Gay UK teen’s bullying cause of suicide
by Matt | June 4th, 2007 |A 15 year old gay teen from South Wales killed himself by laying down on a train track because of bullying he received due to his sexual orientation, an official state investigation was told last week, according to the Times Online (h/t/ Towleroad).
According to the paper:
A boy of 15 lay down in front of a train to commit suicide after being teased at school about his sexuality, an inquest was told yesterday.
Moments before he died, Jonathan Reynolds sent harrowing text messages to his family telling that them they were not to blame for what was about to happen. A passer-by saw him holding the mobile as he lay down on the tracks in front of a train travelling at 85mph (136km/h) through Pencoed railway station near Bridgend, South Wales.
In his last text message sent to his father, Mark, and his 14-year-old sister, Samantha, the teenager wrote: “Tell everyone that this is for anybody who eva said anything bad about me, see I do have feelings too. Blame the people who were horrible and injust 2 me. This is because of them, I am human just like them.
“I hope they rot in hell 4 what they made me do. They know who they are.”
He added: “None of you blame urself mum, dad, Sam and the rest of my family. This is not because of you.”
A postmortem examination showed that Jonathan, who achieved a grade A in his GCSE Welsh oral exam on the day he died, had a blood-alcohol level three and a half times the legal limit for driving.
This is the reason why those who voted against the North Carolina School Violence Prevention Act in the NC House really don’t care for our children. Who in their right mind can deny not only this one example of many gay teen suicides, but also the years and years and volumes and volumes of statistical research proving that LGBT teens are subject to higher rates of bullying and have a higher risk of attempting suicide?
The NC School Violence Prevention Act has yet to pass our Senate. When it does, I plan on going to the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School Board (which has for almost a decade or longer refused to protect LGBT students), speaking during the public comment time and laugh. That’s right. I plan on laughing in their faces. Once the bill passes the Senate and is signed by the Governor they will have no excuse - not even their thoughts of how “sinful” the “fags” are - to not protect LGBT students. No longer will we have to tolerate the suicides and suicide attempts and bullying of our LGBT youth.
No longer will kids like Jonathan Reynolds suffer at the tormenting hands of inhumane bullies.
Matt, 22, is an LGBT journalist, activist and youth advocate currently living and working in Charlotte, N.C. A native of Winston-Salem, N.C., Matt attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and is still continuing to pursue his bachelors degree. He is the Owner & Editor of InterstateQ.com and has been active in LGBT advocacy work since the age of 14.
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