Shortly before his conversation with PGN, local high-school student Joey Kemmerling was talking to school security, reporting anti-gay graffiti that was aimed at him in a school bathroom. Such instances have become almost commonplace for the Council Rock High School South sophomore, who has decided to fight back against school bullying — not with his fists, but with dialogue.
Kemmerling, 15, launched The Equality Project, an online community that gives victims of bullying a forum in which to share their stories — and an effort that is growing by the day: At press time, The Equality Project’s Facebook page had more than 4,700 members, started offering its own line of merchandise and recently formed a board of executives.
While The Equality Project is meant to foster awareness and prevention of all types of school bullying, the initiative grew out of Kemmerling’s own fight against anti-LGBT sentiments at both his middle and high schools.
The teen said he started to realize he was gay in the fifth grade and made the decision to come out three years later, as a student at Richboro Middle School. Although he initially told only five people, within one day he said his entire school seemed to know.
“I walked into school that day and everyone got silent when they saw me, and some people started whispering and then one kid confronted me and said, ‘So, I hear you’re gay,’ and I just thought, OK, this is going to be a long day,” he said, adding the atmosphere in his gym class was even worse. “When I walked into the locker room that day, it was like out of a movie: Everyone just got silent and started blocking themselves to make sure I wasn’t checking them out. And the boy whose locker was next to me moved.”
Kemmerling said the reaction of his classmates rapidly deteriorated from the initial awkwardness to physical altercations in the locker room, with other students shoving him to the floor, rubbing their armpits in his face and forcing their genitalia on him. Kemmerling said he and his parents finally went to the police after a student threatened to light him on fire and he saw no support from his school administration.
“Every time I reported anything to the school, they said they wanted to do something, but it was just very political; they said they’d do something and then wouldn’t. I just couldn’t fathom how a school that was supposed to be protecting me was denying me my right to a safe education,” he said. “When I talked to my principal, he said, ‘Well, you know you don’t have to be so open about it, maybe calm it down a little,’ and I said, ‘If I was black, would you tell me to be a little less black?’”
Kemmerling said the school was eager for him to graduate and move on to high school and that, instead of taking any action against the homophobic atmosphere, administrators often permitted him to spend classtime in the office because “they just wanted me out so they didn’t have to deal with anything. It was basically, ‘You show up to school and we’ll pass you, so you can go on to high school.’”
When he did reach high school, Kemmerling said the environment was slightly better at first — especially when he encountered another gay student — but eventually he experienced the same homophobia he’d grown accustomed to, such as a death threat from another student. Although Kemmerling said he alerted school authorities that the student was carrying a knife, no search was conducted.
The pervasive bullying he’s faced in the past few years has made Kemmerling consider taking his own life many times, he said. It was the Internet that pulled him back.
“Every time I thought about killing myself, I’d go on Facebook and talk to guys who’d help me through it,” he said. “If it wasn’t for those people that I talked to, I probably wouldn’t be here today.”
Kemmerling had the idea of launching a discussion group dedicated to raising awareness about bullying at his school, but school administrators would not give him the go-ahead, so he brought that effort to Facebook.
The Equality Project launched as an online forum for students to share their own experiences with bullying and offer one another the same support Kemmerling saw in his Facebook interactions. The site has so far been profiled on CNN, the local NBC and ABC affiliates and in numerous local publications.
Kemmerling surmised the effort has gained so much popularity because it encompasses such a broad spectrum of people.
“This isn’t just about gays. Yes, gays are a huge minority and at risk for bullying, but other people are feeling it too,” he said. “This is for anyone who doesn’t feel safe and taken care of in their school. I was shocked at the different people who joined — emo, people who dress or talk differently, Jewish people, Christians. It was such a wide variety of people, and it made me see that I shouldn’t just be focused on homophobia but on activism on bullying as a whole.”
Members include students who are currently facing harassment, parents looking for outlets for their kids and even those who used to be the bullies. Kemmerling said overseeing the site has helped to heal some of his own wounds.
“Whenever I get discouraged, I look at the stories and think, ‘OK, I’m not alone. Dropping out now won’t help me, I have to take all of my feelings and put them to good use,’” he said.
Kemmerling, who plans to attend college and study pre-law, said he’s hoping to launch The Equality Project as a tangible after-school program for kids in need at schools throughout the country and, in the long run, wants to operate an organization that will provide legal assistance and resources to yough facing persistent harassment.
“I remember the first message I sent out on the site included the quote, ‘It only takes one person to start a movement.’ Well, the movement has started and it’s moving rather quickly.”
For more information, search for The Equality Project on Facbeook or visit http://theequalityproject.webs.com.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].