IOWA: Sioux City Newspaper Devotes Front Page To Stopping Anti-Gay Bullying (see picture!)

[WillParkinson]

IOWA: Sioux City Newspaper Devotes Front Page To Stopping Anti-Gay Bullying

In a rare and forceful act of advocacy, an Iowa newspaper devoted the entire front page of its Sunday edition to an anti-bullying editorial after a gay teen committed suicide. Relatives have said 14-year-old Kenneth Weishuhn Jr. suffered intense harassment, including threatening cellphone calls and nasty comments posted online, after coming out to family and friends about a month ago. He died April 15 from what the local sheriff's office described only as a "self-inflicted injury." The Sioux City Journal's front-page opinion piece calls on the community to be pro-active in stopping bullying and urges members to learn more about the problem by seeing the acclaimed new film, "Bully," which documents the harassment of a Sioux City middle school student. It notes that while many students are targeted for being gay, "we have learned a bully needs no reason to strike."

http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/iJqM6DiUtDsJ7UoWc2aCKg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD01ODM7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/

Link to editorial: http://news.yahoo.com/iowa-paper-devotes-front-page-fighting-bullying-175921792.html

[William769]

1. Very nice.

[SheilaT]

2. Bullying of any kind

is despicable. Everyone needs to make it clear that bullying won't be tolerated. It's wrong at school, it's wrong on the playground, it's wrong in the workplace.

I am very impressed that a newspaper, any newspaper, would have this front page.

[dbackjon]

3. Saw that - awesome!

[edgineered]

4. Slowly but slowly, another small step forward.

Soon enough we may be able to say, slowly but surely. The prospects of total acceptance are inconceivable in our present social environment. Yesterday while visiting a store in Ft Myers, and not finding an ally button to put on my leather biker jacket, the two clerks warmly listened as I described it. Their honest, unbiased interest did not falter when shifting from what the button looks like, to what an ally is.

Thanks to the Sioux City Journal for doing a good thing. Now to backtrack, find their site, and send a thank you.

((edit: links to emails, etc: http://siouxcityjournal.com/app/contact_us/ ))