CASHMERE, Wash. -- Family and friends gathered for a candlelight vigil on Friday evening to remember 14-year-old Rafael Morelos, who hanged himself on Sunday, Jan. 29. Rafael was openly gay, and friends said he was bullied because of it.

For nearly three years, people living in the suburban Minnesota's Anoka-Hennepin area have been dealing with not only a rash of LGBTQ youth committing suicide, but a cultural environment that at times seems nearly a war zone as the greater LGBTQ community and its supporters have squared off against the small but well-funded virulently anti-gay conservatives.

On Jan., 14, 2012, EricJames Borges committed suicide, shocking his friends and his co-workers at The Trevor Project. SDGLN Contributor Melanie Nathan attended one of his funerals, and obtained a copy of one of his suicide notes that gives insight on what he was thinking. This is her exclusive story.

In response too many of the tragic suicides of gay teens, religious individuals across the nation have decided that instead of addressing the topic of LGBT bullying directly (a.k.a. punishing the bully), it is the fault of those students who are LGBT that they are being bullied.

GORDONSVILLE, Tenn. — Another gay teen has been lost to anti-gay bullying — Phillip Parker, 14, died last week, the victim of an apparent suicide. His parents said Phillip was constantly bullied because he was gay.

GRANITE BAY, Calif. — Another gay teen, the apparent victim of anti-gay bullying, has been lost to suicide. In the early morning hours of New Year’s Day, Jeffrey Fehr, 18, hanged himself at his family’s home in Granite Bay, Calif.

Eric James Borges, 19, of Visalia, California, succumbed to suicide Wednesday, January 11, 2012. Known as EricJames to his friends, he was an intern with The Trevor Project, and a Supplemental instructor at the College of the Sequoias.

NEW YORK -- In their first television interview, Tyler Clementi's parents Jane and Joe Clementi talked with NBC's Kerry Sanders on Monday, telling her that the loss they still feel is "almost like a physical pain."

COON RAPIDS, Minn. -- During its meeting before a packed room with a standing room only crowd Monday, the Anoka-Hennepin Minnesota School District's board proposed a new "Controversial Topics Curriculum Policy" to replace the current "neutral policy" that prohibits the district's teachers from talking about homosexuality in the classroom.

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. -- A former Rutgers University student accused of bullying his gay roommate, allegedly leading his victim to kill himself, rejected a plea deal on Friday that would have allowed him to avoid a jail sentence.

The parents of Tyler Clementi -- a Rutgers University student who jumped to his death last year after being humiliated online over his sexual orientation — said they learned only weeks before his suicide that their son was gay, and announced they have established the Tyler Clementi Foundation to work to prevent teen suicide and implement anti-bullying programs.

Another kid has been bullied into killing himself. His name is Jacob Rogers. He went to Cheatham County Central High School, in Ashland City, TN. Apparently he'd been being pretty severely bullied for four years...

ASHLAND CITY, Tenn. -- Students at a local school are grieving a classmate. Friends say the young man took his own life because he couldn't take any more bullying.

EAST AMHERST, N.Y. -- The Williamsville Central School District concluded its investigation into the Jamey Rodemeyer case last week by suspending some North High School students after Amherst police closed their criminal investigation Nov. 22 without filing charges.

Police in Amhert, N.Y. on Tuesday announced there would be no charges filed against the bullies who allegedly drove 14-year-old Jamey Rodemeyer to commit suicide on Sept. 18.