“In Greensburg, Indiana, 15-year-old Billy Lucas was found by his mother in the family's barn after he had taken his own life. Late last week, Asher Brown, of Houston, Texas, died after shooting himself. On Tuesday, 13-year-old Seth Walsh of Tehachapi, California, passed away after spending nine days on life support after he hanged himself from a tree in his backyard. On Wednesday, the body of 18-year-old Rutgers University freshman Tyler Clementi was pulled from the Hudson River in New York, days after he was allegedly humiliated and outed to other students by his roommate. And just this morning we learned that on the same day, 19-year-old college student Raymond Chase hanged himself in his dorm room in Rhode Island.”
This is an unsettling recap of the month of September by ACLU staff members Ian Thompson and Chris Hampton –far too many accounts of LGBT teenagers and young people taking their own lives in the face of bullying, humiliation, and relentless harassment from their peers. This is truly a tragedy.
Members of the national ACLU office have offered their words of advice to those young people that are struggling with being themselves in the midst of ignorance and bullying. It is such an important message that these videos are sending… No matter how awful your situation may seem right now, it DOES get better!
