Bullying – Page 2

A response to the JCCV’s Victorian Community Report

In J-Wire, Geoffrey Zygier of the JCCV says:

Finally Searle said that ”the GLBT Reference group formed by JCCV, is continuing to work towards combatting discrimination, vilification and managing mental health issues for this community. The plan is to look at speaking with school representatives in regards to bullying issues.

and

Searle has pledged to host more politicians’ lunches, conduct more interfaith activities starting with the Croatian community and expects to welcome more new affiliates next year in keeping with the JCCV’s policy of inclusion.”

Combatting bullying in schools necessary, as we know from the It Gets Better Project, but we need to hear the JCCV say that any intolerance of homosexuality is unacceptable to know they are taking the issue seriously. To date that is the one thing they refuse to say.

For a secular organisation, with no official religious position, it is evident they are biased toward the interests of their Orthodox membership, and this is not the role of the organisation that is supposed to represent the entire Jewish community.

As for the “JCCV’s policy of inclusion”. That is deceitful. The JCCV has a strong history of excluding various organisations in the Jewish community, including the gay group Aleph Melbourne, and it certainly has excluded me from any discussions.

The JCCV needs a major overhaul, which I would suggest should start with the removal of the president. Only then might the organisation start to become representative.

The “It Gets Better” Project

Dan Savage started the It Gets Better Project, to try to make a positive difference to the lives of young people who are being bullied and struggling because of factors relating to their real or perceived sexual orientation.

I made a video for the project. You can view it here:

My partner Gregory also told his story:

I invite you to also record a video for the project. It’s really easy to do. Just open your phone cam, plug in a web cam on your laptop or personal computer, or ask a friend to help you out. Take a minute or longer and tell your story. Tell a story of how you survived your school years, how you helped a friend get through, how you might have been a bully and how you regret it, how you said something once that you think might have had a negative impact on someone and wish you could have taken it back. Please, just say something, something sincere and from the heart. You might just make someone sit up and listen. They might think twice about taking their life, or give them a ray of sun to lighten a dark place.

Joel Burns told a deeply moving story:

President Barak Obama has spoken from the White House:

These are just two of the more amazing contributions to the project. There are hundreds more. Every one adds a little extra piece to the puzzle of hope and love.

You can make a difference. You owe it to someone who needs your help.

Ilana Leeds rails against homosexuality

Oblivious to the recent spate of teen suicides in USA caused by anti-gay bullying, Ilana Leeds spews out more anti-gay venom, ignorance, misinformation and bullying in her latest blog:

…

While I do not, and I m very clear on this, advocate causing harm to any person who is homosexual or otherwise different, I do not regard their behaviour as ‘normal’. That is my opinion. I base it on a number of facts including the idea that it is not normal sexual behaviour, even in the animal world.

…

I have sympathy for those born homosexual because I believe that it must be a difficult burden to deal with but by the same token, I think there are many therapies available and even if they cannot be cured they are able to come to terms with the fact that they need to address some issues in their lives.

…

Younger people with emotional problems can be taken advantage of in this very sensitive stage of their life by older more experienced homosexuals who may be just looking for a bit of fresh meat so to speak, and are apt to convince a younger impressionable person that they are gay because they (the older person) desires it to be so.

…

I will not be bullied or forced into accepting homosexuality as a normal sexual behaviour.

…

She is out of control, out of touch with reality, and totally deluded. Her views are poisonous and should not be tolerated. Intelligent people will not be fooled by her ignorance and misinformation. It’s only other ignorant people out there who will fall victim, unfortunately.

In closing, I’d like to remind you that despite the rantings of Ilana Leeds, there is hope for anyone who feels they are struggling with their sexuality and aren’t sure what to do. Taking your life or hurting yourself is not the answer. Go to the It Gets Better Project and listen to the stories of the people out there who have been tormented by bullies like Ilana Leeds.

Are bullies a victim of bullying?

[SOURCE]

I recently wrote a blog on bullying [see here]. The person I was writing about has now described how she was previously a victim of bullying and relates her experience. It makes a really interesting read:

…

Ilana Leedssays:

September 27, 2010 at 5:21 pm

B’H

…

Violence is bullying and most bullies will not sit and debate or discuss because fear drives them and their life is about power and somehow justifying their methods of denigration of others in order to justify their erroneous ideas.
I have been a victim of bullying and lost my teaching position because someone wanted to teach me a lesson about who is boss. Real leaders are not afraid of dissent because only with dissent do we learn and grow. If we all agreed with one another, what a strange world it would be.
I don’t care what culture, colour, gender or sexuality you are, respect is paramount in dealing with others and a good sense of humour.

One would expect a victim of bullying would be a little more understanding of the issues, especially when it comes to their personal views on homosexuality.

Clearly it’s not always the case.

Ilana Leeds – the biggest bully in town

Ilana Leeds. Fundamentalist Jew. Homophobe. Bigot. Hater. Bully.

Ilana Leeds declared war on homosexuality today. She wrote some comments on Galus Australis (here and here):

…if they want marriage and all the other things that go with it,(Like the adoption of children) they need to give up their deviant practices and return to a heterosexual lifestyle and put themselves in order.

and

…those poor sick individuals who have to follow their unnatural desires and indulge in sexual practices that are not normal.

and

No I feel discriminated against, because I am not allowed to hold the view that homosexuality is deviant sexual behaviour, which it is.

It’s easy to understand how a person so steeped in their fundamentalist religious lifestyle can hold these extreme views. It’s because she lives in an extremely blinkered world, and in that world there are a lot of people who are ignorant of understanding and accepting the diversity of human sexuality.

What’s less easy to understand is how someone so bigoted and hateful as Ilana Leeds can be genuinely concerned about the hot topic of bullying in schools. She has a background in secondary education. You can read all about it on her LinkedIn profile (PDF). Further, she seems to be so interested in the topic of bullying in schools that she felt driven to write a novel about it, as you can see on her Twitter profile. Her latest tweet was:

I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if she didn’t get past the first line.

And now “educator” and anti-bullying crusader Ilana Leeds has submitted a snide comment to my previous blog:

Author : Ilana Leeds (IP: 115.128.58.22 , 115.128.58.22)
E-mail : nobullies@education.com.au
URL :
Whois : http://ws.arin.net/cgi-bin/whois.pl?queryinput=115.128.58.22
Comment:
B’H
Only hateful sweetie pie, because you don’t like what I am saying and if it did not touch a raw chord and have an element of truth you would not react so hard.
Have a nice day.

So here you have it. One the one hand Ilana Leeds calls homosexuals deviants and unnatural, and on the other hand she claims to be concerned about bullying at schools. My guess is that the part of her brain that allows her to believe in god has grown so big that’s it’s squashed the part of her brain that bestows her intelligence and reason to the size of a shrivelled pea.

Often school kids are bullied because they are gay. And often they are the most likely candidates for suicide or self-harm. Any intelligent educator would know this, or be able to easily find it out, unless they have their head firmly lodged up their arse.

Ilana Leeds is one of the biggest bullies in town and as an educator she should be ashamed of herself.