BULLIED

Submission 984

I was fourteen years old when I began being cyber bullied by my classmates. They would tell me to die and no one cared if I would kill myself, all because I wasn't homophobic. This began when I was in a lesson where we were taught about Alan Turing and his homosexuality. Many were going ahead to say that he was disgusting and should've been killed, no one even cared that he had solved the enigma machine. I was the only one in the class who stood for my beliefs that homosexuality is normal and should be accepted. I, of course, did not back down from my opinions which made some people think I am a lesbian. I'm not, but I wasn't offended by that. It's not an insult. I was bullied online but I wasn't bullied publicly in school because teachers took bullying very seriously, probably because a student in one of the years committed suicide after being bullied for being transgender. I wasn't hurt by the comments online. Clearly they didn't have enough courage to insult me to my face. They knew I could throw a couple of punches. They were pathetic. I wasn't offended and continued to ignore the occasional comments. 'Homo', 'lesbo', 'slut', 'whore', I didn't care. Words don't hurt me. Or at least that's what I thought. From there on the messages for worse. People began messaging me on Facebook, and unknown texts threatening. The occasional comments became regular and changed from 'fag' to 'die'. I didn't take these to heart until even at school, people would whisper at me 'kill yourself'. I would listen to what they said, but show no acknowledgement to their face. My strong barrier was slowly being broken down but by bit. No one got caught, no teachers noticed and no student helped. It was just me against all the homophobes. But I wasn't going to back down. I didn't care if they thought I was a lesbian or that I should die simply for being accepting to human rights. It just hurt me they'd go so far as to tell me to commit suicide, just because I believe in equality. I never had any friends to look for help with, so I was alone. I got through the year being called names and told to die, I cared more and more after a while, the words hurt, but I continued my life and pretended to not care. The only thing helping me through was realising all these people bullying me were awful human beings who did not deserve attention. If they were so passionate in being against happiness for gays, I was against them being happy. It all continued, I never found out how they got my number and I ignored all the messages. I didn't want to tell my parents about the cyber bullying. I didn't want to show the text messages. I knew they wouldn't care if I was a homosexual, but they would care if people were hurting me for being gay. They would go to the trouble of changing my number or buying a new phone and moving schools, even though they had hardly enough money and there weren't any other schools for miles. So I left it. I ignored texts, I gave the bullies no attention and nothing to talk about, so eventually they all backed down. Now, one year later, I still get a few 'bitch' insults directed at me every now and then or several odd stares, but I didn't care. Because I stood up for my beliefs and for human rights. I didn't give up to the disgusting, homophobic bullies. I stood my ground and in return, got respect from a few others. I'm emotionally stron compared to most, so these nasty comments hardly hurt me, but I would hate to have known what would happen if someone else was in this position. I know many people have had it worse, but I guess the main reason I shared this story is because I want everyone to know, that there is hope. There is a chance to win any fight, and you just have to realise these bullies are mean people who have no right to hurt you, and it doesn't matter what they think because in the end, you're soon going to move on and forget they ever existed, and it only matters what you think about yourself. And let me tell you, you are a unique, beautiful individual who is amazing in your own way.