Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Another Bullying-Related Suicide


I know you heard the story of the 11-year-old from Massachusetts Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover who committed suicide earlier this month after being bullied. 

Today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution bore the story of another 11-year-old kid, Jaheem Herrera who committed suicide last week after anti-gay bullying. From the AJC:
On Thursday afternoon, after returning home from school, fifth-grader Jaheem quietly went into his room and hanged himself. His 10-year-old sister, Yerralis, also a fifth-grader, discovered Jaheem’s dead body.
[snip]
Jaheem was bullied relentlessly, his family said. Keene said the family knew the boy was a target, but until his death they didn’t understand the scope.

“We’d ask him, ‘Jaheem, what’s wrong with you?’” Keene recalled. “He’d never tell us.”

He didn’t want his sister to tell, either. She witnessed much of the bullying, and many times rose to her brother’s defense, Keene said.

“They called him gay and a snitch,” his stepfather said. “All the time they’d call him this.”

This is what your bullshit "Gathering Storm" and "Silencing Christians" and "Dare to Stand" videos lead to. Propagating this environment where LGBT people are seen as the bad guys leads your children to spread hate. They're bullying kids they perceive as gay because you teach them to not tolerate others. These poor kids don't even have to identify as gay to be targets. 

This shit has to stop. 

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