A cross post in GD about Larry King

[dsc]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3080982

[Creideiki]

1. And blaming the victim didn't start until the second reply

[dsc]

2. yeh

I look back on my middle school and early high school experience from the vantage of 20 years and honestly don't know what I could have done to avoid the humiliation and beatdowns I took. I was by no means openly gay, heck I wasn't even sure I was gay. But just the same I took shit. This blame the victim crap really sticks in my craw.

[swimmernsecretsea]

3. It's replies that the one from "question everything" that make me discouraged.

His replies put the blame on the victim and a supposedly lazy support structure:

A teacher should have pulled him aside to warn him.

Then, he tops it off with a pseudoscientific excuse:

We also know that for many boys at this age, being perceived as gay is the greatest fear, often because their sexuality has not yet coalesced.

And then finishes with a nasty slap at the whole of the LGBT community:

And the gay community, of course, tells us that such relations are mutual, that there is no harassment.

What an asshole. And how ironic is his handle, anyway.

[mitchtv]

4. being beat up was my greatest fear

I was given three days to get out of the neighborhood I grew up in. School was a refuge

[swimmernsecretsea]

5. I hear you.

I got beaten up at school, and when I came home, I had an abusive father who broke a finger and my nose. My brother and sisters got harassed at school, and we got calls at home, too. My father said it was my fault, and said I should leave the family--at fifteen. Sometimes I don't know how I got through it. In some ways I didn't. For that reason, I have a very low tolerance for gay bashing and harassment, and for those who put the blame on the abused one. What could I have done as a pre-teen and teen to deserve such abuse, and then receive no support from the school? For those who suggest it's just the way our society is, I say Fuck You. It's not like that everywhere, and in every culture. Getting past the point where abuse is the norm is when our society begins to progress.

[mitchtv]

8. I tried to disguise myself by running with the druggies

shooting speed etc. Now after two liver transplants, I know that it was done to hide from the local NYC street gang. I barely survived. I received no help from my family.

[dsc]

6. I was determined to do well in school

and get out of dodge. I was beaten up a few times at school and got humiliated a whole lot. I can't wait until the day reading about this is like reading about people who think the earth is flat.

[swimmernsecretsea]

7. Thankfully, that sub-thread got deleted.

Although I thought my response would educate a few people who'd made assumptions about Larry King and his behavior, and about the LGBT community in general.