Friday, April 15, 2011

Bullying By Adults


High school drama occurring from relationships and people dating the same people is not unheard of. But, when the drama is between an adult coach and a student and is started by the coach, that seems rare to me. When I read Pat Griffith’s blog about Skye Wyatt, a high school softball player from Texas, I was appalled. It made me ask myself; how many times are high school athletes, regardless of their sexual orientation, bullied by their coaches? I thought it was bad enough to hear that the coaches, after bullying Skye about dating a girl one of them had previously dated, outed the girl to her mother, and then read that it is a school policy for staff to tell student’s parents of their kid’s sexuality. To me, that is absolutely ridiculous. I, in no way, see how this policy benefits the school district, the student, the staff, or the parents, so, what is the purpose of it? To top it all off, the young female athlete was kicked off the softball team by her coaches. According to the blog, the school supported the coaches’ actions. I understand them supporting the coach for telling her mother about the girl’s sexual orientation, because of the fact that it is school policy, but, how could the school district find it ok for two adults to lock a student in a locker room and essentially harass them? Reading about this situation made me think about the heterosexual matrix, and how in society men and women are expected to have certain characteristics and be a certain way. It made me realize that discrimination often occurs when people act outside of the matrix, which is wrong. The trial for this case is set for later this year and I, for one, hope something good can come out of this bad situation for the girl and all other high school students who have had to experience similar situations.

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