Another bullied gay teen commits suicide

[DonViejo]

During a month of tremendous strides for LGBT rights, Jadin Bell reminds us how far we still have to go

BY MARY ELIZABETH WILLIAMS

It’s a celebratory month for American LGBT rights. Marriage equality is becoming the norm in more and more states — with Rhode Island approving it just last week. After a deluge of bad publicity, the Boy Scouts are at long last making noises about admitting gay scouts. When New Jersey teenager Jacob Rudolph came out to his class while accepting an acting award, he was greeted with cheers and his speech went viral. Even famed former champion of “traditional” marriage David Blankenhorn is now proposing “a new conversation that brings together gays and lesbians who want to strengthen marriage with straight people who want to do the same.” And on January 21, Barack Obama became the first president to mention gay and lesbian rights in his inaugural address.

Yet in the midst of all the good news, we still have so much more to do, and so much hate to still overcome. We still have to fight hard, every day, so there are fewer tragedies like Jadin Bell. Bell, a 15-year-old high-school sophomore in La Grande, Oregon, was taken off life support earlier this week after hanging himself on a playground structure at Central Elementary School. His family says that he had been bullied for being gay.

In a conversation with local news station KATU on Tuesday, family friend Bud Hill told reporters that Bell had been bullied in both person and online, and that he’d asked his parents to homeschool him. The boy had recently communicated about the problem with school officials, who told KATU that they were in the process of an investigation when Bell hanged himself. “He was different,” Hill said, “and they tend to pick on the different ones.”

At a vigil last week, Bell was remembered by friends as an “amazing young man,” a kid who loved cheerleading and volunteering at the local assisted living home for seniors. His mother, meanwhile, had a pleading message for the school bullies. “The next time you are thinking of being unkind to someone,” she told the La Grande Observer, “think to yourself, ‘If that person was a member of your family, would you want them treated like that?’ Don’t treat them like that.”

-snip-

http://www.salon.com/2013/01/30/another_bullied_gay_teen_commits_suicide/

[Behind the Aegis]

1. So very sad.

[EastKYLiberal]

2. Goddamn bigots. nt

[Puzzledtraveller]

3. I thought as I was growing up that each successive generation

would exhibit more tolerance. There was bullying to be sure when I was in HS in the 80's but I don't recall such vitriol. Then again we didn't have social media where the bullying can continue past school and even cheered on by other who feel as if taunting and harassing via texts, tweets, and facebook are'nt real bullying.

[HappyMe]

4. Back in the 70s when I was in hs,

there was a certain amount of snottiness and a little bullying. It was not even remotely as bad as it is now. We tended to stand by our friends against any crappy behavior. The assholes knew that if they messed with one, they messed with all. I don't understand what the hell is wrong with people today. There doesn't seem to be any consequences for their actions.

[a la izquierda]

7. I got the crap beat out of me in high school...

for defending one of my friends. Rolled off me like water of a duck's butt. And luckily, I was a good athlete, so my teammates had my back.
That was in the '90s. Bullying became really brutal when I was a kid.

[rustydog]

5. And Republicans, through repeated legislative efforts, encourages bullying

because they demonize those who are "different".
And make it acceptable to bully, threaten and intimidate gays, leabians, transgender people.
It has to stop.

[Sissyk]

6. This is so sad.

I'm sorry, Jadin, that we couldn't give you a better world to live in.