This happened in my neck of the woods.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/20/jamey-rodemeyer-suicide-gay-bullying_n_972023.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/20/jamey-rodemeyer-suicide-gay-bullying_n_972023.html
My next door neighbor's daughter was his best friend. She was supposed to babysit for us last night and had to cancel because of this. It's beyond sad.
While I'm straight as they come I fully, fully understand how bad bullying can be as I was bullied from 8th grade - 11th grade very, very badly as I was very introverted and the ultimate geek. There were multiple days when I thought about doing what he did. Kids can be so mean it's just unbelievable. I look back now and see the vast majority of the bullies pumping gas for a living, and I realize I did a whole hell of a lot better than anybody I went to school with.
I came out of my shell when I was awarded a Foreign Exchange student with a host family in Belgium for my last year of high school, but until that time I couldn't stand going to school. The bus rides were the worst times of my life.
I wasn't going to say anything about it but since you posted up Harry I figured I would put my 2 cents in. I pray for this kid's family and friends and I'm not a very religious type of person.
Sorry to hear how difficult it was for you in high school. It made you stronger, better and more successful.
Thanks B10D.
Not to make this about me but I had scoliosis pretty badly so they made me wear a back brace from 8th-10th grade. The kids would literally get behind me and pick me up by the brace and carry me around school. It was awful.
As you said, what didn't kill me made me stronger. Now I'm a solid 230 lbs and nobody messes with me, besides owning my own company where I get a ton of respect from my employees I also get the knowledge that I'm providing a good living for 60+ families.
Millions of kids are bullied every day but they don't commit suicide. I'm not saying this isn't a tragedy at all, it's a terrible tragedy if a kid is straight, gay or bi. But don't blame this on bullying. Otherwise we would have millions of kids committing suicide.
I remember when people blamed the Columbine killings on violent video games. They claimed the kids were encouraged to kill because they played violent video games. Yet millions of kids played those same games and didn't kill anyone.
These violent killers and suicidal teenagers almost always have the same problem: mental or emotional illness including depression.
I agree with Gyno. The parents should have been more attentive to the kid's emotional state.
The bullying is the catalyst AND the scapegoat. These kids aren't killing themselves because they are being teased about being gay. They are doing it because they ARE gay. My issue is these kids are killing themselves because living a life of being gay became intolerable for them because of their own shame and lack of self pride. But yet the gay community targets the non-gay people who in their own right find something intolerable about someone being gay.
In my eyes there is nothing wrong with being gay just like there is nothing wrong with someone not being accepting to someone who is gay. Being gay is merely a preference similar to someones who likes little Asian girls or fat chicks or sleeps around a lot or cheats on their spouse, someone who smokes or someone who uses drugs or drinks a lot.
Just because you are gay doesn't mean it is an injustice if you are not accepted or teased a little. If you think back in time when Jewish people or blacks were messed with in this country. Could you imagine the shit the little kids had to go through at school when dealing with bullying and schoolyard harassment? Now those kids were mentally tough they weren't killing themselves because they couldn't deal with being black or Jewish. Even the Middle Eastern kids today must go through some tremendous shit at school today but they aren't going home and blowing their brains out.