The issue of bullying has been existent in most American schools for decades. The common victims of bullying are often children who are considered different or weird by their peers. Teenagers who form a part of the LGBT community are more likely to get bullied because of their ‘abnormal’ sexual orientation. Most children perceive them as a potential target for their bullying tactics. The bullying of teenagers with a homosexual sexual orientation has remained at a constant 90 % in the last 5 years while bullying of other ‘different’ children has reduced significantly (AntÓnio and Moleiro 731). The negative attitudes that other children have towards lesbian, gay, bisexual children drive them to tease, harass, assault and bully them. The documentary Bully directed by Lee Hirsch and the dicumentary Homophobic Bullying, expose the lives and struggles of LGBT teenagers at school.
Based on the film Bully by Lee Hirsch, the increasing cases of LGBT teenage bullying is as a result of clueless adults who either choose to turn the other way or participate in the bullying. Kelby Jonson’s story, shows a young girl who is trying to fit in for being a lesbian (Bully Film). After coming out, her friends and family friends shun her and her family. She becomes as target for violence and extreme bullying to a point that some boys hit her with a minivan and speed off because of her LGBT identity. Other children at school ignore and harass her throughout the school year. To make matters worse, the teachers who have the authority in the school and should stand up for her exclude her from events and bully her continuously. Kelly is a strong woman and despite the intense bullying on her she refuses to leave town so that her bullies ‘don’t win’.