evening. Should they go gay bashing again? they muse.
Not too long ago, a local florist whose shop was just a walk away from the local high school was doused with frozen drinks by a dozen students.
Another unfortunate victim was called a"faggot" and kicked in the face. This fifty year old man who uses a wheelchair has become afraid to be in his own home. Almost every day, he is tormented by a group of students who throw garbage into his property and call him names, using slurs that display unwarranted homophobia.
What need they fear from an elderly man who keeps to himself?
Teen homophobia is becoming the new intolerance. As Karen W. Wyman states,"Thirty years ago, the insult of the day was 'nerd' or 'dork.' Today the word is 'gay.'"
The irony is that Gay Village, also known as the Church Wellesley Village, was meant to counter all this hatred.
Transformed in the 1980's into an open and progressiveenvironment, Gay Village is the home of the annual Gay Pride Parade and has become the destination of people who wish to celebrate their sexual orientation in an open and friendly urban setting. It has been called "a haven of tolerance."
Gay Bashing in Canadian Schools
In an age when gay pride parades have become status quo, when same sex rohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifmances proliferate all forms of media, one would think that gay bashing would become a relic of the past.
Not so, according to a nationwide survey of Canadian High school students. Released in May 2011, this survey shows that more than seventy-five percent of "lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender, queer or questioning students" feel unsafe at school. In fact, most gay teenagers report that they are harassed verbally and physically on a daily basis.
Read more here.
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