Comments on: Indiana kid bullied to death

By: Kahlique Fame

Kahlique Fame — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 04:06:59 +0000

My heart goes out to all that love Timothy.

I wish there was a way to let him know that there was a better solution to any problems he may have been facing, but this is not a time for wishes or dreams, this is a time to celebrate the life of timothy!

We as A United Country need to band and stand together as ONE, to prevent moments like this from crossing us…

NO MORE TALK AMERICA….
TIME TO STAND FOR A CAUSE!

I love you for being who you were Timothy…

By: Jim Burroway

Jim Burroway — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 17:55:59 +0000

Thanks. I’ve added the tag.

By: Timothy (TRiG)

Timothy (TRiG) — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 17:42:35 +0000

This post doesn’t have the “suicide” tag on it.

TRiG.

By: tede344

tede344 — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 20:39:04 +0000

My email sent to: pchapple@greensburg.k12.in.us
rmock@greensburg.k12.in.us sauffenberg@greensburg.k12.in.us thunter@greensburg.k12.in.us

Dear Principal Chapple,

Concerning your student Billy Lucas’s suicide.

Why would you state this about Billy?:

“Sometimes he created that atmosphere around him,” Chappel said. “Kind of like a little tornado because he went around doing things that made dust fly, I guess.”

What did you mean by this statement?

What did Billy do that made dust fly?

What has that got to do with his suicide that occurred on your watch?

I guess your version is that Billy “created that atmosphere” by being “who he was” and “went around doing things” that “made dust fly” but yet you claim to have never noticed any bullying?

In your rush to blame Lucas for his own mistreatment, you seem to be clueless as to your own involvement or lack of awareness about what is going on in your own school.

America is sick of hearing stories about children being bullied in school while Administrators are “unaware”.

Personally you should be fired today as Principal. That “might” give you some awareness.

Hopefully Billy’s parents will sue your school district and make them “aware”. This seems to be the only way of ending this behavior by you.

Kids are not safe at your school in your care and you are totally unaware of it and apparently don’t care.

Sincerely,
xxxxxx

Here’s the response from the head of the school district. No one else responded:

Mr. xxxx,

Thank you for your concerns.

Tom Hunter

By: Priya Lynn

Priya Lynn — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 16:20:10 +0000

Emily said “Once again:

this kid was NOT gay.”.

You’re NOT omniscient – you DON’T know that. No one knows what this kid’s orientation was.

By: Fred

Fred — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 14:47:23 +0000

I am deeply shocked at this video and the comments to it on youtube. I feel sorry for the mother. Even if she is in denial, do not be too harsh on her, she just lost her kid! Man, here in the Netherlands the situation in schools os far from ideal, but I think you got a lot of work to do there as well. Keep up the good work. I will sned an email to the school and all the other email adresses, maybe some foreign influence can help a bit. Take care!

By: Bill Perdue

Bill Perdue — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 11:35:36 +0000

The facts show the great danger facing LGBT youth. A 2009 study, “Family Rejection as a Predictor of Negative Health Outcomes” by San Francisco State University, shows that adolescents rejected by their families for being LGBT were 8.4 times more likely to report having attempted suicide. And for every completed suicide by a young person, it is estimated that 100 to 200 attempts are made (2003 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey).

The best way to stop this is for our legal organizations to step in and aid GLBT youth by launching financially crippling lawsuits against the bigots, whether they’re schools, parents, politicians or cult ‘reeducation’ camps. The Southern Poverty Law Center used that strategy to financially break the KKK in the late 80s and 90s. Lambda Legal, the NCLR and the ACLU should step up to defend our youth.

RIP, Billy

By: Rob San Diego

Rob San Diego — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 05:41:50 +0000

I like many others have gone through the same S%!t. Mine started in the 5th grade and went till the end of high school. Though it did start to get better around my sophomore year of high school once I found the drama crowd to be pretty accepting of me. Though I never even told anyone about myself till my freshman year.

By: Nelson Smith

Nelson Smith — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 02:57:32 +0000

I work with gay suicidal youth. Most have been bullied and “teachers” never seem to be there or notice it. I have prevented youth as young as 12 from committing suicide. One 6th grader, whose sister I prevented from committing suicide [she tried to burn herself to death], was told by his teacher in front of his entire class, “You must be gay like your sister”. The teacher said this because the boy was wearing an earring.
Some homeless gay youth who lived by the river near our local library would visit it to get warm and dry. At that time a Christian man came in, saw that a youth was reading a Seattle paper that catered to gays and those who support them, and let this youth know what an ungodly kid he was and then demanded that the library quit carrying the paper [it was not porn] or any like publication. The library complied. I tried to get the paper put back in, including publications that would help gay youth. The local librarian was sympathetic but the county head said, “No”.
I would sit in the library reading the Time issue that addressed gay youth hoping to meet this “gentleman” but he didn’t show up when I was there.
I wrote our local Senator about gay bullying, suicide etc to which she replied, “Gays don’t need special protection”. She is a right wing Christian whose Bible beliefs rise above the welfare and safety of a child. The cities where I have tried to help these youth are Sumner, Pacific, Algona, and Auburn, Washington.
Lamda Legal was going to go with me to talk to the school but the boy’s mother said no. It was these same parents who asked for my help about their daughter. We met at Denny’s. When I told them they needed to love their suicidal gay daughter unconditionally they said “We can’t” and that she would go to hell unless she changed. When I repeated that they needed to love their daughter the father slid his Bible across the table to me and said, “We can’t. I believe this”.

By: Maurice Lacunza

Maurice Lacunza — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 22:22:56 +0000

To Customartist:
Thank you for providing the additional emails. I called the school and got Tom Hunter’s email and sent a meaningful letter to him for forward to the Harassment Officer. I will cc it now to all the others. Thank you and good work getting the email addresses. The school website was missing that information.