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The Hornet's Buzz

The multimedia news site of The Hornet's Buzz

The Hornet's Buzz

Hope after suicide: Teen suicides in the news

This September, multiple teenagers across the United States committed suicide because of homophobic bullying.

These boys include Tyler Clementi, 18; Billy Lucas, 15; Asher Brown, 13; and Seth Walsh, 13.

TYLER CLEMENTI, 18

Clementi was a Rutgers University student whose roommate posted a webcam video of him kissing another boy.

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It all started with a Twitter update from Clementi’s roommate: “Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went into molly’s room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay.”

Clementi’s roommate streamed this video live over the internet for everyone to see.

Three days later, Tyler Clementi jumped off the George Washington Bridge into the Hudson River, committing suicide.

BILLY LUCAS, 15

Lucas was a Greensburg High school freshman who suffered from excessive bullying from classmates for being, what he considered, different.

Lucas received remarks from students such as “fag” and “go kill yourself” regularly.

On Sept. 9, Lucas was suspended from school for defending himself with curse words against the bullies. Billy Lucas then committed suicide.

Lucas spent his last hours in the barn with his beloved animals. Later that evening, on Sept. 9, his mother found him hanging from the rafters of the barn with the lead from one of his beloved horses around his neck.

ASHER BROWN, 13

Brown was an eighth-grader at Hamilton Middle school who was “bullied to death” because of his small size, his religion, the clothes he wore, and being accused of being gay.

Students who Brown went to school with would spew hateful remarks regarding his sexual orientation and would perform mock gay acts on his in his physical education class.

Brown came out about his sexual orientation the morning of Sept. 23 to his stepfather.

Later that evening, Asher Brown shot himself in the head, committing suicide.

SETH WALSH, 13

Walsh was a student at Jacobsen Middle School who died attempting to take his own life after enduring relentless bullying.

Walsh, being openly gay, endured bullying and tormenting from his peers.

On Sept. 19, Seth Walsh was found in his backyard after hanging himself from a tree. He didn’t die immediately and was rushed to the hospital when he was put into critical care.

He later died in the hospital after nine long days of being on life support.

‘IT GETS BETTER’

Because of the traumatic deaths of these four teenagers, there have been celebrities, bloggers, and many others across the country reaching out to all the homosexual teenagers offering an outpour of emotional support through online videos, blogs, and other types of social media.

“It Gets Better” is a project created by Dan Savage in September 2010 as a way for supporters everywhere to let LGBT students know that it really does get better.

“ItGetsBetterProject.com is a place where young people who are gay, lesbian, bi, or trans can see with their own eyes how love and happiness can be a reality in their future. It’s a place where LGBT adults can share the stories of their lives, and straight allies can add their names in solidarity and help spread our message of hope,” says the website.

Want to be involved? Take the pledge and help spread the message of hope and awareness.

“Everyone deserves to be respected for who they are. I pledge to spread this message to my friends, family and neighbors. I’ll speak up against hate and intolerance whenever I see it, at school and at work. I’ll provide hope for lesbian, gay, bi, trans and other bullied teens by letting them know that ‘It Gets Better,’” said Dan Savage on his site.

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