Teen Suicide

The American Bar Association has launched “The Kids are Listening,” a national social media campaign that features a new anti-bullying video, a new website, and a call to action for lawyers, judges and community members aimed at delivering positive messages to LGBTQ youth.

The roommate of the Rutgers University freshman who committed suicide last year after an intimate encounter with another man was broadcast online, received a 15-count indictment on Wednesday for his alleged actions that led to the death of Tyler Clementi.

Lesbian, gay and bisexual teens are fives times more likely than their heterosexual peers to attempt suicide, according to a new study that evaluates the impact of teens’ social environments.

“The Bully Project” is the first feature documentary film to explore “a year in the life” of bullying. The film captures the distress of bullying victims, the frustration of their parents, and in some cases, the overwhelming grief when bullying ends a life.

I’m pleased to report that “gay” is now a perfectly acceptable word to include in posted comments on Walmart’s site. Other words have also been cleared, including lesbian, homosexual, bisexual and transgendered.

Walmart is selling the new “It Gets Better” book. Just don’t call it gay.

There were moments while reading “It Gets Better,” the new book inspired by the video project to help bullied youth, when my heart leapt to my throat and hovered there. There’s no denying the power of this project, and what could easily be the most important book of the year.

An openly gay California state Assemblyman is proposing a new anti-bullying law design to reduce bullying of LGBT teens. The bill is named in honor of Seth Walsh, a 13-year-old gay teen who committed suicide last year.

Nicholas Kelo Jr. knew what it was like to be relentlessly bullied, his family said, and it may have been what persuaded him to pry open a safe inside his home on Feb. 23, and remove the gun that killed him.

Members of Congress are introducing a flurry of bills this week designed to address bullying and harassment of students, including LGBT students, and timed to coincide with a major White House conference on bullying prevention on Thursday.