The stories of two 13-year-old boys – one in Texas, the other in California – are the latest tragic outcomes of school bullying.
On Thursday, September 23rd, David Truong arrived home to find his 13-year-old stepson shot to death. While his parents were at work, Asher Brown (above) came home from school and shot himself in the head.
Brown’s parents say he was “bullied to death,” picked on for his small size, his religion and because he did not wear designer clothes. Though Brown recently told his parents he was gay, it’s unclear as to whether he disclosed this information to any of his peers at school.
What is clear, according to Brown’s parents, is that he was accused of being gay, and some of his peers went so far as to mock performing sexual acts on him in his physical education class.
Brown attended Hamilton Middle School in the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District.
Amy Troung, Brown’s mother, says she and her husband complained about her son’s bullying for 18 months up until the time of his death. She says that despite numerous phone calls, e-mails and visits to the school, administrators never responded.
Fox affiliate KRIV-TV also covered the story of Brown’s death. Numerous comments left on the station’s Web site by parents and students affirm Amy Troung’s statement that her son had been bullied for years and that school officials did nothing to stop the harassment.
“He was just such a sweet boy,” says Amy Troung.
School bullying had been a problem for Brown long before attending Hamilton Middle School. His family actually relocated to the Cypress-Fairbanks area to get away from another school district where Asher was also being bullied – a move they say only made matters worse.
“It has to stop. I don’t want any other family to have to go make funeral arrangements like I did for my son. He wasn’t supposed to die at 13,” says Amy Troung.
Services for Brown will be held on Saturday, October 2nd.
Meanwhile, in California, a 13-year-old boy remains on life support after attempting to take his own life on September 19 by hanging himself from a tree. According to friends and neighbors, the boy, whose name has not appeared in the media, is openly gay and has been bullied for years – even after being put on independent study earlier this year. --------------------------------------- UPDATE - Wed 9/29 Seth Walsh, the Tehachapi 13-year-old who hanged himself from a tree in his back yard after years of being bullied, died Tuesday afternoon after nine days on life support. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Conservatives like James Dobson, Tony Perkins, Pat Robertson, Ann Coulter and Maggie Gallagher smile approvingly when an American Teenager is bullied to death in his or her own school.
These hateful bigots have no problem with the death of a child. If the child happens to be Gay or Lesbian. The Truth is this - The anti- gay "social conservative" movement in the United States is now no better than the lunatic bigots in Uganda who are calling for all Gays and Lesbians to be rounded up and killed.
Seattle columnist Dan Savage has started a video project called "It Gets Better" urging Gay and Lesbian youth to stay alive. To NOT take their own lives because life does and will get better.
The message of the video project is simple. DONT GIVE UP. Middle school and high school will not last forever. You grow up you find you are part of a real community and NOT ALONE.
Life moves on, and so will you . Don't end your life, LIVE your life because - IT GETS BETTER.
Savage and his husband issued a challenge to LGBT Communities in major cities to add their voices in this fight. San Francisco filmmaker Matt Baume, heard the challenge and put the word out. This past Sunday, San Francisco answered.
Here is what we had to say.
UPDATE - Wed 9/29. The San Francisco Gay Mens Chorus adds their "voice".
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