My mind is still reeling with the tragedy that occurred last month--all those suicides of young people, many who were bullied/harassed because of their known or believed sexual orientation.  In some of these instances, the schools were believed to have known about the problem and ignored it. 

Been there, done that.  I went to high school in the '90s, and know all too well the pain and horror of being bullied, and the school simply writing it off as me being a whiner...  While I believe and know there are good schools out there who are doing a good job of keeping their kids safe, many are obviously not.  And ensuring the safety of all students, whether gay, bi, straight, or whatever, is the school administratiors' and staff members' JOB!

Of course, kids aren't taught to hate--it's learned.  The parents of these bullies also bear responsibility.

Billy Lucas, 15, Indiana

Cody J. Barker, 17, Wisconsin

Seth Walsh, 13, California

Tyler Clementi, 18, New Jersey

Asher Brown, 13, Texas

Harrison Chase Brown, 15, Colorado

Raymond Chase, 19, Rhode Island

Felix Sacco, 17, Massachusetts (heterosexual, but alleged to have been bullied)

Caleb Nolt, 14, Indiana

And these are only the ones we know about.  May they all rest in God's peace.  Something has to be done to make schools safer, and hold schools accountable that fail to act on reports of bullying!

Sexual orientation is a risk factor, however I suspect it is improving over time. Improving is not the same as "no greater than straight kids" though. 

Oct 6, 2010 -- 5:29PM, Yavanna wrote:

I don't think it's isolated to sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation. There's plenty of other suicides from bullying of all sorts. Nothing is done to prevent it.

Statistically LGBT teens are 4 times more likely to attempt suicide than straight teens.

I am not surprised at all at this tragedy.  So many Christian sects (in the US, Islamic groups do it elsewhere) preach hatred towards GLBT people, so kids grow up hearing from their parents that gays are "sinners" and "evil" and "destroying America."  Is it any wonder they attack other kids who are, or who they think are, gay?  The gay kids themselves all too often hear the same messages, and live in fear that "god" will punish them for being gay, and that (as actually happens all too often) their families will abandon them or even physically attack them should they discover their secret.  That is an immense amount of pressure for anybody to deal with, much less a teenager.  I know, I was there once.  I was lucky in that, though we went to church, my parents weren't Jesus freaks and actually took my coming out pretty well.  Others I knew weren't so lucky.  One's parents never spoke to him again,  except to scream Bible verses at him.  Another one, though still gay, was driven insane by his Jesus freak mother, and now is celibate and miserable so as to avoid "sinning." Three others killed themselves, because they couldn't cope with the fact that their parents hated them for being born the way they were.

The common thread in all of these stories is religion.  GLBTs are the number-one group targeted for hate and persecution  by the Christians.  To this day we don't have equal rights, because the Christians and the Mormons band together and spend millions to pass anti-gay laws.  Until science and education slay the dragon of superstition, and until we as a society say "enough with the hate" to the Bible bangers and gay bashers, our youth will continue to be at risk.  We simply have to stop tolerating hate, even when it wears the mask of religion.  Don't forget, there was a time when Christian groups also strongly opposed abolition, integration, and inter-racial marriage as well.  It was the brave actions of outsiders that finally forced them to change their barbaric and antiquated views.