Incredibly Sad

I know I haven’t posted in a while, but something has happened in the past month that just made me need to write something. In the past 3 weeks, at least 4 teenage boys have taken their own lives because of bullying and harassment related to them being gay .  These are just the ones that have made it on the news, there are sure to be many more who have not made it into the news.

These 4 boys never did anything wrong to anyone else, however, because of merciless teasing they are no long with us, and it is a damn shame.

UPDATED: I don’t know exactly how I missed it, but there was a fifth boy that I failed to mention last night. More details about him along with the others after the jump.

UPDATED: Justin Aaberg was 15 years old from Minnesota who hanged himself in July, although for some reason it seems that the story went unreported until September. He came out to his mother when he was 13 years old, one of the bravest actions any child can do. This is the fifth suicide that the school Justin attended has faced in the past year, 3 of which are believed to be cause of sexual identity. FIVE SUICIDES IN ONE YEAR!? How does anyone let something like that happen?  The school district refuses to call out specific LGBT bullying, claiming that they should “stay neutral” on the subject. Excuse me, but that is the biggest load of bull shit I have ever heard in my life. 3 of your students are DEAD because of LGBT bullying, and you don’t think you should say anything?  This proves not only that homophobia is alive and well, but also sanctioned by the school district.

The first boy, Billy Lucas, was only 15 years old when he took his life on September 9th by hanging himself in his families barn. Billy never told anyone that he was gay, but that didn’t stop classmates from taunting him about it. Other students have come out to say that they told school officials about the bullying, but school officials deny knowing anything. One man, 21, who wished to remain anonymous, said he attended the same High School that Billy Lucas did, and endured the same thing that Billy went through, and even tried to tell school officials then, but they simply turned a blind eye.

Asher Brown was even younger than Billy, at just 13 years old, he shot himself in the head with his stepfathers gun. While there are conflicting reports of Asher’s coming out, it is clear that his mother and stepfather knew, and were accepting of him, while his classmates were clearly not. They teased Billy about many things, including his religious beliefs, the clothes he wore, his size, and of course his sexuality. Amy and David Troung, Asher’s mother and stepfather, say that they, on multiple occasions, attempted to contact the school about the issues their son was having at school. The middle school Asher attended denies that they ever tried to get in contact with them.

Another 13 year old, Seth Walsh, died soon after news of Asher Brown came out. Seth hanged himself on September 19th from a tree in his families backyard when his mother found him and called the authorities. He was airlifted to a hospital where he stayed for 10 days on life support before dying on September 28th. In a video (below) made by his sister, it says that he was bullied and teased and that is why he is in the hospital. The video is incredibly heartbreaking to watch now. At one point a picture of him is shown with the caption “How wonderful this picture is because he’s so happy I am too because I know he will be back.”

Finally, the most upsetting death to me, and the most disturbing account of bullying, is that of an 18 year old Rutgers Freshmen, Tyler Clementi, who took his life by jumping off of the George Washington bridge. When Clementi asked his roommate, Dharun Ravi, if he could have the room one night, Ravi went to a friends room and turned on his webcam and caught Clementi getting intimate with another guy, he proceeded to post about this on his twitter feed (now shut down.) Two nights later he attempted repeat the stunt. When Clementi found out about this, he proceeded to take his own life. Ravi and the girl he was with, Molly Wei were both charged with 2 counts of invasion of privacy.

Can someone please tell me what is wrong with these people? Something has to be done to prevent this from happening in the future. I personally consider myself extremely lucky that I never endured anything even remotely close to this, but my heart and thoughts go out to all those who have, and all those who will in the future, as, unfortunately, this is not an issue that will go away anytime soon. In the meantime, those of us who are in positions where it is possible must help those who need it, reach out to those you know who may be in situations like one of these 4 boys and tell them that they are ok, and that they are not alone. Direct them to people and websites such as The Trevor Project, and I’m From Driftwood. If you know someone in need of help, give them this number to call, 1 (866) 488-7386. Reach out to your local schools and government and insist that something is done about bullying, we cannot make this a regular occurrence, 4 boys in such a short time is unacceptable. In fact, any number, of any people, boys, girls, young, old, gay, straight, lesbian, bisexual, black, white, Asian, Hispanic, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, or anything else you can think of, killing themselves because of teasing and bullying is simply unacceptable.

Please, do what you can, even if it is small, these people need our help. And please keep the families of these 4 boys in your thoughts.

Finally, if it is you who is in this situation, please, reach out for help. You do not need to resort to suicide like these boys felt they needed to. You should know that there is someone out there who cares about you deeply. Hell, I care about you. I wish I could tell these boys the same thing, because while I may have never known any of them before these tragedies, I can say with absolute confidence, that the world is just a little worse off because they are no longer here.

~ by Dominic Trombino on September 29, 2010.