Last year, middle schooler Ronin Shimizu (pictured) did a very brave thing: He signed up to be the only boy on his school’s cheerleading team.
According to sources, 12-year-old Shimizu loved being on the squad. His classmates at Folsom Middle School in California, however, didn’t approve and teased him relentlessly for it, calling him “gay” and hurling other insults his direction.
The bullying got to be so severe that eventually Shimizu left Folsom Middle School to be home schooled. Then on Wednesday of this week, his parents found their son dead, the victim of an apparent suicide, though police are not releasing any additional details about the death.
Friends say Shimizu had a bright smile and charming personality, but that underneath there was a lot of pain.
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“Any time I talked to him it really brightened my day and made me feel better,” a friend said.
“I didn’t see why people would tease him because he was so nice,” a fellow cheerleader added.
13-year-old Hunter Reed, who befriended Ronin in Folsom Middle School’s Drama Club, was completely shocked by the news.
“He was always so passionate like he didn’t care what a lot of people said,” Reed told Fox40. “He just kept going on with life. He was always so happy, like the happiest person I’ve ever met.”
Daniel Thigpen, a spokesperson for the Folsom Cordova School District, confirmed that Shimizu’s family did report their son was being bullied on more than one occasion, and the incidents were “handled.”
“Any allegations bullying related to this specific incident, we’re certainly reviewing how we responded to those and we’ll use that as an opportunity to always take a look at how we respond to future allegations,” Thigpen said.
Grief counselors have been made available to help students and staff. The Folsom Cordova School District officials also say they have a comprehensive anti-bullying campaign in place.
“Bullying him because of cheerleading,” 11-year-old Mia Kleinbard said, “it’s not right. It’s what he loves to do and that’s a human right to do that.”
Related stories:
Two Ohio Teens Commit Suicide As A Result of Alleged Bullying
Canadian Boy, 15, Commits Suicide At The Hands Of Online Bullies
Gay Teen Is Fifth Suicide In Five Years At Iowa High School
Graham Gremore is a columnist and contributor for Queerty and Life of the Law. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
bigguy43055
This just totally makes me sick to my stomach! One more senseless death because people can’t just let people do what makes them happy. My heart goes out to this young man’s family. Such a waste!
Xzamilio
He was just a baby… so damn disgusting.
Ladbrook
Horrible. And I see that middle school hasn’t changed much in 40 years. I’d also bet that the parents of the bullies see nothing inherently wrong with what their kids did. Torturing the sissy is never a crime in middle school.
bottom72
As a very effeminate 12 year old who was always teased my heart aches for this family and so sadden that this bullying lead to this wonderful boy taking his life.
odawg
My heart is so broken.
blackberry finn
At about Ronin’s age, I wanted to play the flute in my elementary school band and they gave me a trombone. I suffered 8 years of playing an instrument I hated. How much would I have suffered if I’d put my foot down and insisted on getting my way? Ronin was stronger than me, but there’s a limit to what 12-year olds can take. I’m not sure what the lesson is here. Our hearts go out to his family. RIP
1dizzy1
My gawd, only twelve years old and pushed to suicide. Terrible, terrible, terrible.
alphang
Terrible. Just terrible. I was bullied viciously when I was that age for being more effeminate than the average boy and now that I’m in my 20s I often still feel the effects of that bullying. Middle school is a savage environment. My heart goes out to his family, poor kid.
jason smeds
The real question is this: why are we putting young girls in ultra-short skirts to act as cheerleaders? It’s sexist and sleazy. It’s also a sign of the decaying liberal mindset, a mindset which thinks it’s OK to have female cheerleaders dressed like prostitutes cheering on NBL players, for instance.
There comes a time when we have to stop giving a pass to sexism and misogyny. These two things are often a gateway to homophobia. We should also not be afraid to criticize the women who encourage and promote sexism and misogyny by agreeing to be part of this whole thing.
jason smeds
In my post just above, I should have said the NBA, not NBL.
topshelf
If only 12 year olds had an understanding of what is important, and what isn’t. Middle school and high school are such an irrelevant blip in our lives.
onthemark
@jason smeds: !!! – Many things have been blamed on the “liberal mindset” but you’re the first to blame the sexism and misogyny of cheerleading on it. Next you’ll be blaming football and basketball on it. Also you have a very odd idea of how prostitutes dress.
As a former teenage victim of bullying I almost want to thank you for injecting some unexpected, macabre humor into this. You’re like Rand Paul blaming Eric Garner’s death on cigarette taxes.
onthemark
@topshelf: So true, and you put it beautifully.
Blackceo
Oh my god I can’t. 12 y/o???!! What kind of children are some of these parents raising to act with such malice? My heart just aches over this. So sad.
Saint Law
@jason smeds: The real question posed by this particular article is: what kind of culture produces the persecution this child suffered?
An additional question might be: Why are you such an idiot?
jd2222248
DAMN!
cosmicme
So sad. I have always thanked my dad for what he did for me when I was 4 years old. I guess you would have called me a strange little boy when it came to my tastes. I loved my hot wheels and loved pretending I was batman but I also like playing with barbie dolls and seemed to migrate towards little girls as my closer friends. I was an innocent little boy who liked what he liked. Behind closed doors there was concern about the doll playing and wanting to hang around so many little girls. The concern was obvious that if it continued at some point I’d get teased so instead of my father trying to butch me up by suggesting little boys don’t do certain things he offered to go with me to take Karate lessons. He said years later his thought was if I wanted to take a malibu barbie to show and tell then go for it but instead of letting some boys tease me turn around and kick the biggest boys ass and they’d all shut the hell up and leave my barbie loving ass alone. It worked. I was who I was as a little boy and no one messed with me after that very first school yard encounter with a kid named Charley.
transiteer
Yes, kids showing their hate and destroying a 12 year old. Kids are mean. But it’s supported at home isn’t it? Very telling . . .
rickhfx
Straight people and Religion are the cause, no ifs and or buts. When people worship book that say gays are an abomination and need to be killed, what can you expect, and religion always gets a free pass.
jwtraveler
@topshelf: @onthemark: Yes, of course you’re right. But to a 12-year-old, middle school, their classmates and friends are the whole world. When I was 12, I don’t think I could imagine a life outside the world of my school.
jason smeds
Unfortunately, cheerleading has been sexualized by the perverts of the Left. The perverts of the Left want women to wear skimpy outfits when cheering on men who play sports. You see it in the NFL and the NBA. I can’t think of anything more misogynistic and sexist.
james_in_cambridge
The school district has the fucking nerve to say they “handled” the bullying? Really? Perhaps the idiotic spokesperson meant mishandled it. Oh, the poor kid! It sounded like Ronin actually had some good friends and a supportive family; If only he could have held on for a few more years!
I hope Ronin’s parents sue the worthless school district out of existence!
james_in_cambridge
@jason smeds: Jason, I truly wish we could trade your absolutely worthless, evil life for Ronin’s! If only that were possible! I would wish nothing but misery on you for the rest of your subhuman existence but I don’t have to since it’s clear that you’re unloved and alone, as all fascist, right-wing losers ought to be. Burn in hell, you worthless piece of human garbage!
Trippy
@james_in_cambridge: LOL! Love it.
kevininbuffalo
@cosmicme: More Dads should do what yours did, there would be less of this sort of thing I’m sure.
Chris
I wish this boy had been told that things do get better; and I wish that he’d have believed it. How very very sad.
AtticusBennett
http://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/dad-says-youre-fag-hesaid/
it’s heartbreaking. and know what’s truly sick? on message boards on sites sharing this story, there are grown adult closeted males MOCKING him. laughing, in their typical cowards way, because he was “fem” . you know. “stereotypical effeminate flamboyant blah blah BLAAHH”, as if their being closeted wannabe-macho wimps makes them so much better….
a kid is dead. not just because of sexual orientation, which we’ll never know as he never made it to adolescence, but from defying gender-norms.
so the next time any of you boys thinks about mocking “that stereotypical fem flamer” think for a goddamn minute about how much strength it takes to live each day ,and OWN that life. a strength you’ll likely never know.
it’s near impossible, as other commenters have said, to impart to a 12 year old the beauty of life outside of school – when you’re a kid, school is your whole world. your jerk peers are “everyone” – it’s so hard to ever conceive of life getting better.
and if you look at the photos of this young boy when he was cheerleading….see how happy he looks? the JOY in his face?? and yet, the one thing that brought him his greatest joy is also the thing that set him up as a target for his school’s hateful bullies….many of whom, i’m dead convinced, learned that from their parents.
i’d wager more than a few moms and dads laughed at this young boy in front of their own kids
rickhfx
We must never ever forget where to place the blame, straight people and religion, it is time we stop being cowered by either. Start by not giving religion a free pass ! Let people you now that their support of religion supports homophobia, thousands of years of savage bigotry, and the death of countless numbers of bullied children, and death and suffering of untold numbers of gay adults and teens and children who may just be perceived to be gay. A cross is the same symbol to gays as the KKK is to blacks as the swastika to Jews. Religion KILLS !
AtticusBennett
wanna see something terrifying? the right-wing blog i’m showing you here. read the comments.
these people, and their attitudes, are the reason LGBT Youth take their own lives.
seriously. read this.
http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/15-year-old-viral-video-star-now-lgbt-model-american-apparel
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
> What is almost as worse as the little smcubags who tormented this poor kid is the school adminstrators who surely knew what was going on but once again turned a blind eye…………………..
> These horrific stories always bring me back to my days in elementary school My best friend was Kyle,one of the nicest, good persons I ever met. Yet Kyle actually made Richard Simmons look butch. Kyle was simply the most effiminate little boy one could ever meet. He knew he was Gay from day one and no one was going to tell him any different. We used to joke that at birth he came out twice. Once from his Mother’s womb and twice as a Gay boy :p
> Kyle’s parents never once made any attempt to try and change who he was. They accepted him and loved him unconditionaly. One thing they made him do was to enroll in martial arts training. Kyle took to the regiment, and by age nine he had earned several advanced degree belts.
> Each week Kyle would match his outfits to match the particular color of the rainbow he chose to dye his hair. Unfortunately that made Kyle a very easy target for bullies. Nothing to this day gives me more pleasure than recalling watching Kyle when after telling them numerous times to leave him alone a fat arse bully would attempt to inflict physical harm on Kyle. Within a nanosecond the bully would be flat out on his arse. After the stars they were seeing slowed down a bit, they would look up at Kyle standing over them. And he always repeated the same thing. “You have been given your first and only warning. You touch me or anyone else, and I am going to act twice as stupid as you. Never had a repeat customer!
seizonsha
It really is a tragedy that society allows things like that to happen. But what I find just as perplexing is how this is capitalized as an LGBT thing before a human tragedy. This has more to do with how gender is perceived as a fixed thing and how a step outside immediately implies leaving one frame and entering another. We should cast aside thoughts of gay visibility in moments like this and reflect how everyone can contribute to keeping things like this from happening again. Making the kid a martyr doesn’t help him, it’s simply designed to make us appear more victimized.
Just as much as we want the world to accept us, we should search for ways to reach those that simply don’t know how to make it through a world that has been conditioned towards seeing us as the antithesis to their path.
And I find it despicable how this is used as a hook to rally against straights or religion or politics…people, it is more complicated than this!!
Alfredo
@jason smeds: Do not be an ass. The Right, which dominates football states, is the one thinking that little girls make dandy cheerleaders. Or beauty queens. Or slutty teenagers. Boys are supposaed to be football player morons or killer policemen!
Kieran
This is a tragic story and none of us know all the details of what was going on in this boys life. He probably was dealing with issues of sexuality that as a 12 years old he just wasn’t ready for. There were good reasons kids growing up in past generations were kept in a protective bubble regarding issues of sexuality until they reached maturity. Dealing with issues of sexual orientation in a homophobic world isn’t easy for grown adults. It can be overwhelming for a child.
To promote a belief that OTHERS can make you kill yourself is dangerous. Having a victim mentality in this life serves no useful purpose. The headline of this story is dangerous because it sends the message that others have the power to make you kill yourself. Nobody has that power over you unless you allow it.
The parents of this boy should have DEMANDED that the bullies at his school be dealt with. Instead, it seems the parents punished their own son—not the bullies— by removing him from his school and confining him at home. For all we know that is what may have made him despondent.
Gay kids should be getting a message of empowerment that they have an absolute right to receive an education at school without being harassed by homophobic bullies. They shouldn’t get the message that anti-gay bullies have the power to drive them to suicide. Or that by choosing suicide they will become a tragic martyr for the community.
NiceNCool1
I was heavily bullied for years in school, so my heart has been broken for a long while over my own pain, and every time this happens now it’s like someone gives it a swift kick for good measure.
wholelotanothin
truly sad…if only someone could have assured him everything was going to be ok and that his future was bright. To endure is to rise. He could have and would have gone on to do great things. And he would rise above those cruel kids and gain their respect by over achieving and enjoying his life. He ultimately would have had the last laugh.
Alan down in Florida
@wholelotanothin: Is it wrong for me to think that that someone should have been the parents. I hate to say that in the face of the tragedy that has befallen them, but the bullying was not a secret and had been going on an extended time. They took him out of school to help but dropped the ball after that. This was a child who needed reassurance and unconditional love and to be reminded frequently that he was loved and that his life was valuable and that things would get better. If he was being home-schooled and still being bullied it had to be cyber-bullying. Were they monitoring his internet use? Or did they just assume the bullying had stopped? Was their child such a cypher to them that they didn’t notice he was falling apart piece by piece psychologically right under their noses? Just too too sad.
jason smeds
Alfredo,
That is a huge generalization, and an incorrect one. The fact is that many of those scantily-clad female cheerleaders are liberals. Liberals own a lot of football teams with scantily-clad female cheerleaders.
Liberalism in American has created a culture which sugar-coats sexism and misogyny. By doing so, it has also created a culture of homophobia towards men where it is considered “faggy” if a man sexualizes himself in the way these women do.
Beware of liberalism for it has created a new kind of homophobia – ie a gender-specific one where men come off much worse than women.
Tomislav
Shame for all community
jason smeds
Atticus Bennett,
American Apparel is not very gay-friendly. It has sexist advertising which portrays women – but not men – in poses that are tailor-made to appeal to sleazy straight guys. Sexism is a gateway to homophobia, and it’s my opinion that American Apparel enables it.
Under no circumstances should any sane gay man support American Apparel.
gaym50ish
The reason most school anti-bullying programs don’t succeed is that they don’t teach kids that it’s natural for some boys to like boys and some girls to like girls. The gay community and groups such as GLSEN have resources to offer to these programs, but parents won’t accept them because they don’t want their kids “indoctrinated” by gay people.
Focus on the Family even has a program to teach parents “how to protect your schools from the gay agenda,” advocating that they monitor anti-bullying programs to make sure they don’t acknowledge there are gay kids who are victims. By insisting that there is some insidious “gay agenda” at work in the schools, anti-gay groups are literally putting children’s lives at risk.
As long as schools ignore the fact that gay kids (or those PERCEIVED to be gay) are often the targets of the bullies, these programs will fail.
jimontp
@james_in_cambridge: @james_in_cambridge:
This is 2014, in California, and the local school board spokesman acknowledges multiple complaints from the parents that “were handled.” What a load of f–king BS. Folsom is in the red-neck central valley of California, and their school district answers to no one in the state. Except the Attorney General of California who can bring criminal charges against school administrators for dereliction of their duty to protect students. Current AG Kamala Harris has some big political aspirations, but if she doesn’t do anything about a case like this, it will haunt her in every election. She’s a little timid to be “too liberal” because she’s from SF, but this is the case where she prosecutes to at least remove those school administrators who refused to act after multiple complaints from the parents, or Ms Harris has no future in California politics. Kamala, would you have allowed this inaction when you were District Attorney in SF? Come on, DO THE RIGHT THING.
gaym50ish
The school spokesman’s statement in this case reminds me of SO many school responses to “bullycide.” I am so tired of reading that school districts are “taking steps to combat bullying,” or the community is “addressing the problem of teen suicides.” These are statements designed to make us feel better, not to call people to action. The public’s attention usually lasts for a few weeks and then it’s back to business as usual.
When Minnesota teen Lance Lundsten committed suicide in January 2011, Internet blogger Timothy Kincaid wrote, “Look, this isn’t an isolated incident. In fact, I’m sick of writing this story. Over and over, changing the names but little else. And again and again it’s the same pattern: a school that couldn’t care less, mean kids picking on the gay kid, frustrated parents and friends. And it’s not like we don’t already know what happens when you stick some gay kid in a tiny town where he or she is bullied and no one responds. And they are all sooo surprised, sooo convinced that everything was just hunky-dory.”
I generally advise teens that if they witness actual PHYSICAL bullying to pull out the cell phone and dial 911 and THEN report it to the school administration. They don’t like the copes coming to the school, but if you report it to the principal first, it’s likely to be handled as if two kids were “fighting” rather than one being assaulted. I even hear of cases where the two kids are sat down together to discuss their “disagreement,” and that just further victimizes the bullied kid.
gaym50ish
I wonder if this boy knew that George W. Bush was a cheerleader.
james_in_cambridge
@jimontp: I saw Kamala Harris marry some gay couples on the day the Supremes overturned Prop. 8 on CNN (there’s a video at the link below); she’s clearly not that scared to be seen as too liberal. I have faith that she’ll do something about this if anything can be done. At least it happened in the right State, the State that’s leading the way on LGBT rights (well, next to my State of Massachusetts).
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/california-couple-kris-perry-and-sandy-stier-who-took-gay-marriage-ban-to-court-get-married-just-an-hour-after-legal-ruling-8679615.html
timmycrawford1967
@james_in_cambridge: I h ope they do too. My thoughts and prayers go out to the family. Sad. Really, really sad.
odawg
@jason smeds: Do you ever post a comment that remotely makes sense? Give it a rest!
seaguy
So sad. Middle school can be the worst for bullying kids are old enough and have picked up enough from their environment to think they know everything. So when they see a boy on a cheerleading squad and they think that is only for girls and this happens. Seems like in high school they start to mature enough to move on from bullying. At least that was my experience. Though I never contemplated suicide, middle school and late elementary school were not good times when it come to bullying.
seaguy
@jason smeds: Perverts of the left? You left your brain somewhere else dude cause that is the stupidest thing I have ever heard.
Saint Law
@jason smeds: I skim-read your posts – if I look at them at all – but I notice a pattern whereby they get longer and more frequent and even less coherent the more aroused you get.
Because this is basically what you do instead of sex, isn’t it, shitbreath?
Dgrin
this breaks my heart..when I was around 12 I had signed up and was really good at floor gymnastics outside of school, so good that my gym’s coach wanted me to take the professional route but around puberty other kids at school somehow found out and would use it as even more ammunition towards me so I dropped out. My athletic body and healthy mind is still grateful for that brief period but In many ways I wasn’t as brave as Ronin.
Sebizzar
*sigh* Another young and innocent victim 🙁 This will just continue thanks to ADULTS saying things like “Oh bullying is part of growing up blah blah”.
R.I.P. Ronin
jason smeds
Seaguy and saint law,
Think carefully about what is happening here. Ever since liberalism took hold in the 1960’s, there has been increasing exploitation of women in the mainstream. Women have come to accept it. Women are far more sexually exploited today than they ever were In contrast, the sexual exploitation of men is virtually non-existent.
When society becomes more liberal, sexual exploitation of women increases. When a male enters any of these sexually exploitative paradigms – such as cheerleading – he is entering a domain that has been designed by liberals to prop up the sleazy straight guy fantasy.
He is effectively entering something that was designed to further the disgusting fetishes of sleazy straight guys – ie to see women in short skirts jumping up and down.
Saint Law
@jason smeds: Have you cum yet?
Cee
@Kieran: I agree. Students said he was a happy kid and made other kids happy just by talking to him. He probably went into a state of depression when his parents made him stay home. Probably felt isolated and alone. He loved going to school and being on the cheer team and sounds like a social butterfly. The parents took that away from him. If my child was being bullied I’d go up to the school and raise hell. I’d call a meeting with the principal and let them know I wanna meet the bullies and the parents of the bullies. Most parents of bullied kids don’t do this. If I was the parent I’d want to see the face of the kids who are bullying my kid and I wanna meet the parents of the bullies. Trust me. After I’m done my child would never be bullied again.
james_in_cambridge
@jason smeds: You are truly a moron. Modern liberalism actually took hold in the early 1930’s until 1980 or so and then again in 2008 until Hillary gets elected in two years and destroys it completely. But liberalism had also been successful in the early 20th century under the first President Roosevelt and then President Wilson. Liberalism is why we don’t have child labor anymore and why we have a minimum wage and healthcare and social security and a million other things that made us a more compassionate and far more successful nation. It’s also the reason why we finally got civil rights for black folks starting in the 1960’s and gay folks are now getting theirs too. People’s individual freedoms certainly expanded as these changes took hold. You clearly fear cheerleader sexuality but people are now free to be who they always were without mass societal condemnation and prison time and you’ll just have to learn to accept it. If a slutty cheerleader is what one wishes to be, then one can be a slutty cheerleader (thanks Obama!) Freedom baby!
I hope you learned a little something so you can be just a wee bit less stupid.
jason smeds
james in Cambridge,
I suspect you don’t understand the difference between sexuality and prostitution. Look it up – it might enlighten you.
vive
@Chris: “I wish this boy had been told that things do get better…”
I know you mean well, but “it gets better” is useless when you are a kid in school being bullied. We’d do better to fight bullying directly instead of promising kids some future pie in the sky.
tdx3fan
@Cee: I have to agree here. What is worse is that when the parents made him stay home they taught him that you deal with your problems by running away. A great deal of us have undergone lifelong bullying, but we survived because were taught you stand up and fight for what you believe in… you do not run away and keep running. Suicide is the ultimate running away. There has yet to be one kid that committed suicide because of bullying where that suicide should not have been directly blamed on the parents, but no one wants to do that because parents are going through so much… screw that, if you are a bad parent and your kid kills himself because of it you should take part of the blame.
o.codone
@kevininbuffalo: i’m not so sure. i was given judo lessons, but never put two and two together because it was never explained to me, the judo was supposed to butch me up. it didn’t and i got teased, ridiculed for all 12 years of school. for my own safety i should have been taken out of school but nobody cared to help me. I developed neurotic tics, became depressed and this torture changed my personality for good. self esteem: zero. i became isolated, friendless. my life was sad. thank goodness the gay culture of the 70’s came along and I had a place to be myself. then after a few short years I again i became isolated by the emergence of HIV and the politics of gay culture (all democrats, and i am not a democrat, i was hated for my politics within the gay culture, as i still am here on queerty). anyway, now i am 60. celibate because i live in a suburban community where there are no gays and i cannot really even buy any boys, because that’s not as easy to do as it sounds. enough said. bullies changed my life, nobody helped me. this kid got it before i ever did. and saved himself a lifetime of isolation and sadness.
SRD
@jason smeds: (Incredulity!!!) The liberal mindset produces cheerleaders; so why are all the good old conservative sport fans leering at them? I am totally flabbergasted by that assertion. Thanks for a good laugh!
babyowl66
It is terrible a young boy or girl feel they must take their life because of bullying and no support from the school and parents. Where are the school officials and parents in all of this? The officials need to be controlling bullying and the parents need to going to the officials with complaints and trying to enforce changes.
jules21
@jason smeds and it’s conservatives like you on the right that teach these kids hate and bigotry.
The kids that bullied these boy need to be held accountable. Kids who bullying need to stop getting away with it.
babyowl66
@jason smeds: Liberal mind??? You so full of crap.
babyowl66
@james_in_cambridge: Great post until you mentioned Obama….then it fell downhill to meaningless….Obama has nothing to do with what cheerleaders are….
norsequeen
I am a 68-year-old bisexual woman who also has Asperger’s. I was bullied a whole lot when I was in school, but back then the response to bullying was to tell the victim, “Sticks & stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” I told myself that often, but I still attempted suicide for the first time at the age of 11. Bullying can kill. Even my sister was allowed to bully me; my parents thought that it would make me stronger. What it made me was a fucked-up adult who worked very hard for about 65 years to get her to see me as someone worthy of her praise. I gave up finally a couple of years ago. One of the things that I was bullied about was playing the violin. I gave up & stopped bringing it home to practice. And I was quite good at it even without the practice. I gave up the violin after that year, instead of standing up to the bullies. I had a serious crush on a girl named Marcia who played the drums, which was unheard of back in the 1950’s.
When will school staff understand how damaging bullying really is??? And parents too. Lots of parents don’t stand up for their bullied children, especially when a boy is being bullied for being fem or a girl is bullied for being a “tomboy”. These children need all the support that we can give them. Too many young lives cut short because words actually do hurt!!!
babyowl66
@norsequeen: Thank you for sharing. I was bullied in grade school because I had very red hair. I also had a temper and the girl that bullied me the most I ran into one day after school and beat her up. For a long time I felt guilty and was worried she would tell someone and I would get in trouble. She never did and no one bothered me again….I know I’m one of the lucky ones out there and think of all those that were/are bullied.
Schools need to be held responsible for allowing bullying and if a child commits suicide because of it, held responsible for that as well. Parents who don’t protect their children need to be held responsible as well.
People think that bullying is “suck it up” but it didn’t and no longer works that way. When others bullying they are now vicious about it.
norsequeen
I forgot to mention that I am a Christian. I try my best to follow the teachings of Jesus, who taught us to love one another, not to hate or denigrate those who may be different from me.
Valiant613
@jason smeds – Please do not reproduce… ever..
YourNemesis
@jason smeds: Regardless of your political views, a boy who had a whole life ahead of him has died. By the way, my name is Jason as well and you bring shame to that name.
babyowl66
@LondonsLegend: My only comment to your post is that neither you or anyone else has any business “approving or disapprove” of those who are homosexual….shame on you and others who think it’s your business. Trust me, it’s NOT!!!!
Oh, and I’m not homosexual but that doesn’t matter either.
Miss.Elli
It was “handled”….yes, school officials, I can see that. You should be held accountable as well as those bullies and their parents. How many kids have to die in order for this to be taken seriously.
LondonsLegend
@rickhfx: You idiot. If you and other people actually took the time to understand the religions that you question you’d realize that Yes, we don’t approve homosexuality, but NO! We DONT approve of bullying and hurting people for their own choices whether or not it’s in our beliefs. Not to mention you’re trying to blame it on straight people too? Aren’t you only proving yourself to be the very stereotyping moron you’re fighting against?
john32
It’d be easy to blame those who bullied him, mourn for a few days, and go back to our lives.
It’d be difficult to accept that as a society as a whole this is our fault. There is clearly a message that being even perceived as gay is something that is worth taking your own life for. Suicide is hard for people to understand. It’s not that the person no longer wants to live, it that death is seen as the less terrifying alternative. To have such a young person pushed to the point where their only way out is death is a disgusting testament to how far we still have to go in this country.
Since High School I started keeping a list of those who lost their lives to the messages hateful adults preach to the world about gay individuals. Another name to the list, another young life lost, another lesson society won’t learn. I hate to sound so cynical, but when you’ve seen it happen time and again your entire life how can you not be?
I truly wish I could be part of the solution, because this breaks my heart every time. All of us need to love a little more.
Bright Star
I have patiently read the “well-meaning” comments of contributors who are obviously either very Gay or Gay-sympathetic. As an ex-airline employee I worked and drank and party’d with numerous Gay mates who were just that…..MATES. We never raised or felt the need to raise or defend the Gay issue as it is today. It seems the Gay minority feel a desperate need to convert the world to validate their life-style and that is an arrogant, offensive assertion. I don’t support politics of any hue and certainly don’t see the need to defend or support Gays. I continue to maintain loving, respectful relationships with my Gay mates and will defend them any day….but as fellow humans…. and they will do the same for me. I guess our generation did not seem to need the recognition that Gays demand today and that turns me right off of them. Some are quite repelling and earn my disrespect. The Gay issue has progressed from being a passive one to an excruciatingly boring one that in many cases earns the contempt of many. Ronin’s is a tragic story that all too often is not just about bullying of a sissy rather than the culture existing in our schools and homes. I think it is incumbent on Civic leaders to educate parents who in many cases would be saddened to find that a child or children are Gay…..and yes, that is a natural initial reaction….and not flip! Often their condoning of bullying is a vicarious expression of their own frustration and fears and played-out through dumb kids who are above the law for reasons of age. It is a collective responsibility of local Government and School Boards to deal with these issues with more courage and determination. I hope readers don’t find my contribution offensive and thank you for reading it with perseverance. I have endeavored to be as balanced in my “handling” of a sensitive subject and hope it doesn’t reflect disrespect to anyone.
john32
@Bright Star:
While I respect your opinion I must disagree in principle on a number of issues.
“I don’t support politics of any hue and certainly don’t see the need to defend or support Gays.”
I think this sad story says the exact opposite. Those who support and defend gay individuals do so for those who no longer have a voice, those who died believing they were less than others. No one should feel like they are any less valid. It’s no longer a passive issue because there are people who rightfully will no longer sit in silence while we see other human beings suffer. Especially if those people are feeling the same hate and self destructive thoughts many of us have had to struggle with.
“I guess our generation did not seem to need the recognition that Gays demand today”
Many of us are not demanding anything other than equal protections in society. Of course there are members of our community who simply seek publicity, and many of them are self serving and largely not representative of the LGBT community. More than that, but I just don’t care anymore. I’ve seen this argument used by people time and again, and I will NOT apologize for speaking out against the evil that this truly reflects. I owe it to people like Ronin, Matthew Shepard, Lawrence King, Asher Brown and countless others that aren’t on this earth any longer is to get them some god damn “recognition.”
I agree with your indictment of our culture, but your willingness to dismiss it as a gay issue and gay issues in general is fundamentally flawed.
kportwood
Too bad he was from California and not the progressive state of Kentucky whose University of Kentucky Wildcats have 20 (that’s TWENTY) national championships! #BBN Rest in peace, little man.
Nicci
@jason smeds: Actually, the real question here is why are not only politicizing this issue but also polarizing it? The issue is not the cheer outfits or left-wing versus right-wing politics; it’s about bullying. Stop making the tragedy of this child’s death about clothing and about the left or right for your own political trolling needs.
Stratis
These comments are useless.
A bright, talented child is dead.
A future of promise is destroyed.