On Monday Americans were reminded of the terrible impact of bullying when 14-year-old Jamey Rodemeyer took his own life after being incessantly bullied by classmates. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth all across America face daily taunts and threats in their schools and in church, and this had led to the tragic consequences that we have all seen.
Jamey was a 14-year-old high school student in New York who often blogged about his experiences being bullied at school. In fact, according to his parents, Jamey had been bullied since the 5th grade, both at school, and online. His mother stated that he had begun questioning his sexuality, which led to students making malicious comments toward him. However, in the past year the attacks began to increase in intensity and in vehemence: Jeremy began receiving vile comments on his Formspring account, a blog that allows anonymous postings, such as: "Jaime is stupid, gay, fat and ugly. He must die!" and "I wouldn't care if you died. No one would. So just do it :) It would make everyone way more happier!"
Unfortunately, Jamey's story is not a rarity: he is only the latest in a tragic string of suicides among bullied LGBT youth. Last year we learned about: Tyler Clementi (age 19), Billy Lucas (age 15), Seth Walsh (age 13), Asher Brown (age 13), Raymond Chase (age 19), and Cody Barker (age 17) who are just a few of the many LGBT teens who committed suicide after incessant bullying and torment from their peers.
Anti-LGBT bullying in this nation is unfortunately at epidemic levels among teens. According to GlSEN, 9 in 10 LGBT students report being bullied at school due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. This ranges from slurs to threats, to actual beatings. Even more startling, LGBT youth are 300 times more likely to commit suicide than their heterosexual peers. Clearly there is a problem, and it is absolutely shameful that it has taken this long for America to realize it.
more at:
http://www.peoplesworld.org/jamey-rodemeyer-14-another-victim-of-anti-gay-bullying/