Queensland mother says her gay teen son was bullied to death

[deephiance]

http://www.9news.com.au/national/2016/11...d-to-death

Can't post in News Threads so have to post here.

How many more young lives must we lose before the neanderthals of this world realise they are actually murdering perfectly happy and healthy human beings.

I detest bullying and I am a firm believer that a death as the result of relentless bullying should be treated as manslaughter at the very least.

[Doc]

In your thread internalized homophobia you asked

"In this day and age I often wonder, 'What is the fear of being gay all about?"

Its things like this that still frighten young men and women, hell it frightens me and Im a grown man.

[deephiance]

In your thread internalized homophobia you asked

"In this day and age I often wonder, 'What is the fear of being gay all about?"

Its things like this that still frighten young men and women, hell it frightens me and Im a grown man.

That's right.

BUT who was protecting the child?

Children have a hard time protecting themselves.

I raised the issue of Internalised Homophobia not to get answers, but to start a discussion and encourage adults to challenge their thinking and break the mould so that our gay and lesbian children have role models

[SilverBullet]

That was really sad to read :*(
It seems there was a failure to communicate between the boy and his mom and the mom and the school.
I would always encourage my child to talk to me, tell me anything and everything. If I found out he/she was being bullied I would go to the principal personally. If they physically hurt my son/daughter I would go after the parents (in court of course) and if it was a re occurring thing I would go after the staffs jobs.
I just hope my future children if i have any, will tell me everything. I would let slide mostly anything if they just did NOT lie to me and would learn from their mistakes.
I would be very capable of sending my kids to school with various recording devices to ensure if things happen as I am told I would have evidence in court.

[Doc]

Did the child have anyone to talk to, are there forums for LGBT children? The cutoff her is 16, are there any resources available to these kids?

[deephiance]

There is a plethora of resources available to children in Australia to help with both identity issues and suicide.

There is not enough done to prevent bullying, and sometimes no amount of support can counter the issue of bullying.

Until people stop focussing on how to help the victim, we cannot change the culture of bullying. The focus needs to be on the perpetrator and to stop the bullying before it starts.

[Doc]

I understand bullying very well, I dealt with it my entire childhood.

Sometimes you need to stand up bullies and meet violence with the same. I always faced my attackers and I never felt like a victim. I understand that physical violence is frowned upon nowadays but there is a time and place for it.

When I was in little school 6th grade I think, we read The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe. In the story there is a motto "Nemo me impune lacessit" and it seems silly but it really stuck with me and I started to live by it. I know everyone wants to tell a teacher or their parents and I think that is normally the answer; I also believe that sometimes its best to give these bullies a taste of their own medicine and see how they like it. In my experience bullies love soft targets they are cowards that feed off fear, when you fight back to take a little bit of that power from them.

Maybe Im crazy and I'm definitely short tempered. I can also be very violent person and Im usually known to throw the first punch. Im sure that a childhood filled with violence left its mark on me emotionally, but I can honestly say Ive never backed down from anyone and Im proud of that. I was beat up alot but I never made it easy for them.

[Darius]

But Doc, you are strong and have a natural fight instinct. This boy's mother said he was small and feminine.
I still can't understand why the mother never reported any of this to the school. She's going to have to take this to her grave.

[Doc]

[MENTION=21957]Darius[/MENTION] Im not saying it was an option for this young man the minute they beat him with fence pailing his mother should have went the police, her conduct was completely unacceptable. Its just a sensitive topic for me I really hate bullies.

[deephiance]

But Doc, you are strong and have a natural fight instinct. This boy's mother said he was small and feminine.
I still can't understand why the mother never reported any of this to the school. She's going to have to take this to her grave.

because she probably had previous experience with 'the system' where bullying isn't taken seriously.

In Australia there is a set of standards that a MAN must fit into to be a MAN, and if you are outside that norm then there is nothing that can be done for you.

The school would more than likely have blamed the victim for his bullying, if he just acted like a real man (Meat pie's, football, fast cars and beer), then he wouldn't get picked on.

To put it in perspective, I urge you to read the thread End the "gay panic defense" petition to get an understanding of where this woman and this teenage victim would have stood if they were to continue to report the bullying.