Gay Tennessee Teen Commits Suicide After Years Of Being Bullied
A Tennessee teen's parents claim that constant anti-gay bullying led their son to take his own life.
As WSMV is reporting, parents and grandparents found 14-year-old Phillip Parker's body last Friday, along with a handwritten note in his trash can reading, "Please help me mom." Family members say they had previously reported concerns about their son's treatment to Gordonsville High School but to no avail.
"I should have knew something was wrong, but he seemed happy," Philip's mother Gena Parker told News Channel 5. "After he did what he did, we found out a lot that we didn't know and there is a lot of bullying that goes on at the school."
Added grandfather Paul Harris: "Because he was gay, he got mistreated physically, mentally by several people out there at the school, and I am very resentful as a result of it. After he did what he did, we found out a lot that we didn't know and there is a lot of bullying that goes on at the school."
Although numerous sources, including Towleroad, Queerty and Metro Weekly, are also reporting the story, an official cause of death does not appear to have been revealed.
The Tennessee Equality Project's Upper Cumberland Committee will hold a candlelight vigil in Cookeville on Thursday, honoring Parker as well as other bullying victims, including Jacob Rogers,another teen who committed suicide last month.
Sadly, Parker's case follows a spate of LGBT-related controversy in the state of Tennessee. In addition to Rogers, the so-called "Don't Say Gay" bill, which would effectively prevent public elementary and middle schools from teaching or distributing material on human sexuality that deals with homosexuality in any way, gained traction once again, while the state's senate Republicanshave also proposed a change to the state's anti-bullying law to exempt condemnations of homosexuality based on religion.
Need help? Visit The Trevor Project's website or call them at 1-866-488-7386. In the U.S. you can also call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline or visit stopbullying.gov.
You can also visit Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network's (GLSEN) website for more resources.
-Suicide is the second leading cause of death among 25-34 year olds and the third leading cause of death among 15- to 24-year olds.
-More than 33,000 suicides occurred in the U.S. This is the equivalent of 91 suicides per day; one suicide every 16 minutes or 10.95 suicides per 100,000 population.
-Males take their own lives at nearly four times the rate of females and represent 79.0% of all U.S. suicides.1
They actually have places in Japan where they put blue lights by the train station so know one will jump off.
Japan has one of the world's highest suicide rates, and the Japanese government reported the rate for 2006 as being the ninth highest in the world. 71% of suicides in Japan were male,and it is the leading cause of death in men aged 20-44.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Some poeple just can't cope...
it's always a shame to hear that a life has been wasted..
its a shame to think that parents and schools still teach bigotry...
I put the blame for this directly on the parents of the bullies and the organizations like these hate groups.
http://www.splcenter.org/get-...
The sooner we get rid of groups like this and the ultra religious right like Santorum and Perry and others that promote bigotry, prejudice and hatred against homosexual the better.
Rest in peace, Philip..
I thought there was nothing wrong with it. I even thought, at some points, that I was doing them a favor. These bullies are to blame, but they aren't the only ones. The parents who put these ideas of hate in the minds of their kids are as well. So are the teachers who don't step in. And so are the legislators who tie the teachers hands and prevent them from talking about the things that matter. The things that COULD save someones life.
I hate it when stuff like this happens
People suck