We want your stories. Tell us how you were bullied, how you changed your own bullying behavior or how you intervened in someone else’s story. We may post your story here or even use it to help find ways to end bullying. Thank you for participating in this important project.

• My Experience with BULLYING
  
  Author: Jay

  From the first dirty look to the last rumor spread, I realized high school wasn’t a comforting place for me. Being a transgendered youth was rarely accepted by my peers and they weren’t afraid to let me know. Since I am biologically female, yet identify as a male, I ran into multiple roadblocks. Due to my transgenderism, I feared being taunted or an altercation breaking out if I was to use the female restroom at my school. I’d normally “hold it” as long as possible, causing great discomfort and lack of concentration through the day. On multiple occasions, I was verbally attacked by students along with my girlfriend being physically assaulted in the past. I had a very hard time coping with the verbal abuse and self-hatred after the day was through. Students would humiliate me in front of their friends for “recognition” and I reminded myself that I was stronger than suicide, but that didn’t mean the thought wasn’t close in my mind at times. I knew other students were feeling the same but were too scared to speak up. With the thought of this in mind, my girlfriend and I decided enough was enough. After collaborating with my girlfriend and two close friends/teachers, we decided to create an antidiscrimination club for students to attend, not only to feel accepted as themselves, but also a place for students to learn about each other. “Human Relations Club” (HRC) started to pull in a vast variety of students to group meetings. From Mormons who felt they had been victims of religious intolerance to gay and lesbian students who felt discriminated against. Being that it was our senior year when my girlfriend and I founded the club, we had to work hard to gain recognition so the club would live through the next year. I started to realize that although HRC was made fun of and many students and some teachers made it a point to spread resistance against our club, we started to become stronger. I learned more about acceptance in HRC than I had in all my years of high school. We all learned together and many members stated that they looked forward to the group meetings every Wednesday after school. Although I have graduated, the Human Relations Club will continue to be a big part of the campus. And despite those who try to shove it into the shadows, HRC will create its own light to carry on. I plan to go back to the campus to check up on it in the following years. Now that I’m out of high school, I feel disappointed to say that I didn’t “attend” high school, I “survived” it. However, it does not go unnoticed that HRC and the power of other bullied peers were there to help light the way.

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  Author: Anonymous

  As a little kid in elementary school and junior high, I remember seeing other kids getting bullied, at least one in every class, but because I kept to myself, I was never the target. It wasn’t until my sophomore year when I came out as being a lesbian that I ever experienced anything like bullying. “Dike” was the most common thing I heard, even from strangers who I held doors open for at school. I was approached by another student and threatened. I had a difficult time holding my tongue and from there he went on to punch me and put his hands around my throat. I struck out at him myself and we grappled for a few moments. After we released each other, we parted on mutual terms of dislike, and he never approached me again. After transferring schools, I personally didn’t experience bullying, but my transgender boyfriend fell victim to plenty of verbal bullying. We founded an antidiscrimination group on campus in hopes to spread awareness to every student. Even though I’ve graduated, I have high hopes it will continue to help victims of discrimination. I hear people talk about the bullying in schools across the nation, but as nice as it is to have support from people who have already experienced these things, more needs to be done to prevent it all together. I’ve witnessed firsthand the pain and self-hatred it can cause, and it is completely unnecessary and unjustified. Everybody has something about them that can be picked apart or judged, but everybody should also be self-aware as well as possessing has the ability to accept. And it is that acceptance that needs to be spread to everyone.

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  Author: Anna

  At the end of the school year, a birthday party was coming up for one of my friends. I was invited to go, so I thought it would be fun. I learned later that many of my friends, except for a few, were planning these terrible “events” behind my back. They made up a fake name for me so they could talk about it, and if I heard them, I wouldn’t know whom they were talking about. One day at lunch, the girls at my table were talking about how they were going to let “Hailey” fall asleep first so that they could take the mattress “she”/(I) was sleeping on and put it in the pool hoping that in my sleep I would turn over and fall into the pool. Another prank was, while swimming, whenever I was underwater, they’d pull me back under whenever I tried to come up. One of my best friends and I were sitting with them as they were briefly discussing this and we both automatically thought it was about us. I was asking them who they were planning on doing this awful stuff to and telling them not to do it because they wouldn’t like it if it were being done to them. I was feeling so left out and rejected from some of my absolute best friends! That night I got a call from one of my extremely good friends saying that she talked to one of the girls who was planning this and found out it was against me! I wanted to break out in tears and ask “why me?” “Why did I deserve this?” I told my mom right away about all of this and couldn’t help but to let the tears out and cry on my mom and dad’s shoulders. My mom was pretty close with all of the moms, considering how long we had all been friends, so she sent an email around just letting them know what had been going on. It was brief and did not mention names, yet shared that some awful stuff has been planned and that no one deserves to be treated this way. That night, there were numerous moms calling my mom, crying, because they felt so bad their daughter had a part in this. There were also many girls who called me, bawling, so upset that they were involved! After it was all over and apologies were released, I knew who my real friends were. They were the few that took a stand against what others were doing and stood by me. Sometimes bullies don’t completely realize the effect it has on others, or why they are even involved, but most of these girls quickly learned. Now we all have a different take on “party pranks” and bullying. It happens but it can be prevented.