Suicide

Dharun Ravi, the former Rutgers University student convicted earlier this year of using a webcam to spy on his gay roommate who later committed suicide, will turn himself in Thursday to begin serving a 30-day prison term. [ Read more → ]

The lack of public figures or role models for teenagers, and the hesitancy of schools to include same-sex sexualities in sex-ed curricula, despite these being a normal part of human sexuality, give these negative attitudes more influence by not contrasting them with the more positive reality. Given the body of mental health research that has consistently connected stigma and suicidality, and despite the progress we’ve made, the present state of society leaves me concerned... [ Read more → ]

Tyler Clementi was bullied to death and the Judge heard guilty 288 times, yet sentenced his convicted antagonist to 30 days, 300 hours of community service and a $10,000 donation. While I do not doubt that Ravi was put through a measure of hell, knowing that he could be sentenced to a maximum of ten years and be the subject of deportation, I ask why this Judge even bothered to sentence him, at all. [ Read more → ]

When the dawn breaks this Mother's Day, there will be sons, and daughters who will have made plans to treat their Mums to special dinners, maybe breakfast in bed, or just take them someplace special. Countless flowers, candies, and yes, even jewelry will be bestowed in gratitude by children in a showing of deep love and gratitude for all that their Mums mean in their lives. Yet, for some mother's, the day will not hold a special meaning at all. Their will be no gifts, no special remembrances or displays of affection and love. There will be an empty place at the dinner table and even larger emptiness in the hearts of those mothers who have lost their children to suicide or bullying... [ Read more → ]

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- An openly gay teen in Rochester, Minn., took his own life on Sunday, and according to the boy's father, anti-gay bullying played a “a big part” in his son's suicide. [ Read more → ]

PRIMGHAR, Iowa -- The family of a gay Iowa teen who committed suicide over the weekend, is speaking out, and say that anti-gay bullying is the reason Kenneth Weishuhn Jr., took his own life. [ Read more → ]

PRIMGHAR, Iowa -- Authorities in O'Brien County, Iowa are investigating the death of Kenneth Weishuhn, Jr., 14-year-old gay teen who committed suicide late Saturday night. [ Read more → ]

GLEN BURNIE, Md. — Kenneth (“Kenny”) Wolf, a 14-year-old freshman at Old Mill High School in Millersville, Md., died Friday at Baltimore Washington Medical Center following a suicide attempt Thursday night, LGBTQ Nation has learned. [ Read more → ]

I have hated you almost every day since we first met. But for different reasons altogether than you might expect. I still remember the terror I felt, every time I approached the soccer field. It was junior high, a difficult time for almost everyone, but for me, especially so. You see, I’d always known I was gay... [ Read more → ]

WELLSVILLE, Ohio -- An Ohio teenager was in a coma Friday in the intensive care unit at Akron Children's Hospital, a week after he tried to end his own life. Austin Rodriguez, 15, a student at Wellsville High School, told his parents last Thursday that they "didn't know what was going on his personal life." [ Read more → ]

Dharun Ravi, the former Rutgers University student who was convicted last week of invasion of privacy and bias intimidation, a hate crime, is speaking out for the first time since his college roommate, Tyler Clementi, jumped to his death in September 2010. [ Read more → ]

Today, less than seven percent of schools offer institutional support to LGBT students, such as an LGBT student center or programs director. Eighty-seven percent of schools fail to include sexual orientation in their non-discrimination policies. Protection for transgender people is even lower; only six percent of schools include gender identity in their non-discrimination statements. [ Read more → ]

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — Defense attorneys for Dharun Ravi, the former Rutgers University student accused of using a webcam to spy on his roommate's intimate encounter with another man, called seven character witnesses who testified Friday that they never heard Ravi say anything derogatory about gays or homosexuality in general. [ Read more → ]

LOS ANGELES -- The Weinstein Company has lost an appeal of the "R" rating given to upcoming documentary "BULLY" by the Motion Picture Association of America -- the film, an urgent and intimate look at America's bullying crisis by award-winning filmmaker Lee Hirsch is scheduled for nationwide release this Spring. [ Read more → ]

LA CRESCENTA, Calif. -- During a busy lunch break on Friday, where hundreds of students milled about at Crescenta Valley High School, sophomore Drew Ferraro, 15, took a running start and leaped off a three-story classroom building into the courtyard below, ending his life. [ Read more → ]

Bryan Fischer, who last week explained how Bill Clinton was responsible for the rise in oral cancer, is back with another attack on JC Penney for hiring Ellen DeGeneres, this time claiming it will lead to more depression, suicide, and breast cancer among women who become lesbians due to the store's choice of spokesperson: [ Read more → ]

MINNEAPOLIS — Anoka-Hennepin School District Superintendent Dennis Carlson has angrily denounced an article published last week by Rolling Stone, in which the magazine highlighted the rash of teen suicides that occurred within the school district over the past three years, and the links some of those deaths had to anti-gay bullying. [ Read more → ]

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. [ Read more → ]

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. [ Read more → ]

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. [ Read more → ]