The Bo Show

How Many More Have to Die?

I don’t typically talk about the type of story I’m going to write about. I’m more concerned about uniting, and finding ways to bring our community together. But, it’s sometimes hard to come together when it seems like things are falling apart. Where do I begin? It’s been two weeks… and in these two weeks, two young boys have taken their lives for something no one should be ashamed of.

I’ve just heard of another young boy committing suicide because he was picked on at his elementary school. As his mother said, “He was called gay.” It’s not even known if he was. It just goes to show that our society still makes someone feel that being gay is something you should be scared of. Something that makes an 11-year-old Georgian boy come home from school and lock himself in his bedroom. Something that is so bad, it makes this same little boy have his fellow fifth grade sister find him hanging in his closet. Hanging from his own belt. Ending his own life.

He took his life after relentless bullying at Dunaire Elementary School in DeKalb County. DeKalb County schools have programs in place to combat the types of bullying and violence that might have led to his death, but a spokesperson says the prevention program is “not a vaccine.”

I don’t know what the answer is. But, I think something we can do is so eloquently stated in this ad from Logo. We can do something about it. If we see something, we can say something. We can stop something bad from happening. Don’t call me a Pollyanna. My head is not in the clouds. I just can’t take hearing the news of another young kid taking his/her own life because of gay slurs.

There is nothing wrong with growing up gay. Sure, people may notice how we’re different. But, guess what, we are. We’re amazingly different. Our hearts love in a way beyond what the average man or woman is capable of. We see and love the surface and beyond. We love ourselves and each other so much, that we aren’t afraid to say “I’m not quite like you, I love just a little bit differently even though it singles me out.” Sure, some people may not understand us. But, we can understand ourselves. Who needs “them” to understand, when “we” understand.