Glee’s gay bullying episode: the good and the better

by Devil’s Food Cake

So that article I wrote last week about Glee – scratch that. Last night, an episode that actually dealt with gay bullying came out, and it was, to be hoenst, pretty damned good.

A quick recap (and yes, this has some SPOILERS): the bullying Kurt has been suffering at the hands of football jock Karofsky has gotten only worse – it becomes clear pretty early on in the episode that the latter has started taking emotional intimidation and fear-mongering to a new level.

At the first instance, Mr Schue takes Kurt into the principal’s office to see Sue, who tells Kurt that, since no violence has yet been committed (beyond shoving) there is legally nothing she can do. Recognizing the pretty drastic effect this is having on Kurt, Rachel asks the other glee club girls try to get their boyfriends to intimidate Karofsky into stopping his asinine behaviour (a move which was well-intentioned, I guess, but as Quinn put it, probably set feminism back fifty years). One thing leads to another, and Sam, Mike and Artie get a little beat up. Both Kurt and Karofsky’s parents are eventually called into the office, where Sue tells Karofsky that his violent behaviour and the threat he made to kill Kurt, are grounds for his immediate expulsion. Kurt’s joy is short-lived though, when the school board makes the decision to overturn the expulsion, choosing not to do anything to punish the bully though the opportunity is clear. On hearing this news, Kurt is visibly shaken and his parents decide to do him a solid and send him to Dalton Academy – the main draw of which is a zero-tolerance no-bullying policy (though I guess Blaine’s presence doesn’t hurt either). Though Sue resigns in protest at the school board decision and the rest of the glee club vows to protect Kurt from Karofsky, Kurt decides to transfer anyway.

This episode struck a real chord with me. One of the main complaints I had about the previous episode was that, though Kurt was clearly traumatized and being singularly picked out for harassment, none of the teachers who were in a position to help him (ie. Will Schuester) bothered to do so. In light of the recent suspension of a Michigan teacher for sending a student out of his class for expressing homophobic sentiments – and even the behaviour of the school in Constance McMillan’s case – the highlighting of the roles of authority figures this time around was pretty timely. Both Will and Sue were visibly upset at their initial inability to do anything about the bullying, making it clear that, as authority figures, they know it is their duty to ensure the safety of their students. Oh Sue – your righteous anger and untarnished code of honour are invaluable. I wish there were more of you (Will, on the other hand, is somewhat… flaccid).

The point was also made that, while certain authority figures take their duties seriously, there are others, of course, who couldn’t care less. The exchange between Kurt’s dad and Sue after she informs Kurt that Karofsky will be returning to the school was particularly illuminating:

Burt Hummel: “This psycho threatens my kid’s life, and some school board, made up of a bunch of people I’ve never met, tells me there’s nothing they can do about it.”

Sue Sylvester: “Oh they could do something about it. They just decided not to.”

Bullying itself was also dealt with in a realistic way. It’s easy to assume that bullying only applies to huge actions, massive threats or repeated assaults – the kinds of things that happen in the worst cases. In this case, the atmosphere of fear created by Karofsky, where a simple demand, a word, the way he stormed around targeting Kurt – these things were enough. There are bigger actions as well – Karofsky did make the threat to kill Kurt should he tell anyone about that kiss – but it makes it clear that the little things done to intimidate someone are as harmful as the bigger ones, and that making someone afraid every day is, you know, bullying.

I’ll be honest – bullying is a really important topic for me. Admittedly, I didn’t come out until I was 19, so I did not have to go through the kind of homophobic bullying at school that one or two other kids did. But when I was younger, my family moved around a lot, and I was often the new, weird kid at school, with the strange accent and the awkwardness that comes from being in a strange place. Oh – and I had a massive scar across my head, the result of a serious accident that took place when I was a baby. Though I myself didn’t notice the effects of the accident ten years on, the same wasn’t true for my peers, who took every opportunity imaginable to remind me how hideous I was, and then some. If it weren’t for the two teachers who finally stepped in on my behalf, I’m not sure what kind of person I’d be now – certainly not as content in my own skin, if nothing else.

So I’m glad this episode pointed out a few things about bullying and the kids that fall victim to it: that it’s unacceptable in any circumstance, that some kind of discipline needs to be meted out to those who propagate the harassment and that those in charge need to recognize the responsibility they have to ensure that kids in their care aren’t harassed to within an inch of their lives.

Have you seen the episode? What do you think could have been done better? What do you think was done well?