Tragedy upon tragedy: A dad who was walking across America for his teen gay son who committed suicide is killed by a car

From the Gay Star News: 

The father who was walking across America to raise awareness for his gay son who committed suicide has died. 

Joe Bell, 48, from La Grande, Oregon was killed on his walk last night (9 October) when he was hit by a semi truck in eastern Colorado. 

The walk across North America was in tribute to his gay 15-year-old son Jadin, who hanged himself in an elementary school playground in January. 

The grieving father was walking eastbound on the shoulder of Highway 40, 20 miles northwest of Kit Carson, when he was hit at 5.10pm. 

He was pronounced dead at the scene

The LA Times makes the case for the documentary "Bully" and finding some way to show it to high school kids

"Certainly, most teens and pre-teenagers these days are fully familiar with bad language. They hear it all day at school and on the Internet, to which most have wide access. The strong language in "Bully" undoubtedly helps convey the ugly reality of the situations in the movie — they are the unscripted words of the kids themselves — but they might not all be absolutely necessary for the film to make a powerful statement. With both sides in this dispute agreeing that the film has educational and societal value, it would be a shame for either to let a couple of words stand in the way."

For the complete LA Time Editorial on this movie.

Every time a gay kid kills himself or herself...

...my heart breaks, my blood boils, and my resolve becomes stronger. Another beautiful child of God harms himself to escape the anti-gay hatred and bullying perpetuated by all sorts of religions, ignorant people, and the GOP:

From Towleroad: Rafael Morelos, a gay teen in Wenatchee, Washington commits suicide after being bullied. "He was tired of people saying that his little brothers would follow in his footsteps and be gay too."

We surely will carry on so this happens less and less in America...and in the rest of the world. All people and lives are equal. I will forgive the forces of fear but never forget these suicides. Good night

Another gay teen ends his life over bullying. 'Please help me mom' were his last words

Phillip Parker, 14, was found dead last week after what his parents say was a year of bullying he suffered because he was gay. Read about it here.

This makes me sad and furious.

West Virginia passes a new anti-bullying law that is LGBT-inclusive. This is a major accomplishment

Read the story behind this legislative victory.

Listen to these two young gay men talk about coming out to their college sports teams and being accepted

Tyler Clementi's parents talk...heart-breaking

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

GOP Michigan governor signs anti-bullying bill & talks about his experience in growing up bullied

Jonathan Grant's empathetic response to the bullying of Jonah Mowry. So heartful...

The cost of bullying...

Two forces that are fighting the anti-gay bullying of social conservatives, in the U.K. & U.S.

A UK-based group that teaches tolerance of LGBT people by kids of all backgrounds, including those that are Islamic or Christian.



And Chris Armstrong, the first openly gay student body president at University of Michigan, whose family has started a scholarship fund for students who have been bullied. Chris was stalked and bullied by a former assistant attorney general for the state who is a conservative Christian.

Why America is making bullying socially unacceptable

Losers from Everynone on Vimeo.

The language of anti-gay bullying...in Dutch

Colbert spoofs the Michigan GOP amendment to allow "Christians" to bully LGBT kids. This is a total takedown

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Michigan's kids rally against GOP pro-bullying legislation

There is no sensible religious reason for bullying as the GOP claims.

Jill Biden speaks out on bullying to PFLAG

As an English teacher, I have my students write about themselves in their journals. Through those journal entries and my conversations with them, I have heard first-hand about this kind of pain and anxiety. And I have seen how this situation makes it almost impossible for students to concentrate on their school work. How can we expect kids who are taunted by their classmates to flourish in an academic environment?

We have all heard painful stories of bullying and harassment. And we have read too many accounts of heartbreaking incidents where kids are driven to take their own lives rather than endure the taunting of their peers. No child should be subjected to that. And no parent should suffer that horrific loss.

--Jill Biden, in a key note address to the PFLAG convention this past weekend.

As Michigan GOP passes bill allowing kids to bully, watch Sen. Whitmer stand up for LGBT kids. "This is worse than doing nothing! It's a Republican license to bully."

From Towleroad: Michigan State Senator Gretchen Whitmer yesterday ripped Senate Tea Party Republicans a new one over passage of a "bullying" bill that was gutted so heavily that it actually creates, as Whitmer notes in her speech, "a blueprint for bullying."

Read more: http://www.towleroad.com/#ixzz1ceWh5dtZ

This is another example of why we are fighting for LGBT kids everywhere. We won't rest until this type of anti-bullying behavior is unacceptable in society

From Towleroad.com:

A student at Union-Scioto High School in Chillicothe, Ohio was brutally beaten this week by another student for being gay. Class members watched as the bully waited for the student to arrive in the classroom, grabbed him, pushed him to the ground and punched him in the face several times.

Another student recorded the assault on his cell phone. The video was posted to Facebook.

The bully had harassed the gay student (who has not been identified) on Facebook a few days earlier, writing, as the comment on a photo of him: "You fag. Check out the definition of a fag."

According to an email received by Towleroad from Equality Ohio, "The victim has suffered a possible concussion and dental damage. The attacker was suspended from school for just three days."

The words of a bullied kid before he took his life...and then a statement by his father. Bullying has to change...

The words of Jamie Hubley before his death: "I'm a casualty of love"

The words of Jamie's dad:

This past Friday, our family suffered one of the worst experiences that can happen to a family when we lost our boy – Jamie. To make this even more difficult, his death was a result of suicide.

I would like to thank all the family and friends that have been helping us get through these very difficult days. Very special thanks to everyone that came out in the rain to walk every foot of our community to look for our boy. The outpouring of support has shown us that our angel was loved by many and we were not the only people to witness his beautiful spirit.

Jamie was for most of his life a very happy and confident child. He was a compassionate person always looking to help others and didn’t have a mean bone in his body. Jamie often worked with me on community events and our many efforts to help others were made more effective with his ideas. From a very young age he wanted to make a better community and a better world.

He was a championship figure skater for years and was just beginning to excel as a singer. He enjoyed acting as well. He had a wide circle of friends and was involved in many different clubs and groups both in and outside of school. James’s family and friends unconditionally supported and accepted him for who he was and whatever direction he wanted to go in life.

James had been suffering with depression and was receiving care from doctors at CHEO and counselors. These professionals, along with James’s family and friends, were trying to help him learn to cope with his depression and other issues one of which was his struggles with his sexuality. He struggled with the idea that people can judge you harshly even when you are trying to help others. Jamie asked a question no child should have to ask – why do people say mean things to me?

Although James had a great many people who loved and supported him, something in his mind kept taking him to a dark place where he could not see the positive side of life, which lead him to this drastic and tragic decision on Friday. Jamie is free of his pain now and there is a new angel but we have paid too high a price.

There are some reports in the media and on social media that James was bullied. This is true. We were aware of several occasions when he felt he was being bullied. In Grade 7 he was treated very cruelly simple because he liked figure skating over hockey.

Recently, when Jamie tried to start a Rainbow Club at his high school to promote acceptance of others, the posters were torn down and he was called vicious names in the hallways and online. We had meetings with officials at the school and were working with them to bring an end to it but Jamie felt it would never stop.

We will not say that the bullying was the only reason for James’s decision to take his own life but it was definitely a factor. As his family and friends or even if you never met him but want to help, we must do whatever we can to wipe out bullying for any reason in our society and especially in our schools. Young people are very vulnerable and have enough pressures in life to have to deal with aside from the stress of being bullied. My family’s wish is that no more families have to suffer the unbearable pain of losing a child. No child should have to deal with depression or feel hated because of their beliefs – that is not the Canadian way of treating others.

Bullying doesn’t always take the form of physical violence. Especially today with cyber bullying on the Internet, children often feel there is no safe place to go; even when they are at home they can still be victims. Earlier I mentioned his posters being taken down. Many friends have offered to stand by the posters to ensure children that may want to meet and talk about issues that don’t harm others will be given the chance to do so. The school has made a promise to me that they will ensure the posters are protected. We hope from our tragedy others will become more active in stopping this cruelty towards children.

To this end, after my family and I have had some time to come to terms with the loss of our beautiful son James, I will be working hard to use my energy and public position to help bring awareness and resources to those groups working to stop the bullying and find a treatment for depression. Wendy and I have asked that all the people wishing to make a donation in Jamie’s memory can direct them to Youth Services Bureau’s Mental Health Walk in Clinic.

Over the years I have tried to help a lot of people and I was very proud that my beautiful boy was also learning the joy that comes from helping others. I need time to deal with the pain of not being able to save my precious boy and will speak more on his life and these issues later.

--Kanata South Councillor Allan Hubley

And a video of Jamie covering Lady Gaga. RIP

Lady Gaga's moving tribute to a victim of bullying