Jamey Rodemeyer Still Being Bullied After His Death Say Tim And Tracy Rodemeyer (VIDEO)

The parents of Jamey Rodemeyer, the 14 year old who committed suicide last week after experiencing relentless abuse from his classmates, told the Today show that even after his death the bullying continues.

In an exclusive interview with Ann Curry, Tracy Rodemeyer revealed that at a homecoming dance attended by Jamey's sister just days after his death, things turned ugly when a song by Lady Gaga -- the teen's favorite singer -- began to play:

“[Our daughter] was having a great time, and all of a sudden a Lady Gaga song came on, and they all started chanting for Jamey, all of his friends... Then the bullies that put him into this situation started chanting, ‘You’re better off dead!’ and ‘We’re glad you’re dead!’ and things like that."

The Rodemeyers say that though Jamey had experienced bullying since the fifth grade because he was perceived as being gay, things seemed to be better for the teen during his first few weeks of high school and they were unaware of the recent anguish felt by their son.

When Curry asked the couple what they would say to other parents who have children who are victims of bullying, Tim Rodemeyer responded, "Badger your kids and make them talk. Or get them the help they need there's lots and lots of other people that maybe they'll talk to. There's lots of organizations that maybe they'll talk to. But get them to talk. We tried to get Jamey to talk to us constantly but he didn't… he just put up a brave face."

He then put forward a call to action saying, "Don't let it go -- if you know they've been bullied in the past keep on them, go to the school, do whatever you have to make sure that they're getting the help they need."

The Amherst, NY Police Department's Special Victims Unit told ABC News that they are investigating Jamey's death. "[We're] looking into the circumstances prior to his death," Captain Michael Camilleri said. "We are not sure if there is anything criminal or not."

North High School in Williamsville, NY, has not issued a statement about the incident at the homecoming dance, but a "message to our community about bullying" has been posted on the Williamsville Central School District's site. The post which includes a link to advice from mental health professionals on helping children cope with loss, reads, in part:

Our school district has experienced a tragedy that involved the sudden loss of Jamey Rodemeyer, a freshman at North High School. The district plans to review all current practices related to bullying and will have conversations about bullying with our school parent groups in coming weeks. The loss of Jamey highlights the need for all of us to support our children and provide them with viable outlets to deal with challenges. Please read the letter to parents and guardians from Superintendent Scott Martzloff that is linked below.

Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline or visit stopbullying.gov.

Comments

[Rocketfuel54]

08:43 PM on 10/17/2011

I myself having passed through 4 excruciating years of bullying, I know that if something is not done about bullying, suicide seems like the best option. I found To Write Love On Her Arms and they saved me. If schools do not catch these cruel bullies and give them sterner punishments, the bullying will continue, and suicide will continue. If that's not scary enough, my fear is that murder of bullies will become an issue within the next year, along with suicide once the murders are complete. This world is turning darker and darker every minute, and this scary thought may soon become a reality. The fact that those bullies could still make fun of him after he committed suicide should be enough proof that they should be institutionalized as sick human beings. Being a Christian, I try my best to never judge and love no matter what, which is always a hard job. I love everybody, no matter their past. Those bullies saying what they did is just another example of why schools must intervene with harsher punishments for bullying. Those kids should have been expelled, and in my opinion the school should have been sued for manslaughter due to neglecting the verbal abuse. Those bullies wanted him dead, and they succeeded. I know for a fact that sticks and stones hurt way more than words, because your body will inevitably heal from sticks and stones, but the mind will never forget.

[dj33]

07:03 PM on 10/02/2011

If parents, priests, and others had better attitudes and less tolerance for homophobia, racism, and other types of meanness, this wouldn’t happen. I encountered a staunch right-to-life activist Roman Catholic priest in Germantown MD in August, who openly claimed "there's always healing" as a way to deal with homosexuality after I asked how he could be intolerant of homosexuality yet espouse his right-to-life philosophy. He said that prayer could convert a homosexual person into a heterosexual one. Behaviors such as this by parents and religious and political leaders sanction this cruelty toward others. They make it possible for people to boo gay soldiers and cheer for people who die for lack of insurance and for their children to literally bully others to death and then have no remorse about it. It is even more despicable that parents, politicians, clergy, and others who recognize this as bad behavior and who purport to be compassionate people refuse to take a stand for fear of losing popularity. What is the Williamsville school district doing about this? I am ashamed to say my children and grandchildren went to school there. What is the Buffalo Diocese doing about this? It's got to stop!

[dbrett480]

05:27 PM on 10/01/2011

The basement dwellers at 4chan are to be thanked for their continued inability to comprehend any human emotion.

[Chrystal Ji Davey]

11:23 AM on 10/01/2011

Lots of love to Jamey's family.

It's sad to face that the world will constantly be full of purposeless idi0ts like those bullies.

[outloud]

05:27 PM on 09/30/2011

Where are all the grown ups that are in power during all this?

Why didn't the chaperons at the dance step in to stop that attack?

My school years were no picnic but I never had to endure the atrocities that take place these days.

[lrubemp]

06:27 PM on 09/30/2011

Wonder what Dan Savage would have said to this kid. Didn't "get better," did it?

[murielskatz]

03:17 PM on 09/29/2011

I, for one, am totally in favor of punishment of bullying if it results in a persons death. There have been too many deaths to ignore this horrible "act" of noncompasion towad others. I believe that a lot of this comes from the "home' environment and the "media". These "kids" hear all of this or get in with the "wrong" crowd and think because they are 'Young" that they can get away with it. It is a shame that so many young people have taken their lives onver this"act". Something needs to be done and it needs to be done now. Not when the lawmakers or thers think that something should be done. If I were a parent and this happened to a child of mine I would be on the "front" line attempting to get something done about this.. Come on "lawmakers" get with it and fix this problem today!!! N ot tomorrow. How many more have to die? Thank you.

[Crystal Naritai]

11:37 PM on 09/30/2011

you have a good point. the "quotes" ruin it though. Please use them correctly.

[outloud]

05:24 PM on 09/30/2011

Shame on you. Your statement is really cruel and ignorant.

[lynniemiller]

07:53 AM on 09/29/2011

So they posted a note on a newsletter instead of having a mandatory auditorium meeting for the entire school population about this?

So smart.

My condolences to the family.

[SrAN]

06:17 AM on 09/29/2011

What has happened to our society when death is something that people cheer? What has happened to our youth to think that bullying someone to the point of a mental break down that leads to suicide is basically a joke?
This obviously shows that all of these anti-bullying campaigns are not working. Kids do not take these things seriously. That is because while it may be taught about in school it is not being reinforced at home. Parents and the community need to come together to give these kids something better to do. Parents need to teach their children that this type of behavior is unacceptable, that the basic "food chain" you find in high school is unacceptable. The way we do this is by acting on what we tell them. Kids watch and learn. If they watch us and we are doing the opposite of what they are being told they will accept the action instead of the spoken lesson. How about we start acting like adults and treating each other with respect, then maybe our kids will catch on to the trend.

[AbeMartin]

07:15 AM on 09/29/2011

We, as a society, become inured, at a very early age to death and images of carnage and gore.  Much of this must be laid directly at the door of the entertainment industry--movies, television and music--which have long been accused of pandering to the atavists among us.  Kids hear news reports about knuckle-draggers attending the Teapublican debates screaming "Let'm die" or homophobic rants, in response to questions about health care or the end of DADT..  Many video games that kids play, feature extraordinarily violent images of death and dismemberment.  Unfortunately, the will--both moral and legal to rein in these "entertainments" does not seem to exist.  The parents of the bullies grew up with this stuff around them.  They have perpetuated this "culture" in their own homes.  And the schools employees who fully know who the worst of the bullies in their schools are, continue to wring their hands and issue pap about "reviewing their procedures."

[bynddrvn5]

10:57 PM on 09/28/2011

These kids are little sociopaths, cheering the death of a classmate?!

This is what should happen to bullies: http://youtu.be/aMF-9YahSZs

[Jeff Lassiter]

03:11 AM on 09/29/2011

It's almost like the're practicing for a GOP Debate...

[bynddrvn5]

07:41 AM on 09/29/2011

rofl, so true!

[thereisonlyoneparty]

11:10 AM on 09/29/2011

Be nice to people...

unless they hold different views.  

Then it is L. Ron's command that you mock and demean them.  As it is written it shall be done.

[sdcs15]

06:54 PM on 09/28/2011

It is tragic to see how bullying can continue like this even after the loss of a child. Bullying takes shape in various ways with cyber bullying being one of the more recent types. Bullying in any form can devastate teens and adolescents, and cyber bullying is no different. In fact, cyber bullying is, arguably, more invasive since you can't even escape it in the safety of your own home. If you are a concerned parent, there is a technology solution out there. It's a mobile app called AmberWatch SafeText that helps monitor cyber bullying on your child's mobile device. You can find it easily with a Google search.

[Jeff Lassiter]

03:12 AM on 09/29/2011

#1!

[chesscub]

02:46 PM on 09/28/2011

The school administration definitely isn't taking the aftermath seriously. If they were, they would've shut down the dance as soon as the bullies started chanting. They failed before Jamey committed suicide and after.

[td777]

01:22 PM on 09/28/2011

My goodness, the very last thing we can do is heap a load of personal responsibility on those poor kids who knew no other way to make themselves feel better than to bully this kid. Responsibility is a dirty word. It had to have been their parents' fault. Or the movie, TV or music industry that condones violence. Why, I knew three kids who jumped off cliffs after watching Wile E. Coyote do it and survive. Tragic stories, they were. Nah, these kids will skate by because they have're misunderstood. Some counseling and genuine recognition of their actions will turn them around. Or ... maybe the need to learn there are some real-world consequences for this kind of action. Like publishing the names of this little band of children?

[Darlie Brewster]

01:02 PM on 09/28/2011

GIVE US THE BULLIES NAMES!

[Dr. Cara Barker]

01:53 PM on 09/28/2011

O.K. Ms. Darlie Brewster, I've just got to say it. Love your Spirit, your byline and your message. Bravo. from a fan who wishes you the best! Cara

[hatebigots]

02:28 PM on 09/28/2011

YES! The sister is being too nice. She should've mentioned their names.

[thereisonlyoneparty]

11:22 PM on 09/27/2011

You have to love how this is all about the bullying and not about the mental health issues that were likely more of a factor in the death of the youth.

But the bullying gives it a gay angle, which is rather popular now.  That alone gives the story legs.

It is rather interesting that differently advantaged boy in the region committed suicide the week after the "gay teen" and no one really cared.  Differently advantageds do not sell papers.

[Erin84]

11:50 PM on 09/27/2011

By all means, since you knew this young boy and since you are in fact a psychiatrist, do enlighten us as to what was more disheartening to him than the harassment he faced. Oh, that's right, you didn't know him. It is a tragedy when any child is bullied to death. No one has said it is not. Your deflections in this argument are ridiculous. Your willingness to downplay the culpability of the psychopaths who said these things is rather disgusting too. Perhaps you should go back to 9th grade and join the clique of those who told him to kill himself and cheered his death afterward. It seems you have the total lack of a moral compass to fit right in with them.

[thereisonlyoneparty]

12:23 AM on 09/28/2011

His parents admit his mental issues.  He had mentioned suicidal thoughts before and was depression over a death in the family.   That is what happened and was included in the early reports.   Then it became all about the gay angle, because that is what sells.

Even groups dealing with suicide admit that the bullying is often a factor, but not the prevailing reason.  There are very often factors that are completely ignored in popular media (remember that girl who was bullied to death?  Phoebe something?  She engaged in acts of self harm prior to moving to the place where she was bullied.)  Bullying is easier to understand and allows for a complete deflection of blame onto other parties.   Do you really think that people are going to be okay with blaming a dead kid or the parents of a dead kid?

Lack of moral compass?  Like a society that only cares about certain deaths?  How is it that an r-person committing suicide in the same area at roughly the same time is any less important a story?   It was about bullying too (r-people are one of the most bullied group).  This is all pathetic.  Society has reduced this child to a sexual orientation and simplified the cause of his death to something that is palatable to everyone.  That is worse than acknowledging reality.

[Dr. Cara Barker]

01:48 PM on 09/28/2011

I want to thank you, Erin. In fact, I'm off to fan you. As a 'shrink,' I can tell you that your sentiment is right on. As a parent, I salute your heart, your compassion, your perspective. It is time we stood up to bullies in all their myriad forms, including the ones in our own heads, at times. Thank you for your message in a world that needs it desperately. Whenever a child is lost, we all lose. Peace and blessings, Cara

[truecancer]

06:00 AM on 09/28/2011

Quite possibly some of the stupidest, most useless comments I've ever read. I would elaborate, but I think Erin84 said it all quite accurately.

[Ioan Lightoller]

06:46 AM on 09/28/2011

Yes she has.

[thereisonlyoneparty]

08:22 AM on 09/28/2011

Yeah, why look at what happened when we can simplify everything down to the part of it that is socially acceptable?

Reality does not help "our" cause.  F-word that.