Katie Couric PSA: Stop Bullying!

Bully Film Will Be Released As Unrated 

The Advocate reports:

The controversial documentary Bully will be released without a rating, prompting director Lee Hirsch to say he knows “kids will come, so it’s up to the theaters to let them in.”

Entertainment Weekly reports the film, which looks at the bullying epidemic in the American school system, will be released in Los Angeles and New York Friday without a rating. Theater owners will then be able to make decisions on who will be permitted to see the film. This is despite the efforts of the Weinstein Co., numerous high-profile personalities including marriage equality attorneys David Boies and Ted Olson, and others to have the rating changed by the Motion Picture Association of America from R to PG-13, which would allow it to be seen by a wider audience, including the young people being affected by bullying.

Katy Butler, the lesbian teen who famously launched a petition that collected nearly half a million signatures to urge the MPAA rating changed to PG-13 also released a statement, saying, “I am happy Bully will maintain its authenticity and will be an accurate portrayal of what thousands of kids experience every day.”

In a statement released to the media by the Weinstein Co., Hirsch defends the decision to not edit out the language used by the teens in the film. “The small amount of language in the film that’s responsible for the R rating is there because it’s real. It’s what the children who are victims of bullying face on most days,” he says. “All of our supporters see that, and we’re grateful for the support we’ve received across the board. I know the kids will come, so it’s up to the theaters to let them in.”

Ellen (@TheEllenShow) Talks Bully And Chats With The Family That The Film Features

I often talk about my junior and high school years. I’ve kept may friends from those days, and I often call those stages in my life the best ones of my childhood. But the dark stage for me was elementary school. I hated it. Fortunately my school took responsibility, and I’ve gotta thank them for having done the right thing. I don’t want to think of what would’ve happened if they hadn’t intervene. Definitely the schools are the ones that can make the difference, to avoid such tragic ends. 

Prop. 8 Attorneys, David Boies and Ted Olson, Team UpTo Get Bully Rating Changed

The Advocate reports: 

Attorneys David Boies and Ted Olson, who successfully challenged California’s ban on same-sex marriage, are now urging the Motion Picture Association of America to lower the R rating for the documentaryBully.

Last night while being interviewed at a special screening of the film cohosted by Boies, Olson, and actresses Meryl Streep and her daughter Mamie Gummer, the two attorneys praised the film, a nonfiction chronicle of American schoolchildren being bullied by fellow students, as one that all teenagers should see. The two men even suggested that there could be legal consequences for the MPAA if they don’t reconsider the restrictive rating for the documentary.

“How ridiculous and unfair and damaging it is to have a film of this power and importance that is being censored by a rating system that has got simply no rational basis,” Boies said. “You can kill kids, you can maim them, you can torture them and still get a PG-13 rating, but if they say a couple of bad words, you blame them. I hope, for heaven’s sake, that they find some rational basis before we have to sue them to revise the rating system.”

Olson suggested that students be permitted to see the film, which will be released March 30, so they can understand the damage caused by bullying.

“This is an irrational decision, and I’ve heard it defended as ‘[The MPAA] really can’t do anything about it because if we make an exception here, they’ll be all sorts of people lined up wanting to have exceptions made with respect to their movies,’” Olson said. “What a reason for not doing something. So they better shape up, or here we come.”

During the event at New York’s Paley Center for Media, Streep learned that her daughter had come to the aid of bullied classmates. TheNew York Daily News reports that actress Regency Boies, David Boies’s daughter, remembered the times her classmate Gummer came to the aid of fellow students who were being tormented.

“I saw her on more than a few occasions come to the rescue of some of our classmates that were being ridiculed when none of the rest of us were brave enough to confront them,” Boies said, adding that she knew Gummer’s actions were a product of the integrity and the kindness that Streep had instilled in her.

Canadian Jock Scott Heggart: It Gets Better

The Advocate comments on Scott’s activism: 

Beginning in 2008, Scott Heggart began documenting his coming out process one video at a time. He posted 365 videos, one for each day of the year, talking openly about his struggles with homosexuality in sports and the fear of his teammates rejection. “The worst thing, from my teammates’ perspective, was to be gay,” he says in one of his videos.

After coming out to his family, Heggart came out to his teammates when he posted a photo of himself with his boyfriend Brock on Facebook and changed his relationship status, the Ottowa Citizen reported. He says he was met with “respect and support” from his teammates. Now 21 and out, Heggart has revealed his identity, saying that he was motivated to go public after the suicide of gay Canadian teen Jamie Hubley. Heggart, now a college student, is now a featured speaker for the No More Bullies campaign happening in Ottowa area schools.

What GOProud Really Wants

Joe.My.God. reports:

Not only does GOProud oppose a federal anti-bullying law, they are cloaking their support for school vouchers by claiming it would protect gay kids. In fact, what GOProudreally wants is to further erode the crumbling public education system by having the government redirect funds to private religious schools. Or as in the case of the Santorums, pay the parents themselves for home schooling. All this “protection” talk is just a smokescreen, folks.

Canada: Vancouver Kids Against Bullying

Beautiful British Columbia, indeed!

USA: Tyler Clementi’s Lover Testifies In Ravi Trial

The Advocate reports:

The man captured on a webcam making out with Tyler Clementi, the Rutgers student who ended his life in September 2010, testified Friday in the trial of Dharun Ravi, Clementi’s roommate.

The man was identified only as M.B.; his full name was not allowed to be released, nor was his photograph.

M.B. said he met Clementi through a gay social network and that they gathered for three trysts in Clementi’s dorm. During the second assignation, M.B. testified, he noticed a webcam pointed in his direction. He also said he was careful to leave before Ravi, who secretly set up the webcam, returned to the dormitory.

Though M.B. said he and Clementi had sex that night, students who testified to watching the video said they only saw the men kissing. When he left the dorm that evening, he said there were about five students watching him as he left. The third time he met with Clementi, he heard disturbing comments made in the dorm courtyard, but he was not allowed to elaborate on what was said. 

Media reports indicate M.B. appeared to be in his 20s, trim, and neatly put-together, an appearance that contradicted with Ravi’s description of him. Ravi claimed he taped Clementi and M.B. because M.B. appeared “sketchy” and he was worried he might steal his computer.

Ravi faces 15 criminal counts, including bias intimidation, for secretly taping his roommate and showing the footage to other students. Read more here. 

Tyler Clementi’s Bully Dharun Ravi’s Trial Update

Queerty reports:

The jury in the Dharun Ravi trial won’t hear details about Tyler Clementi’s request to change dorm rooms shortly before committing suicide in September 2010.
As ABC News reports, Clementi’s online housing form listed the reason for the request as “roommate with webcam spying on me/want a single room.”
Prosecutor Julie McClure wanted to submit the request into evidence but defense attorneys Steven Altman and Philip Nettl objected, claiming it was hearsay and may have been filed by someone other than Clementi.  Judge Glenn Berman ruled that the part of the statement where Clementi accused his roommate of spying was inadmissable.
Ravi  is charged with  invasion of privacy for filming two of Clementi’s gay trysts, as well as bias intimidation, witness tampering and hindering arrest.

NYC’s U.S. House Members: It Gets Better

Trailer: Bully

This documentary has been just rated as PG-13, making it impossible to reach out to an adolescent audience.

Daniel Radcliffe Records New Trevor Project Message

San Francisco Police Department - It Gets Better

Broadway Hero Of The Month: John Carroll