In this article (http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-9237.html) we read that a young man in England takes his own life after being jeered at and encouraged to jump by hateful on-lookers. He was openly gay. He was only 17 years old.
This story makes me sick. How can people be so blinded by ignorance and prejudice? If a young man is standing on the edge about to jump to his death, how can you be so heartless and cruel to actually yell at him to do it? I am amazed that this has happened and am upset that those who were encouraging this young man to kill himself were not found and punished. I understand the officers were busy trying to get Shaun off the ledge, but he may have gotten down if those who were goading him were removed from the scene.
Homosexual teen suicides are said to be 30% of all teen suicides. That is appalling. The fact that so many adolescents feel there is nowhere else to turn but to death, is one thing that CANNOT be tolerated.
I remember when I was in high school we had a hotline that teens could call if they felt suicidal or to report someone who they thought might be suicidal, but are things like that really enough? This article makes me wonder about all of the things in that young man’ life that should have and probably easily could have been different, allowing him to live a happy life instead one of inner turmoil.
Everyone wants to feel accepted and valued, especially when you’re a teenager. If we can all be accepting of people as they are the world would be a more secure place to live. I just wish someone had been able to tell this young man how important he was before he took his own life.
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