Fourteen year-old Jamey Rodemeyer from Buffalo, New York committed suicide in the early morning hours of September 18, 2011. Jamey’s parents, Tracy and Tim Rodemeyer, believe he took his own life because he could no longer tolerate the bullying and taunts he had endured for years.
According to Jamey’s “It Gets Better” video, when he came out as being “bi” he received numerous hate messages, some calling him a faggot, others telling him that gay people go to hell. He offered hope in the video though, by stating, “I have so much support from people I don’t even know online… they’re so nice and caring and they don’t ever want me to die.”
His parents intervened early on by going to his school where measures were taken to stop the harassment through a bullying prevention program. Jamey’s parents had also gotten him into counseling where they believed he’d learned how to deal with it better. Although his parents were aware that the bullying continued when he entered high school 3 weeks ago, they weren’t concerned with the way he was handling it. They thought he was doing fine.
He wasn’t.
Just days before his death, Jamey blogged, “I always say how bullied I am, but no one listens. What do I have to do so people will listen?”
Unfortunately for Jamey and for so many other LGBT youth, people listened a little too late.
Watch Jamey’s “It Gets Better” video:
Quite possibly the saddest thing I have seen in a very long time. A kid makes an it gets better video, then nobody listens to his pain? Letting people suffer in silence is not an option, folks, for this is the result.