The UW-Madison Center for the Humanities invited faculty members Joe Elder, Erica Halverson and Karma Chavez to give their thoughts on gay youth identity in response to the recent hate crime-related suicides at a panel Thursday.
Isthmus Arts and Entertainment editor Kenneth Burns moderated the panel.
Each professor gave their own perspective on why the suicides have occurred, how the problem can be solved and whether increasing digital resources have made times more difficult for youth struggling with their queer identity.
Erica Halverson, professor of Educational Psychology, questioned if the increase in Web use has made this struggle easier for LGBTQ students to cope or if it has made things worse.
The panel referred to one recent suicide caused by an Internet posting exposing a young man's homosexuality.
The panel discussed how the speed in which these Web posts become cultural influences is unnerving, but positive posts, such as the ""It Gets Better Project,"" can be empowering.
The ""It Gets Better Project,"" created in response to the suicides, involves celebrities and peers urging young people going through hard times to realize that their situation will improve.
This project has become popular through YouTube and other web video sites involving people such as Obama and Hillary Clinton who have made their own videos.
Joe Elder, a sociology professor, commented on the seriousness of the bullying that these teens are being faced with, which has been present throughout history.
Elder said even historical figures such as William Buckley, Anita Bryant and Nancy Reagan engaged in verbal bullying of homosexuals.
Halverson said a community's acceptance of homosexuality shapes a young person's self-image.
""Coming to developing a positive sense of self is both about the features that are unique to an individual and also the way in which those features fit into the kinds of social communities to which we claim that we share,"" Halverson said.
