"I always say how bullied I am, but no one listens. ... What do I have to do so people will listen to me? No one in my school cares about preventing suicide, while you're the ones calling me [gay slur] and tearing me down."
These were the words written by 14-year-old Jamey Rodemeyer just before he completed suicide on Sept. 15, 2011. This tragedy is one no teenager or family should ever have to endure. Below are the names of additional LGBT youth who have completed suicide or been murdered in only the past three years:
Jamey Rodemeyer, 14 years old, Williamsville, N.Y.
Justin Aaberg, 15 years old, Andover, Minn.
Seth Walsh, 13 years old, California
Asher Brown, 13 years old, Texas
Billy Lucas, 15 years old, Indiana
Tyler Clementi, 18 years old, New Jersey
Raymond Chase, 19 years old, Rhode Island
Carl Walker, 11 years old, Springfield, Mass.
Angie Zapata, 18 years old, Greeley, Colo. (murdered)
Eric Mohat, 17 years old, Ohio
Lawrence King, 15 years old (murdered)
This article is my third in less than three years about teen bullying and the tragedy of suicide among LGBT youth. Today, I write an almost identical article with practically the same statistics that I have written for the past two years. According to Massachusetts' 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, LGBTQ youth are over four times more likely to attempt suicide. A 2009 study, "Family Rejection as a Predictor of Negative Health Outcomes," led by Dr. Caitlin Ryan and conducted as part of the Family Acceptance Project at San Francisco State University, shows that adolescents who were rejected by their families for being LGBT were 8.4 times more likely to report having attempted suicide. The rate of victimization among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students has remained constant between 1999 and 2009, the latest date for which there are statistics, according to the National Climate Survey conducted by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN).
Read more at The Huffington Post...
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