Shane Koyzcan's "To This Day" Anti-Bullying Video/Poem

This is 110% worth the watch. It will be the best spent 7 minutes of your day. 


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Shane Koyzcan's video has been viewed over 4.3 Million times since being posted on YouTube on February 19th. It is a heart wrenching poem telling the story of three kids being bullied and how they overcame the emotional scars.

Kids who are bullied are at a higher risk for depression, anxiety and panic disorders years down the line.

Slate called the video "beautiful," Yahoo! News dubbed it "powerful" and Mashable promised that it will "reshape your views on name calling, harassment and pain."

House Passes Anti-Bullying Bill

This is a huge step for fighting bullying in Indiana. An anti-bullying bill has passed the House in a 77-17 vote and is now headed to the senate. 

The bill, if it passes, will make it mandatory for school systems to run anti-bullying seminars for students and training programs for teachers. In addition, schools would have to report all incidents of bulling in a report at the end of the year. There would also be better and more detailed procedures when it comes to investigating an incident. 

This is a huge step toward doing something for bullying! There are so many schools that turn a blind eye toward bullying, or who's hands are tied when it actually comes to stepping in. This could help change all that, and if it works out could very easily pass to other states. 

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"Growing Up Gay" Themed Play At The Boston Children's Theatre

An anti-bullying/gay rights play will be opening up at the Boston Children's Theatre based on the true life events of Rhode Island native Aaron Fricke. Aaron is a gay rights activist who is best known for suing his high school back in the 80's for not letting him bring his boyfriend to prom. Aaron grew up being ridiculed for being gay and was depressed and suicidal for a long while. After fighting his school he really came into his own and gained the support from much of the community.

"Reflections of a Rock Lobster," a critically acclaimed play based on Fricke's life. After premiering in March of 2012, the show returns this March to the Boston Children's Theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts.

Left: Aaron Fricke and his boyfriend Paul Guilbert at Prom

Right: Actors Ian Shain and Felix Teich from "Reflections of a Rock Lobster"

"I was overwhelmed by the reaction to the piece from the public and from school groups," says Aaron. "I think everyone is able to relate to what I experienced. The fact that bullying and prejudice still exist today in our society, makes this play even more relevant and powerful."

"I applaud Boston Children's Theatre for producing a play that addresses issues that have such a profound impact on our community," said Mayor Menino. "Bullying, prejudice and anti-gay sentiments cannot be tolerated in our schools or in our society.  'Reflections of a Rock Lobster' teaches us all the importance of acceptance and tolerance in an entertaining, creative and powerful way.  I congratulate their efforts and I encourage everyone to experience this ground-breaking production."  

If you get a chance to head down to the BCT, the show will be going on  March 9, 10, 15, 16 and 17. Tickets are $35.00 and $25.00 and can be purchased by visiting the BCT website. 


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Cyber Bullying Video

This a great video about a kid being cyber-bullied just for being a good student. It's a reminder of how ruthless kids can be, and how much one's actions can really affect another. Don't just stand by while someone is being bullied, and DON'T be a bully.

School Legislation and LGBT Teens

Bullying is extremely detrimental to the mental, and sometimes physical, health of it's victims. That increases even more with LGBT teens. They suffer from an increased risk of depression, anxiety, and suicide attempts. School doesn’t only feel unsafe – though that’s the experience of 71% of rural and 62% of suburban kids. School is unsafe for nearly one of five, who have been physically assaulted.

There aren't many schools that have legislation in place to help these students either. However there are two bills that are expected to be reintroduced. Both bills amend existing law. First, the Safe Schools Improvement Act (SSIA) would amend the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act. It would require federally-funded schools to prohibit bullying on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. It would also require states to report cases of bullying to the Department of Education. The second bill is the Student Non-Discrimination Act (SDNA). It is modeled on Title IX, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex. Likewise, the SDNA would prohibit discrimination on the basis of perceived sexual orientation and gender identity. But both bills have failed before.

There’s reason to believe legislation could help fix the public health problem. Not only do most states not protect LGBT students, but some states have statutes or policies that staff must “remain neutral on matters regarding sexual orientation.” But these neutrality policies are often only neutral in name. Recently, Tennessee’s ‘neutrality’ policy resurfaced. Commonly known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, the proposed bill would ban any discussion of homosexuality – except, in its latest incarnation, for teachers who must report suspected homosexuality to a student’s parents. Even though the bill’s official title is the “Classroom Protection Act,” it’s obvious that the bill would subject LGBT teens to increased stigma, social isolation, and eliminate safe pathways to report harassment.

It's time to step up. Students who don't feel safe going to school won't go to school, or won't do as well while there they're because they're always going to be looking over their shoulder. Every state should have legislation protecting a student's rights to an education in a safe environment. Likewise, they should be more strongly reprimanded when they're caught bullying. Acting is the key to prevention. 


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Rockingham County School Have Anti-Bullying Plan

Rockingham County Schools have been working on an anti-bullying program that they put in place about a year ago, and so far it seems to be working great.

The Anti-Bullying committee will be working on a few things over the next month or so. They want to tackle bullying by age group. 

Anti-Bullying Committe of Rockingham County

"It looks different than it does in the elementary than it does in the middle and the middle looks different than it does in the high school, and there's always cyber-bullying, so we're hopefully going to catch all those things this month," said Scott Bojanich, the Director of Secondary Instruction.

Bontz says this will be good for teachers and students because bullying can come in many different forms.

"In high school, 'looks' is a big one, you know just kids staring at each other, and you know your self-esteem is built or broken down, based on how your peers treat you," Debra Bontz said, teacher at Massanutten Technical School.

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Teens Perform Anti-Bullying Play

Two dozen students from 5 area high school in Columbus, OH decided to put on a powerful play about bullying, "The Weight Of Words". The 30 minute production was written by students, for students to help raise awareness.

A scene from the play "The Weight Of Words"

“This idea is to bring students together, to be creative, to solve issues that are actually occurring in their everyday life. I think is very powerful,” said Carrie Gilchrist, the artistic director of Lovewell Institute For Creative Arts.

18-year-old Jordan Rodriguez plays the main bully in the play and it had a strong impact on him.

“I honestly cried before, when we performed this because I'm a bully from the start of the play to the end. From the start of the play, I'm punching the gay kid and, then I end up killing him."

The group of teens will be performing ‘The Weight Of Words’ at a state thespian conference in early March.



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UK Boy Kills Himself Due To Anti-Gay Bullying

Anthony Stubbs, 16, went missing late November after telling his girlfriend Charlotte Mason, 18, he was heading to his mother's house which was just down the street. He never came back. 

Anthony and Charlotte had just had a baby, Lily, who was born in September. Although the stresses of teenage parenthood can be overwhelming, Anthony's mother Denise doesn't believe that was the problem. 

Denise says he was sexually conflicted and was bullied for it at school. 

"Anthony was getting bullied by girls for two years. He would get shouted ‘gay boy’ at, get slapped in the face, come home with his school jumper ripped and even got his phone stolen."

It was when he announced he was going to be a father that she got the courage to tell him it was OK to be gay. Denise recalls: “He shouted that he wasn’t gay and loved Charlotte, but eventually confessed he might be bisexual. I told him I knew he loved his girlfriend but that he needed to be honest with her.”

Even Anthony's girlfriend would get made fun of, being told things like, "You’re going out with a fa**ot’."

Denise had found out her son had been flirting with guys online and was worried he might be leading a secret life. Girlfriend Charlotte had found suspicious texts and had wondered if he had not been dating girls behind her back. After Anthony went missing, both mother and girlfriend decided to text back the suspicious number. 

"Our fears were confirmed as the person said they were male and then said something sexually explicit."

Anthony's body was found January 14th in the woods near his home, 6 weeks after he went missing. In his school bag was a suicide note. 







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WWE Wrestlers Teach Kids To "Be A Star"

Several WWE wrestlers visited Atlanta's Hope Hill Elementary school to join together and use their star-power to help fight bullying. Their visit was part of an initiative called Be A Star, an acronym for "Show Tolerance And Respect."  

Kofi Kingston talked about bullying during his childhood, and how he was also embarrassed to admit there were times he sat back and watched others get bullied and did nothing to help stop it. Fellow wrestlers Layla and Hornswoggle also spoke about various aspects of bullying and told kids how to be part of the solution. 

As an added bonus, 100 Hope Hill Elementary students were special guests of the WWE at Monday night's RAW event at Philips Arena.

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Students Help Create Anti-Bullying App

Lets face it, bullying is prevalent no matter where you go or where you're from - every 7 minutes, a child in the US is bullied. But kids are taking stands in their own ways to help fight and prevent bullying across the country. One great idea that came from students in Oakland County was to create an anit-bullying app. 

The app is backed by “Defeat the Label,” an anti-bullying nonprofit organization, which was approached Brilliant Chemistry, the company responsible for the app, about trying to make a strong impact.

“They had a lot of great celebrity connections and that type of thing,” Said Carl Rundell, a partner at Brilliant Chemistry. “They actually have 1.4 million high school students stand up last year against bullying. Some of the states have actually made it a day to go against bullying.”

The planned release for the app is going to be May 3rd of this year, and it will have three main functions: Reporting, engaging and analyzing.

The app will function as a database where people can annonymously report bullying, as well as commend those who help stand up again bullies. It will cost $200k to develop and may look simple, but the database will be comprable to those used by large corporations

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