Gay Teen Suicide: Save the Baby Gays?

RE: http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/09/29/new.jersey.student.suicide/index.html?hpt=C1

I've had mixed feelings about this news all day. There's been a lot of coverage lately on some blogs, and now CNN about young gay suicide. The media is really starting to hone in on this issue, making it seem like an epidemic. Okay, okay, so Perez Hilton is not a justifiable source of media...but mark my words as this one plays out.

The events leading up to this Rutgers suicide were truly sick and wrong. But I can't help but point out that this isn't a gay thing. I think anyone would be horrified and embarrassed "to death" for something like this. So, I applaud CNN for not making it a gay thing. Thanks, CNN. Don't be tempted to go there.

I also applaud the "gay mentors" for coming out and offering their support via Youtube (e.g. Savage Garden's lead singer) in response to the other suicides. Yes, even Perez and Lady Caca offered their support too (both whom I loathe...Caca more, always). It's a lovely gesture, and a neat way of using our current communication environment to do something human.

But...I didn't have a national awareness campaign to accept me when I was coming of age. My mentors didn't have that either. We had each other, and we learned and grew from it. Just as today, we had the same environment: people who suck (that includes people's rotten ass kids parented by bigoted morons). I believe our trials with these assholes defined us and made us the successes we are today.

What I'm saying is this: let's not get carried away, coddle and single out gay people...even more than we already have. Doing so, I believe, will end with the same result: a wiping out of the gay culture that still has a spine. Yes, it's sad to lose a child, a family member, or a friend because someone was who they were. But where do you draw the line? How is it right to talk to an eleven year old and confront them about their "gayness" when they haven't even cracked in voice?

Just be a good parent and support them when they're ready. You'll know when. My parents did! (I practically had a tiara on when it was time...very ripe). We need the challenges. Don't take them from us. If we can't take it...it's tragedy. Learn from it.

And if I see a t-shirt that says, "Save the Baby Gays", I'm going to off myself.

And to quote Miss Coco Peru..."Am I bitter? Absolutely."