WCCO-TV reports on Justin Aaberg, a 15 year old from Anoka, Minnesota, who hanged himself July 9th. He came out when he was 13, and in the time since his death, his mother, Tammy, has found out that the perfect life she thought he son led was not perfect at all. Bullied at school, Justin had recently broken up with his boyfriend, struggles that grew too much for the young man. His mother says “I actually thought he had the perfect life. I thought out of anybody I knew that he had the perfect life. But I guess he didn’t think so.” Tammy has heard from many of Justin’s friends, who have shared stories of both Justin’s battles at school, and their own, harassed and made to feel unsafe. “These kids,” says Tammy, “they just hate themselves. They literally feel like they want to die. So many kids are telling me this.” On August 23rd, Tammy Aaberg addressed a Anoka-Hennepin School Board meeting about the district’s sexual orientation curriculum policy, which currently reads that “Teaching about sexual orientation is not a part of the District adopted curriculum; rather, such matters are best addressed within individual family homes, churches, or community organizations.” Aaberg told the School Board “I’m asking you all to rewrite the policy in order to give teachers training in how to more sensitive to GLBT students.” The District intends to introduce new training for teachers on sexual orientation and harassment, as well as a video shown to each student examining anti-gay harassment, all in effort to insure safe schools, but beyond that no changes to the curriculum will be implemented. Tammy Aaberg remains unconvinced that is enough, that there will still remain a climate where children like her son face a life of constant fear. “It’s not easy,” she said, “I just miss him so much and I worry that there’s going to be more kids.” (There is a poignant video at the source)
Fox 59 on 15 year old Billy Lucas, who also took his own life, his mother finding him hanged inside the family’s barn in Greensburg, Indiana. Billy was continually bullied by students at Greensburg High School, perceived to be gay, and picked on mercilessly. According to another student Dillen Swango, “People would call him ‘fag’ and stuff like that, just make fun of him because he’s basically different.” Swango added that on Thursday, the day Billy committed suicide, some students suggested to Billy that he kill himself. “They said stuff like ‘you’re a piece of crap’ and ‘you don’t deserve to live.’ Different things like that. Talked about how he was gay or whatever.” The school’s principal, Mr. Phil Chapple, said of Billy Lucas’s constant torment, “We were not aware of that situation,” adding “We’re discussing where we are going. Where we are looking to establish a committee.”
St Edwards University, a private Roman Catholic liberal arts college in Austin, has banned Equality Texas from participating in a campus fair aimed at recruiting volunteers. The school, which has sanctioned a gay rights student organization called Pride, said in a statement that “By requesting participation in the volunteer fair, Equality Texas is asking the university’s Office of Campus Ministry to facilitate recruitment of students for work that includes advocacy for same-sex marriage. This is not something we can agree to.” The statement added that if students at St. Edwards “through a process of personal discernment” decide to work for Equality Texas “they are of course free to do so.” This is the first time Equality Texas has requested permission to participate in St. Edwards’ fair.
An update on a previous post, over the weekend Duke University Student Government President Mike Lefevre voted to veto two decisions by the Student Government Senate to defund and move towards de-chartering the campus chapter of the College Republicans. The Senate voted to defund the group September 8th after determining that the club had demonstrated a “culture of discrimination,” a decision made on the basis of a review of the College Republicans impeachment of former DCR Chair Justin Robinette, who maintains actions to remove him were taken because he is gay. The club still faces de-chartering, however, since Wednesday the Senate can overturn Lefevre’s veto with a two-thirds majority vote.
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