Jamie Rodemeyer, a 14 year old LGBT kid from Buffalo struggling with discovering his own sexuality and the victim of relentless bullying, has taken his own life.
Jamey Rodemeyer needed help. At 14, he was grappling with adolescent demons that could torment grown men.
And when he was online, he wrote about it.
"I always say how bullied I am, but no one listens," he wrote Sept. 9. "What do I have to do so people will listen to me?"
Just over one week later, Jamey was found dead outside his home of an apparent suicide.
....
On Saturday night, he posted a lyric from Lady Gaga's song "The Queen" on his Facebook page: "Don't forget me when I come crying to heaven's door."
Jamey tweeted this just before committing suicide last weekend:
It's not like Jamey suffered in silence. Apparently the bullying went on for quite some time and he was quite vocal about it. Much of it was even posted in public forums for all to see.
Jamey did have bad days. Issues of bullying and even suicide talk were not new to many of Jamey's family or friends. They were common topics for him and seemed to ramp up to an extreme level when other students started making taunts with gay references to Jamey about 12 months ago.
"JAMIE IS STUPID, GAY, FAT ANND UGLY. HE MUST DIE!" read one post.
Another read: "I wouldn't care if you died. No one would. So just do it :) It would make everyone WAY more happier!"
And die he did, by his own hand.
I hope that those kids and their parents feel the viscous slick of blood on their hands this morning. If those kids are capable of projecting so much hate at such a young age, it says something really awful about the lives they have lead to this point and the quality of the parenting in the homes they are growing up in.
But there is plenty of blame to go around. It seems so many "adults" in Jamey's life failed him utterly. This was not a kid who was silent about the abuse he was receiving nor was he shy about talking about the ultimate remedy for such treatment at the hands of his peers. He even made a "It Gets Better" video a mere 4 months ago.
And yet it never got better for Jamey Rodemeyer, a child that will never see his potential realized, will never fall in love, will never be able to someday, in the future, tell a troubled, bullied young teen that "it gets better."
