Gay Straight Alliance?

MIDDLEBURG — Students at Midd-West High School cried out against bullying Friday as they mourned the loss of a classmate who in the early morning hours walked about 13 miles from his home to Routes 11-15, where he ran in front of a southbound tractor-trailer after leaving a suicide note at his home.

Freshman Brandon Bitner, 14, of Mount Pleasant Mills, ran in front of the truck at 3 a.m. near Liverpool, according to state police at Newport.

The boy’s family discovered him missing at 3:45 a.m., and contacted police.

The road was closed for about three hours after the crash.

There seems to be little doubt in the students’ minds why Bitner did what he did.

“It was because of bullying,” friend Takara Jo Folk wrote in a letter to The Daily Item.

“It was not about race, or gender, but they bullied him for his sexual preferences and the way he dressed. Which,” she said, “they wrongly accused him of.”

His death came just days after an anti-bullying assembly at the high school, which, according to district Superintendent Wesley Knapp, was not held in response to any specific problems at the school, but because it is an issue Principal Cynthia Hutchinson has always felt strongly about.

After the assembly, according to student Briana Boyer in another letter to The Daily Item, “No one took it seriously, and joked around about it.”

Former Midd-West student Erin Barnett sent a letter as well, blaming the school, saying that when students report bullying, “Nothing is done.”

“Bullying should be addressed in every school, and should have a punishment,” Barnett said.

“I do not appreciate … kids bullying others for their own gratification,” Folk wrote. “Because of bullying, one of my closest friends took his own life.”

[…]

(Source: queerwatch)

Salt Lake City, UT – We have lost another beautiful life. Colt David Hansen, 28, passed away Wednesday evening after a lifelong struggle against the Mormon Church which he felt never accepted him because he was gay.

According to friends, Colt had a fight with his father the night before he died over the Mormon faith and his refusal to be a part of it. However, his obituary reads that he was a member of the Mormon church and despite never going on a Mormon mission, the family is asking that donations be made to the Mormon Mission fund. The obituary also never makes any mention that he was gay.

Colt’s family is refusing to let his friends attend the funeral, presumably presided over by a Mormon Bishop, calling it a private family affair.

The Utah LGBT community will remember Colt for who he was. A beautiful, intelligent young man who worked for several years at Try-Angles, beloved by many.

When will our families learn that they must love us for who we are, and they dishonor our memories when they try to pretend we are something other than who we are.

There will be a memorial for the community held at Club Try-Angles this Sunday, I believe at 4pm but I haven’t confirmed that yet.

(Source: queerwatch)

Police officers in Jackson, N.J., have filed a complaint charging the township’s mayor, Michael Reina, of making an antigay comment when talking at police headquarters.

According to the Asbury Park Press, a confidential investigation report was filed in response to an incident on September 30, when Reina talked with Sgt. Steven Laskiewicz in the watch commander’s office in Ocean County.

“The report says Laskiewicz commented to Reina that he (Reina) was a hero for drawing criticism away from Gov. Chris Christie after the mayor complained about the media coverage he (Reina) had been receiving about taking a $78,000-a-year job in the state Transportation Department. Reina forfeited his mayoral salary in taking the job.

“’At least I’m not a homo,’ Reina said in response, according to the report.”

The reports says that one of the officers who heard the remark is gay.

Reina, a Republican, denied the allegation, according to the newspaper. A bias incident report was sent to the state Department of Law and Public Safety, signed by Detective Mitchell Cowit.

(Source: queerwatch)