This Week in the Mercury
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Homo / News Bullied Gay Teenager Commits Suicide—Will His Tormentors Face Charges?
Posted by Dan Savage on Tue, Sep 14, 2010 at 10:13 AM
He was a teenager who didn't quite fit in. His classmates said Billy Lucas was bullied for being different. The 15-year-old never told anyone he was gay but students at Greensburg High School thought he was and so they picked on him.
- Billy Lucas
"People would call him 'fag' and stuff like that, just make fun of him because he's different basically," said student Dillen Swango.
Students told Fox59 News it was common knowledge that children bullied Billy and from what they said, it was getting worse. Last Thursday, Billy's mother found him dead inside their barn. He had hung himself.
Students said on that same day, some students told Billy to kill himself. "They said stuff like 'you're like a piece of crap' and 'you don't deserve to live.' Different things like that. Talked about how he was gay or whatever," said Swango.
Six teenagers who bullied a student to death in Massachusetts—a straight female student—are being prosecuted for harassment, amongst other crimes. Will charges be brought against the students who bullied Billy Lucas to death? Or are we going to continue to treat gay kids like their lives are less valuable than those of straight kids?
And, hey, another dead gay teenager—mission accomplished, "Christians."
The crime tip number for the Greensburg police department is 812-662-7463.
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