Gay Houston Teenager Driven to Suicide By Bullies

The 2010 school year is barely even a month old, and already we're seeing rampant bullying in many parts of the country. Anti-gay bullying has led to suicides in Minnesota and Indiana earlier this year, and in Ohio, and 11-year-old had his arm broken by bullies because he served on a cheerleading squad.

The tragedy and consequences of anti-gay bullying now extend to Houston, Texas, where a 13-year-old boy shot himself to death after relentless anti-gay bullying from his classmates. The boy's name was Asher Brown, and a profile of his case ran in this morning's Houston Chronicle. Brown was made fun of at school because of his size, his religion, and because of his sexual orientation. Bullies at the school would target Brown and pretend to perform mock gay sex acts on him, and the day before he committed suicide, he was tripped down a flight of stairs.

When Brown went to stand up, another bully kicked him further down the stairs, and kicked his books across the school's hallway.

And the school, Hamilton Middle School in the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District? According to Asher Brown's parents, they did nothing, despite the fact that administrators and staff were warned by Brown's parents that their son was being bullied to be held responsible and to be stopped. It did happen. There are witnesses everywhere," said David Truong, the boy's father.

Send a message to the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District that bullying, let along bullying on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, should never be tolerated by school officials. This could indeed be a monumental failure on the school's part to adequately address anti-gay bullying, and the school district needs to respond.

The situation gets even more disturbing. In a story that ran on Houston's local Fox News affiliate, KRIV-TV Channel 26, parents and students within the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District acknowledge in comments that bullying is not only alive and well, but that administrators in the system ignore the bullying, because they don't want to cross the students who do the bullying, or their parents. That's entirely unacceptable.

"My son goes to Hamilton, he is a part of the Lunch Group that sit together because they get picked on. He was friends with Asher. He knows who the kids are that are always picking on others. They are always the same ones and they never get into trouble because they run with the popular crowd that runs the school. It seems that the Administration does not want to cross these students or their parents. I spoke with a counselor yesterday, and she had a lot of hot air to blow at me," wrote one parent.

"The district certainly knew about our daughter’s claims of bullying at Hamilton MS. She spent 1.5 miserable years at that school thanks to bullying and we made sure they knew about it. She was kicked, tripped, pushed (including on the stairs), called a freak, a weirdo, and numerous other names to painful to mention in this post. When she was being physically abused, teachers either looked the other way or told her they didn’t see anything even though our daughter saw the teacher see what happened," writes another parent, recounting that their child went through bullying at the school while administrators and teachers did nothing.

"My heart goes out to this little boys family. My son had issues within [this school district] with a bully at an Elementary two miles from this boys school. I wrote letter upon letter, one to which was sent to the Superintendent's home and nothing was ever done for my son. My heart truly aches for the Truong family as I have had thoughts also that I would have to one day bury my son," said another parent in the district.

If these comments are even remotely true, then talk about a disgusting display of leadership in the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District. Protect the popular kids and parents, while the queers and freaks get slapped around, and sometimes driven to suicide, seems to be the motto these parents are saying is at play when it comes to the school district.

Justin Aaberg. Billy Lucas. And now Asher Brown. Three students who did not have to die, but were so tormented at their schools that they felt suicide was the only option.

Bullying is real, and it's reaching pandemic levels in this country. And the reason? Because of school climates where administrators do little to proactively address bullying. Throwing up a sign in the cafeteria that says "Bully Free Zone" might be a nice idea, but it doesn't do a lick of good if teachers and administrators look the other way when a kid is kicked down a flight of stairs because he's gay.

Send the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District a message that their response to this situation better include a concrete plan to deal with what seems like rampant bullying. It's not just one parent, or one family speaking out. It's a cadre of folks who have experience with this district, all of whom seem to be saying that the school district fails its students when it comes to preventing bullying and proactively fighting it.

Students deserve better. Families in the school district deserve better. And Asher Brown deserved better than what he got from the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District.

Photo credit: John Steven Fernandez