Just this past month 5 more gay or gay-perceived teens committed suicide in this country.
The National Organization for Marriage (NOM), run by Maggie Gallagher and her sidekick, Brian Brown, has spent tens of millions of dollars in the past three years to bully and bash lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people and anyone who dares to support their full equality. Everything NOM does only furthers hate and homophobia.
Yesterday Maggie finally weighed in on the suicide of Tyler Clementi, one of the most recent of five young men who took their own lives last month. She had the gall to say, "Nothing in the press accounts suggest the kids who did this were motivated by homophobia."
Big hearted Maggie and the wealthy mystery backers of NOM say they care deeply about children.
Then stop the vicious attacks. Stop the bullying. Let all people live their lives honestly and openly.
On April 10, 2010, at a NOM program in New Orleans run by Brian Brown, the only other speaker was Thomas Messner, a NOM consultant and Visiting Richard and Helen DeVos Fellow at The Heritage Foundation.
Messner was the first to speak the truth about NOM's real agenda when he said:
"Gay marriage legitimizes homosexuality."
That is exactly what NOM wants to prevent, period. Its purpose is to make LGBTQ people feel inferior and inflame homophobia under the guise of stopping gay marriage. We must not let them succeed; too many lives are at stake.
The 5 Most Recent Victims
Billy Lucas, 15 years old, died September 9, 2010.
Billy had been harassed at his Indiana school for many years. The day before his suicide, there was an alleged incident where he was bullied again at lunch, and was told him to go hang himself. He hanged himself in his barn next to his beloved horses the very next day.
Seth Walsh, 13 years old, died September 19, 2010.
After repeated bullying from other students in his Tehachapi, California hometown, Seth hanged himself from a tree in his backyard. After nine days in a coma, he died on Sept 19th. Police said after questioning the students who may have been involved, many broke down in tears, never expecting such an outcome.
Tyler Clementi, 18 years old, died September 22, 2010.
Tyler was a gifted musician and freshman at Rutgers University.
He killed himself after his roommate secretly recorded him with another male student, and then the video was broadcast online. His last words, posted on his Facebook account 10 minutes before his death, were chilling, "Jumping off the gw bridge sorry."
Asher Brown, 13 years old, died September 23, 2010.
Asher shot himself to death after excessive anti-gay bullying apparently isolated him from classmates in his Houston school. Frustrated by the continued harassment and lack of support at school, he took his life the following day.
Raymond Chase, 19 years old, died September 29, 2010.
Raymond was an openly gay sophomore at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island. He hanged himself in his dorm room after repeated bullying.
Go to the wonderful new web site set up by the HRC and Courage Campaign, http://nomexposed.org and take action today.
NOM must be stopped before one more child is hurt.
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