From Iceland – LGBTQ + teenagers are exposed to daily harassment
A group of LGBTQ + teenagers in Reykjavík is exposed to daily harassment RÚV.
Adolescents are often barking, stoning, chasing and being harmed by other adolescents and children. The group states that they have always been bullied, but this has intensified recently.
The harassment is believed to have originated in TikTok tending to bark at LGBTQ + people to make it inhumane and invalid. As the trend has become more popular, bullying has increased to the point that adolescents do not feel safe leaving their homes or being alone.
“You just feel like you’ve been violated. This is just bullying, this is just awful. You get tired of this and it makes you very depressed when this happens for a long time, “says Dagbjört Heiða Sigfúsdóttir.
The group is exposed to daily harassment wherever they go. The teenagers say they are scared to death every time they leave the house, take the bus or do their daily errands. Constant harassment has affected the mental health and well-being of adolescents.
“You just feel like you’ve been violated. It’s just bullying. ”
“She sometimes gets nervous,” says mother to Iðunn Birna Þórisdóttir, Arna Hrund Arnardóttir. “At one point, she hurt herself to try to get rid of those feelings.
The parents of the teenagers want the bullies to understand what effect they have and to understand how it causes their children more serious distress. The parents have noticed how their children have become depressed and isolated due to the bullying.
The bullying became so harmful last year that one of the group’s friends committed suicide. Along with constant harassment, the group has had to deal with the loss of its friend.
If you or someone you know is being harassed or bullied because of your sexual orientation or gender identity, you can seek the following remedies:
For advice you can reach national organization of gay people directly. You can also contact a gay youth social center. And as always, you can also get in touch Trans Iceland or the National Association of Gay for more information and resources.