Imagine losing a child — a teenager who is an intelligent, beautiful person with a great future ahead of them. Imagine losing that child not because of some accident of nature or incurable disease but because of something easily preventable. Imagine losing your child because of the thoughtlessness of their peers and the indifference of their teachers. Wendy Walsh doesn’t have to imagine it; she lives it every day.
Walsh went out into her yard last September to discover that her son, Seth, had hung himself in the backyard. “Mom, Amanda, Shane, Shawn: I love you. Thank you for having me. It’s been a pleasure,” Seth wrote in his suicide note. “I know this will bring you much pain, but I will hopefully be in a better place than this shithole.”
What was it that made life not worth living for Seth? It was the relentless teasing and harassment of his schoolmates just because he happened to be gay that pushed him over the edge. He was regularly called “fag” and “queer” and felt so much in danger that he did his best to avoid using the restroom or locker room. Eventually, he could take it no more.
Now, in a tearful and moving video, his mother calls out the school that allowed her son to be bullied to death. “Seth’s school did not care,” she says, adding that when she spoke with the vice principal, “he said ‘remind me next year.'”
The reason Walsh made the video, put together in conjunction with the American Civil Liberties Union, is to make sure no other child has to endure what her son went through and to make sure no more lives are lost. According to Walsh, students have the right to be safe and supported at school for exactly who they are. I think that not only is that entirely reasonable but undeniably obvious as well. If you agree, consider urging your representatives to support the Student Non-Discrimination Act.
Tags: bullying, discrimination, Education, glbt, lgbt, safety, schools, suicide
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