See Ellen DeGeneres’ Sept. 30, 2010, response to Tyler Clementi’s suicide.

Read an Oct. 1, 2010, entry on the Reconciling Ministries Network blog suggesting that an anti-gay climate in society creates bullies and is fueled by church policies that call homosexuality incompatible with Christian values. It’s written by the Rev. Troy Plummer, executive director of the network, which mobilizes United Methodists to transform their church and the world […]

Read an Oct. 4, 2010 column by the president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, R. Albert Mohler in which Mohler reiterates support for the Christian position against gay rights but strongly questions the harsh approach of many Christians to gay people.

The Rev. Rebecca Voelkel is a United Church of Christ minister and serves on the religion council of the Religion & Faith Program of the Human Rights Campaign. She is also program director for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s Institute for Welcoming Resources.

Forty-nine states have anti-bullying laws, according to Bully Police USA, a watchdog organization composed of parents.

Nearly a third of students in the sixth to 10th grades said in 2008 that they had either bullied students or been bullied, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and after physical appearance, homosexuality is considered the prime factor in bullying.

Focus on the Family recently launched True Tolerance, which aims to give Christians resources for responding to “homosexual advocacy” in schools. See a report on True Tolerance.

Leanne McCall Tigert is a United Church of Christ minister and pastoral psychotherapist. She is co-editor of Coming Out Young and Faithful and lives in Concord, N.H.

In August 2010, the federal government held what was billed as the first-ever bullying prevention summit. Education Secretary Arne Duncan called bullying a moral issue as well as a threat to students’ education and safety. Read Duncan’s comments posted at Ed.gov.