The new fight against bullying

“It’s really about a culture that rewards bullying,” said Title. “It gets to be a sensitive political issue, but we bully the whole world. We separate the world into those who are like us and those who aren’t like us – and when we meet someone who isn’t like us, we have a sense of entitlement to do whatever we want to them.”

This dynamic has entered the spotlight over the last few years, due to controversial “No Promo Homo” policies in U.S. schools. In the aftermath of the tragic string of nine separate bully-related suicides in Minnesota’s Anoka High School, an overwhelming voice from the community pointed toward the school’s policy of banning any discussion of homosexuality on school grounds. Many concerned parents stated that policies like this encourage – either directly or indirectly – teens to bully LGBTQ students, reinforcing the idea that what they are doing is correct and they will be socially rewarded.

Despite anti-gay activists attempts to push “conversion therapy” as a societal band-aid for the suicides, the school’s ban on sexuality discussions was eventually lifted. Though many schools across the U.S. stand firm in their “No Promo Homo” policies.

Thankfully, young people like Diane Amaya, Michelle Anderson and Mimi Madrid aren’t waiting around for politicians and school administrators – who have no idea what it is like to grow up in an age of social media, Glee and Tyler Clementi – to know what to do about these issues.

Our interview with these three Branching Seeds of Resistance organizers was conducted via Skype. They wanted to speak with us in person, but Amaya, Anderson and Madrid were speaking on behalf of BSEEDZ at the 3rd Annual Two Spirit Conference in Ignacio, Colorado. When they return, Anderson will continue production on her documentary on suicide prevention within LGBTQ persons of color, while Amaya will carry on with youth outreach work, and Madrid will continue her work, creating a space where young sexual and ethnic minorities can have a voice, and be respected.

“We are creating a family that we know is going to support each other,” Madrid said. “We’re creating a cycle that, when we go away to college or other directions, we’ve trained another generation of young people to know how to stick up for themselves, know how to create families, to heal themselves, and to affect change in the community.”

And thanks to groups like Branching Seedz of Resistance, future generations of young people wont have to wait for adulthood to feel comfortable and be themselves. For them, it will already have gotten better.