Mr. Romney...

[Hissyspit]

Last edited Fri May 11, 2012, 01:51 AM - Edit history (15)

[font size="3"]To hell with your "apology."

“Back in high school I did some dumb things and if anybody was hurt by that or offended by that I apologize.”

Here are REAL-WORLD consequences of actions and behaviors you apparently consider "pranks" and "high-jinks" that "offended..."[/font]
[p]
[p]

Tragedy as gay teen commits suicide over high school bullying

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

PUBLISHED: 05:43 EST, 30 April 2012 | UPDATED: 05:49 EST, 30 April 2012

A 17-year old from Utah has committed suicide after suffering homophobic bullying at school.
Jack Reese killed himself on April 22. His funeral was held on Friday.

Jack’s boyfriend, Alex Smith, spoke earlier in the week at a community event during which a film on bullying was being screened.

17-year old, Jack Reese, from Utah committed suicide after suffering homophobic bullying at school
Smith recalled, without even realising that Jack had already taken his own life, how his boyfriend was repeatedly bullied at school.

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Suicide of Tyler Clementi

Tyler Clementi (December 19, 1991–September 22, 2010) was an eighteen-year-old student at Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey, who jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge on September 22, 2010. His roommate, Dharun Ravi, and a fellow hallmate, Molly Wei, used iChat between a webcam on Ravi's computer and a computer in Wei's dorm room to view, without Clementi's knowledge, Clementi kissing another man.

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Jamie Hubley, Gay 15-Year-Old Ottawa, Canada Teen Commits Suicide, Cites Depression, School Troubles

First Posted: 10/17/11 12:37 PM ET Updated: 10/18/11 09:55 AM ET

Jamie Hubley, a gay 15-year-old from Ottawa, Canada, committed suicide on Friday.

The 10th grade student documented his life, including his depression and the hardships of being a gay teen, in a blog, reports the Ottawa Citizen.

The blog, called "You Can't Break... When You're Already Broken" featured posts with numerous references to and photos of self harm and cutting, pictures of guys kissing and mentions of wanting a boyfriend, and bleak, ominous messages like "Sometimes I wish the breeze would just take me with it," "The only thing worse than being hated is being ignored. At least when they hate you they treat you like you exist," and "Suicides is always an option."

Other posts revealed how difficult school was for Hubley:

"I hate being the only open gay guy in my school… It f***ing sucks, I really want to end it. Like all of it, I not getting better theres 3 more years of highschool left, Iv been on 4 different anti -depressants, none of them worked. I’v been depressed since january, How f***ing long is this going to last. People said “It gets better”. Its f***ing bull****. I go to see psychologist, What the f*** are they suppost to f***ing do? All I do is talk about problems, it doesnt make them dissapear?? I give up."

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'What do I have to do for people to listen?' Boy, 14, kills himself after 'gay' taunts and thanks Lady Gaga in his final post

By RACHEL QUIGLEY
UPDATED: 08:35 EST, 21 September 2011

A 14-year-old boy who blogged about being suicidal due to being incessantly bullied at school has been found dead outside his home in an apparent suicide.

Jamey Rodemeyer, from Buffalo, New York, cried for help online for months before his death and his family and friends said suicide was a popular topic with him.

He regularly posted about being bullied at school and how people would launch gay insults at him.

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Gay Tennessee Teen Who Committed Suicide Was Bullied Relentlessly

by DAVID BADASH on JANUARY 23, 2012

More than one hundred classmates of Phillip Parker, who was just 14 when he committed suicide Friday, were quick to contact Parker’s parents to tell them that he was the victim of relentless anti-gay bullying. Phillip Parker’s parents told the media they had contacted the school numerous times to complain about the bullying, but it’s unclear what, if anything, administrators at Gordonsville High School, in Gordonsville, Tennessee, did. Tonight, Phillip’s parents and grandparents are scheduled to meet with school officials.

The front page of the Gordonsville High School website claims:

The mission of GHS is to help all students become responsible, self-directed learners capable of functioning in today’s ever-changing society. GHS is committed to helping all students develop the skills necessary to thrive in the face of life’s challenges. This will take place in a secure environment free from violence, drugs, and fear.

- snip -

Here's what the Phillip's grandfather Paul Harris had to say about him:

"A sweet kind person like Phillip took it out on himself, he killed himself to get out of the pain." "Because he was gay, he got mistreated physically, mentally by several people out there at the school, and I am very resentful as a result of it." “After he did what he did, we found out a lot that we didn’t know and there is a lot of bullying that goes on at the school.”

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INDIANA TEEN COMMITS SUICIDE AFTER ANTI-GAY BULLYING AT SCHOOL

09/14/2010

Tragic news to report from Indiana. Like Jaheem Herrera, Carl Walker-Hoover, and Eric Mohat, 15-year-old Billy Lucas' suicide appears to have been inspired by anti-gay bullying at school.

Reports local station WXIN:

"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. '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."

WTHR reports:

"Friends of Lucas say that he had been tormented for years. 'Some people at school called him names,' Hughes said, saying most of those names questioned Lucas' sexual orientation, and that Lucas, for the most part, did little to defend himself. 'He would try to but people would just try to break him down with words and stuff and just pick on him,' Hughes said."

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Carl Walker, 11 years old, Commits Suicide because of Bullying

7:00 AM THESAVVYSISTA

As the aunt of six nephews and one niece you can't imagine how much this story saddens and pisses me off all at the same time. This is a prime eample of what we do to people when we perceive them as different in our society. This story of little Carl is so heartbreaking, but it should be used as a reality check to us all. There is no reason why this young boy shouldn't be with his family.

Via Advocate.com:

The mother of an 11-year-old sixth-grader who committed suicide by wrapping an extension cord around his neck and hanging himself says her son’s death could have been prevented -- he was a victim of school bullying, she says.

Sirdeaner L. Walker said she found her son Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover dead on the second floor of their Springfield, Mass.

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Gay Iowa Teen Commits Suicide Over Alleged Bullying

by Jason St. Amand
Web Producer / Staff Writer
Wednesday Apr 18, 2012

A 14-year-old high school student recently took his own life after being harassed by classmates because he is gay, the NBC South Dakota affiliate station KTIV reported.

Kenneth Weishuhn, a freshman at South O’Brien High School, committed suicide last weekend after allegedly being bullied.

O’Brien County is located in northwest Iowa about 210 miles away from Des Moines.

Last month the teen reportedly told his friends that he was gay.

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Canadian Trans Teen’s Sudden Death May Have Been Bullying-Related Suicide

http://www.queerty.com/canadian-trans-teens-sudden-death-may-have-been-bullying-related-suicide-20120201

The small town of Chatham, Ontario has been rocked by the sudden death of Coltyn Mayrand, a 16-year-old trans teen who passed away Saturday night.

There is some question, though, as to the cause of Mayrand’s death: He’s believed to have committed suicide, though no official report has been made public. And though family members admit Coltyn was bullied for being trans, they say it wasn’t the root of his problems:

“As much as bullying is a terrible thing, and may have affected Coltyn, we do not believe that bullying played a large part in our loss of Coltyn,” posted Page Elizabeth Mayrand on Facebook. “We appreciate the kind thoughts and words, but we don’t need everyone out there putting blame and criticisms on anyone, for any reasons.”

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Seth Walsh: 13-Yr Old Commits Suicide After Bullying (Video)

by jazpiri | September 29, 2010 at 06:41 am

Seth Walsh, a 13-year-old boy from Tehachapi, California, has committed suicide after being bullied by classmates over his sexual orientation.

How did Seth Walsh die?

KGET-TV reported that Seth Walsh died Tuesday, September 28 after spending nine days on life support after hanging himself from a tree in his yard.

Seth Walsh's classmates say the 13-year-old was repeatedly bullied for being gay.

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10/01/2010

RAYMOND CHASE, OPENLY GAY COLLEGE STUDENT, COMMITS SUICIDE

I'm afraid I must deliver some more bad, horribly familiar news: a 19-year old college student named Raymond Chase has committed suicide. Chase, a student of culinary arts at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island, hung himself for reasons that remain unclear. Regardless of his motive, this is a horrible tragedy.

The gay group Campus Pride sent out a statement about Chase's death: "The loss of Raymond this week is the second college LGBT-related suicide in a week and the fifth teenage LGBT suicide in three weeks. The suicide of this openly gay young man is for reasons currently unknown; however, the recent pattern of LGBT youth suicides is cause for grave concern,” remarked the group's executive director, Shane Windmeyer.

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Sunday, February 5, 2012

Family, friends hold vigil for bullied gay teen who committed suicide

Staff Reports

CASHMERE, Wash. — Family and friends gathered for a candlelight vigil on Friday evening to remember 14-year-old Rafael Morelos, who hanged himself on Sunday, Jan. 29. Rafael was openly gay, and friends said he was bullied because of it.

Rafael’s mother, Malinda Morelos, said said she did not know that her son was bullied until students at another vigil earlier in the week told her.

“Almost all the kids here told me he was being bullied,” Morelos told the Wenatchee World.

Morelos said she had known for several years that her son was gay, but that he kept his feelings to himself — she said she she had no idea what he was going through.

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Brandon Bitner Commits Suicide After Anti-Gay Bullying

by Amy Judd | November 9, 2010 at 02:45 pm

Brandon Bitner, 14, Committed Suicide Last Week By Running Into the Path of a Tractor-Trailer in Pennsylvania

Bitner left behind a note saying that he was tired of being called names such as 'faggot' and 'sissy' and said he wanted to call attention to the problem of bullying. He started attending Midd-West High School in Midddleburg this year but never told his family or the school that he was being bullied so badly.

He never disclosed his sexual orientation, but Bitner now becomes another youth who has taken his life after being subjected to name calling and bullying in his school.

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Asher Brown: 13-Yr-Old Commits Suicide over Bullying

by Jordan Yerman | September 29, 2010 at 01:57 pm

Asher Brown, a 13-year-old student at Hamilton Middle School in Cypress, Texas, shot himself to death on September 23. Asher Brown's parents say that he was "bullied to death", picked on for two years by bullies at school.

Asher Brown was bullied for being gay; he came out to his stepfather, David Truong, on the morning of his death.

Amy and David Truong say that they complained to the school about the bullying of Asher several times, but nothing was ever done. Cypress-Fairbanks School District spokeswoman Kelli Durham denies that any complaints were made.

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ANOTHER 11-YEAR-OLD COMMITS SUICIDE OVER ANTI-GAY BULLYING


04/21/2009

The recent 'bullycide' deaths of Eric Mohat and Carl Walker-Hoover certainly weren't the first, and won't likely be the last, but I didn't expect to read this story about Jaheem Herrera, which is similar in almost every aspect to Walker-Hoover's, just one week later.

And like Walker-Hoover's, it includes a school tone-deaf to a mother's concerns, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports:

"On Thursday afternoon, after returning home from Dunaire Elementary School, Jaheem quietly went into his room and hanged himself. His 10-year-old sister, Yerralis, also a fifth-grader, discovered Jaheem’s dead body. 'His sister was screaming, ‘Get him down, get him down,’' said Norman Keene, who helped raise Jaheem since the boy was two years old. When Keene got to the room, he saw Yerralis holding her brother, trying to remove the pressure of the noose her brother had fashioned with a fabric belt. Jaheem was bullied relentlessly, his family said. Keene said the family knew the boy was a target, but until his death they didn’t understand the scope. 'We’d ask him, ‘Jaheem, what’s wrong with you?’' Keene recalled. 'He’d never tell us.' He didn’t want his sister to tell, either. She witnessed much of the bullying, and many times rose to her brother’s defense, Keene said. 'They called him gay and a snitch,' his stepfather said. 'All the time they’d call him this.' In an interview with WSB-TV, the boy’s mother, Masika Bermudez, also said her son was being bullied at school. She said she had complained to the school. She said she asked him about the bullying Thursday when he came home from school and he denied it. She sent him to his room to calm down. It was the last time she would see him alive."

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CNN Covers Carl Walker-Hoover and 'Bullycide'

Anderson Cooper's AC360 takes on the Carl Walker-Hoover anti-gay bullying suicide story we've been following over the past week. Yesterday, the Advocate posted an interview with the boy's mother.

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Teen Commits Suicide Due to Bullying: Parents Sue School for Son's Death

By SUSAN DONALDSON JAMES
April 2, 2009

Eric Mohat, 17, was harassed so mercilessly in high school that when one bully said publicly in class, "Why don't you go home and shoot yourself, no one will miss you," he did.

Now his parents, William and Janis Mohat of Mentor, Ohio, have filed a lawsuit in federal court, saying that their son endured name-calling, teasing, constant pushing and shoving and hitting in front of school officials who should have protected him.

The lawsuit -- filed March 27, alleges that the quiet but likable boy, who was involved in theater and music, was called "gay," "fag," "queer" and "homo" and often in front of his teachers. Most of the harassment took place in math class and the teacher -- an athletic coach -- was accused of failing to protect the boy.

"When you lose a child like this it destroys you in ways you can't even describe," Eric Mohat's father told ABCNews.com.

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Suicide of Ryan Halligan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ryan Patrick Halligan (December 18, 1989 – October 7, 2003) was an American schoolboy from Essex Junction, Vermont, who committed suicide at the age of 13 after being bullied from his classmates in real life and cyber-bullying online. According to the Associated Press, Halligan was repeatedly sent instant messages from middle school classmates accusing him of being gay, and was "threatened, taunted and insulted incessantly".

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kidsonline/interviews/halligan.html

John Halligan's son, Ryan, committed suicide on Oct. 7, 2003, after being bullied by classmates at school and online. He was 13 years old. In this interview, Halligan discusses the tragedy, the events leading up to it, and what he discovered about his son's online life afterwards. He believes that holding teens accountable for their behavior online is key to preventing the kind of cyberbullying that his son suffered. This is the edited transcript of an interview conducted Oct. 19, 2007.

- snip -

We had a great conversation. We ended the call like we always did. I said, "Ryan, I love you." "Dad, I love you." "I'll call you again tomorrow from Rochester." That was the last time I talked to Ryan.

The next phone call was from my wife, 6:00 in the morning, just as I was waking up in this hotel room in Rochester. When the phone rang, I immediately thought, now she's taking the kids to school; she's probably having a hard time finding his backpack or something. I was never prepared for what I heard.

My wife was screaming and crying hysterically: "John, you need to come home. You need to come home. Our son is dead. Ryan killed himself."

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Jeffrey Fehr, Gay California Teen And Cheerleading Squad Captain, Commits Suicide On New Year's Day

First Posted: 01/17/12 05:51 PM ET Updated: 01/18/12 07:35 PM ET

The disturbing spate of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) teen suicides continues with news that another California student has taken his own life.

As The Sacramento Bee is reporting, 18-year-old Jeffrey Fehr hanged himself on New Year's Day in the front entrance of his family's Granite Bay home. Although Fehr had been openly gay since his sophomore year of high school and had recently been treated for depression following the end of a relationship, his parents Pati and Steve believe that a lifetime of enduring anti-gay bullying led their son, who reportedly just completed his first semester at Sierra College, to commit suicide.

"We will second-guess ourselves forever," Steve told the Bee. "But we do know that for years and years, people knocked him down for being different. It damaged him. It wore on him. He could never fully believe how wonderful he was, and how many people loved him."

Fehr was known as a talented athlete, and became captain of his high school's cheerleading squad (which had previously been all-female) his senior year. Still, friends recall Fehr being taunted for his decision to join the squad.

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03/23/2012

GAY OHIO STUDENT IN COMA AFTER ATTEMPTING SUICIDE FOLLOWING BULLYING AT SCHOOL: VIDEO

Austin Rodriguez, a gay teen at Wellsville High School in Ohio who came out of the closet 6-8 months ago and immediately faced bullying from fellow students, attempted to take his own life last Friday by swallowing pills, and remains on a ventilator in the hospital, WFMJ reports:

She says at first her son appeared happy and relieved [after coming out], and then she thought he may have been going through a depression and asked him about it several times, but he never really explained the extent of what he was going through...

...From what his mother has learned, the bullying was not only cruel, but enough to make a teenager who was already introverted, feel like an outcast. "It was electronic, it was face to face bullying, they were hiding his gym clothes because they didn't want him changing in the locker room with them. They didn't want him to eat by them, or in the school lunchroom," Rodriguez said.

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Posted at 05:11 PM ET, 01/13/2012

Eric James Borges, gay teen who made ‘It Gets Better’ video, commits suicide

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/eric-james-borges-gay-teen-who-made-it-gets-better-video-commits-suicide/2012/01/13/gIQAbAfywP_blog.html

By Elizabeth Flock

Following a rash of suicides among gay teens last year, a 19-year-old gay filmmaker who recorded an “It Gets Better” video committed suicide this week, the blog Queer Landia reported Thursday.

Eric James Borges, of Visalia, Calif., was a volunteer at the Trevor Project, an organization that works to prevent suicides against LGBT youth. The Trevor Project confirmed Queer Landia’s report.

“He was a volunteer teaching suicide prevention, so he knew what counseling was available to him,” Laura McGuinnis, a spokeswoman for the Trevor Project, told the Post. “Unfortunately suicide is so complicated, so rooted in mental illness, that it is difficult to know why he made that decision. It is very, very sad.”

According to the Trevor Project, LGBT youths whose parents reject them for their sexuality are eight times more at risk for suicide than teens whose parents accept them.

In his video for “It Gets Better,” a project in which adults tell kids someday their lives will be brighter, Borges talked about the homophobia he experienced. He said his “extremist Christian” family called him “disgusting,” and kicked him out of the house in October. He recounted an instance in which he said his mother performed an exorcism to try to make him straight.

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[p]

[katsy]

1. k/r

I can't fathom the pain these babies had to endure. For what?

[coalition_unwilling]

2. Emphatic K&R! A magisterial OP! Anyone who has

suffered at the hands of a bully or bullies for any reason did not deserve it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002669027

[flpoljunkie]

86. Very interesting, the media is not mentioning Romney was 18 when he led this assault!

This brutal incident happened when Mitt Romney was 18--in 1965. Why is this fact going unmentioned. All we hear is this happened when Mitt Romney was in high school--not that he was a senior in high school when it happened.

Take Politico today, for example...

The details of the Washington Post piece are vivid: that 48 years ago in high school, Romney led a group of teens to physically hold down and clip the hair of a young man who was believed at the time to be gay, and who came out as an adult.


According to the story, 48 years ago in high school, Romney led a bullying incident. | AP Photo

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0512/76217.html

[Rhiannon12866]

98. I've seen that pic on the news and couldn't help wondering

What right he had to criticize anyone else's haircut!

[PCIntern]

3. big k and r!!! n/t

[Cali_Democrat]

4. Great post!

Really puts things into perspective. Bullying is no joke.

[SoutherDem]

5. This brought tears to my eyes

those young lives gone. Bullying has to stop!

Mitt Romney should have to see all of those pictures each and every day of his life, so he knows what bullying can do.

[countryjake]

6. Kicking and crying.

Thanks, Hissyspit!

This should be at the top of the Greatest Page.

[Rex]

7. .

[Ruby the Liberal]

8. I wish I could rec this 100 times.

[Aerows]

9. Romney would have to have feelings, first

for it to bother him. You can't bother someone who has no feelings whatsoever, and Mitt Romney doesn't give a shit about anyone other than Mitt Romney. His history displays that clearly.

[Jamaal510]

42. I wouldn't say that Willard has no feelings; he does act nervous & stammering all the time.

It's just that he lacks empathy.

[rustydog]

10. KICK!

[one_voice]

11. Rec!

[William769]

12. Kick & very highly recommended.

Thank you.

[freshwest]

13. +1,000 tears.

[progressoid]

14. ...

k/r

[jtuck004]

15. Mi$$ said he couldn't remember the bullying incident. I think that's the first thing

I have ever heard him say that I believed.

Because I bet he doesn't. The little lying cowards never do. But the kid they bully lives with it every single day of the rest of their life. Even the short lives.

[Lex]

32. Because it was just one of *many* times

no doubt. That's why he doesn't remember it. But I bet the young man he bullied remembers it.

[jtuck004]

36. For bullies it is about them, not the victim. The victim is nothing, barely exists

in mind of the bully, I think. Too easy to pick on the defenseless because we have bought into this individualism nonsense. Sometimes it's all about feeding some deficiency in the bully's broken spirit, maybe by beating up on them. (Less obvious is when they are just propping up their own ego by telling jokes about the victims. Like they were dogs. As if several million dogs and cats aren't killed by us each year, many after incredible pain and suffering, because of our laziness and indeptitude...but that's another post)

In any event, he may well be lying - it seems to be a favorite pastime of Rmoney - but I can see how a bully might not recall something unless reminded, aqnd even then maybe not.

The victim is left alone with the graphic details of whatever occurred. For every day they have after that.

[malaise]

16. Now that's a reality check for Willard the bully

rec

[SalviaBlue]

17. K&R - Thanks

[ejbr]

18. k & R n/t

[geardaddy]

19. K and R

Thank you for posting this.

[monmouth]

20. These beautiful people..gone.. It's too heartbreaking..n/t

[TeeYiYi]

21. .

TYY

[bluesbassman]

22. Heartbreaking. I have teenagers, and the kids in your post could be any one of their friends.

[renate]

23. if I could give this a year's worth of rec's, I would

All those beautiful young faces...

Not that long ago, families would have hidden the fact that their children died because they were gay (and I'm sure many, many families still do). I hope that at least the loss of all these sweet souls will finally bring tipping-point attention to the horror that is bullying.



Thank you for putting this together. It is magnificent and indescribably moving.

[Lugnut]

24. Rec 100 times and kick!

[Borchkins]

25. Kicking with tears in my eyes

B

[DLevine]

26. K&R. n/t

[spooky3]

27. All those beautiful children...so senseless...we have to stop this.

As Rev. Al says, many things that were "acceptable" in the past no longer are acceptable. Bullying must be added to this list.

[handmade34]

28. ...

....


We MUST work to get Pres Obama re-elected... as if our life depended on it...

[Flying Squirrel]

29. I don`t usually recommend posts this long

I`m a lazy person and it`s just usually too much trouble to scroll through the whole post (or actually read the whole thing). I`m sure that goes for a lot of other people here as well. The fact that this post has gotten so many recs in such a short time despite its length reflects very well upon DU.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

30. K&R Thanks Hissyspit ! nt

[gtar100]

31. Beautiful kids, every last one of them. Dead because of a lack of acceptance.

Bullies...why? Such a horrible shame.

[PotatoChip]

33. Very sad but powerful message.

Thank you Hissyspit.

[dbackjon]

34. Damn - crying here now

[babylonsister]

35. Fantastic post!! Rec'd with thanks and

.

[Hissyspit]

37. If you are a member of Daily Kos, please rec

the version of this over there:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/05/10/1090542/-Mr-Romney-?detail=hide

[PatSeg]

38. Wow

Powerful post.

[chollybocker]

39. DU Thread of the Year.

Powerful stuff, looking at all those young faces.

[grantcart]

84. DU at it's best

[Skittles]

40. OMG

handsome, beautiful boys

[Smilo]

41. Thank you for putting together this very sad

commentary of what is happening to some of our beautiful children.

My heart weeps for the children that have suffered at the hands of others such as Romney.

I despise bullies.

[sabrina 1]

43. Tragic, horrible, so many beautiful children.

K&R

[arely staircase]

44. yes, fuck bullies

i don't use profanity here often but fuck bullies.

[Octafish]

45. Heartbreaking.

God have mercy on us all.

[nashville_brook]

46. holy shit. "if anyone is offended..." he's running for president and that the BEST he can do

he's a grown up. he's in the world's highest stakes popularity contest, and the BEST he can muster in the face of what we know about bullying, is this bullshit non-apology.

despicable.

(beautiful thread, hissyspit!)

[fascisthunter]

47. I Wish I could Hold them all and Tell them it'll be Fine

the suffering I have seen from this bigotry has shaped me into a better person.

[politicasista]

48. Proud to be the 100 rec

Powerful images.

[marlakay]

49. That is so sad, I want to tell all the kids

I care I know how it feels, I too was bullied but for a different reason. Wow I wish I could help kids like this, my life was crap as a kid and I wanted to die also as a teen and barely hung in there.

[TBF]

50. One of my friends from high school

lost his son this new years to suicide. 13-yr old bright kid who was mercilessly bullied as well. No idea on his orientation, but it just adds to the list of children we have lost, and we have lost girls as well. All you have to do is a google search to start pulling up those cases:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57431602-504083/rachel-ehmke-bullying-case-no-criminal-charges-filed-after-minn-teen-commits-suicide/
http://articles.cnn.com/2010-03-29/justice/massachusetts.bullying.suicide_1_scheibel-statutory-school-assembly?_s=PM:CRIME
http://abcnews.go.com/US/bullied-teen-commits-suicide-posting-loves-haterz/story?id=15887174#.T6xa8MVJGdM

Absolutely disgusting and incredibly sad. Mr. Romney should be ashamed of himself and in no way should he be considered an appropriate candidate for leadership at any level.

[hifiguy]

51. That is one of the saddest things

I have ever seen and read. Bigotry of this sort has to be defeated before we can call this a civilized society.

[matt819]

52. Quite a post

You should convert this to a LTTE or even an op-ed piece and send it everywhere you can think of. It's easy (well, not really, but you get the idea) to dismiss any one of these deaths as sad, unfortunate, maybe even a tragedy, but assembled here in one place, and undoubtedly incomplete at that, it really does force any sane human being to sit up and take notice. Good work.

Also, I was struck by a comment over at the NYT that observed that Romney faced no consequences for his attack while the victim, a little later in his school career, was booted from the Academy for smoking a cigarette. It's sad (or maybe not) that Mr. Lauber is receiving this sort of recognition posthumously. It will be interesting to learn more about him in the coming days.

[Alcibiades]

53. One friend says he may have carried it with him for the rest

of his life.

John Lauber died in 2004 of liver cancer. Don't know if he was a drinker, but it's common enough for liver cancer to be associated with heavy drinking.

Maybe he was self-medicating.

[Hissyspit]

57. LGBT Bullying in School's Long-Term Health Effects

Last edited Fri May 11, 2012, 01:05 AM - Edit history (1)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002670749

[Fumesucker]

54. A sad K&R..

[rurallib]

55. thanks for connecting the dots.

[gateley]

56. My God.

I wish Romney could see this, and maybe then "remember" his victim who committed suicide, too.

[DonCoquixote]

58. This is what the Greatest page is for

and may you get there and stay there

[Segami]

59. Outstanding post! BIG K&R!!

[Solly Mack]

60. K&R

[pacalo]

61. Good work, Hissyspit.

On Ed's show tonight, Clay Aiken called Romney's apology "half-assed". He's absolutely correct.

[tilsammans]

62. K & R!

Now Romney's claiming not to remember his many bullying incidents.

Yeah, right.

[SunSeeker]

63. K&R Thanks, Hissyspit! nt

[ibegurpard]

64. thank you!

for reminding us that "harmless teenage pranks" can scar people for life...or even rob them of their lives.

[panader0]

65. Kick and Rec

So very sad

[calimary]

66. All those beautiful young people. Just SHATTERING.

I don't often use the f-word here, either, but

FUCK YOU shitt romney!!!!!!

Just FUCK YOU! THIS is your legacy. Hope you're proud. Hope you got a good ol' laugh out of it at that poor blond kid's expense. Hope it made you feel like a B.M.O.C. Actually more like just a plain common, rancid B.M. You sure as hell would have remembered every detail if this had been done to you by some rich, arrogant, pampered and prejudiced pantywaist. Rat-Bastard! What a beastly thing to do. Others in your little crowd of fellow-assholes came around to feeling remorse about it. No such thing from you, 'eh? Figures. You probably don't even think it was that big a deal. Makes me wonder how many of these episodes there were.

Fucking BASTARD.

[Zoeisright]

67. I wish I could rec this a million times.

Perfect. Thank you.

[polly7]

68. That really puts it all into perspective. So sad. n/t.

[raouldukelives]

69. K&R

What a world we welcome people into.

[myrna minx]

70. I mourn for each and every one of those sweet faces.

Screw Mitt and his wacky HS "pranks".

[HCE SuiGeneris]

71. K & R

[deutsey]

72. Such a horrible waste

[argyl]

73. Heartbreakingly beautiful piece of work. Common Dreams has a link to this post in an article titled

"Mitt Romney,Bully."

As powerful as anything I've ever read on DU, and I've been here for over ten years.

[annabanana]

74. incomprehensibly sad. . . . .n/t

[yardwork]

75. K&R

[tpsbmam]

76. Hissyspit, I don't come here much anymore but I'm so glad I did today and didn't miss your exquisite

post to share on Twitter & Facebook! Thank you for putting this together.



for all those who are gone and all those still facing bullying....god, I hope those kids find sources of strength to get them past the horrors of their existence under bullies.

[FunkyLeprechaun]

77. Can I add one more?

This just happened this week-

http://www.edgeonthenet.com/news/national/132917/gay_minn_teen_commits_suicide_after_relentless_bullying

[Uncle Joe]

78. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Hissyspit.

[Major Hogwash]

79. I have no empathy for Mitt.

I hope he loses the election in every single state now.
Now I hope he doesn't win in any state!

What he did was the worst thing I have ever heard a politician ever do as a young man in their life.
Never before have I ever heard of such a thing as bad as what he did - cutting some other kid in school's hair just because he thought he was gay - and then still try and run for office.

That is despicable!

[Faux pas]

80. all these precious

lives lost because they were romneyed. So sad.

[99Forever]

81. From what I can see about..

... the sociopath's "hijinks," they constitute felony assault. Not that a pampered, white, connected, jerkwad would ever get arrested for it, let alone charged, tried, and given the appropriate prison time he deserves.

[frogmarch]

82. a bleary-eyed K&R

[AllyCat]

83. All these beautiful children gone because of jerks like Rmoney

Thank you for posting.

[Homer Wells]

85. K&R nt

[Amaril]

87. Absolutely heartbreaking.

All those lovely lights gone, and for no reason except people like Rat-face Romney think it is fucking hilarious to torture someone because they are "different". Frankly, the best people I've known (wisest, kindest, funniest, most loving & caring) over the course of my 49 years on this rock have been "different" in one way or another.

Having these stories come out now.......yeah, it's politics, but it's also karma. The ugly shit Romney has done in his life is beginning to circle back around to bite his ass, and I think THAT is fucking FABULOUS!

RIP, babies. We're trying to make it better.

[Diclotican]

88. Hissyspit

Hissyspit

Painfully to look at - so many young people who was destroyed before they had the possibility to grow into good persons, who without doubt would have doing a change for the better for everyone involved...

And the sad part is, you never grow out of it, even if you survive all the bullying, and all the hardship given by the fact you have been bullied for many years.. It exist many wounds, scars that never really grow, and who even after decades of healing, would feels like it have just been open if you manage to hit it... You really never stop being that young kid, who is hurt by words, or by attacks...

I have just tears to give the young kids who lost everything and who took their life. . I hope they have a far better life where they are now, than when they was on the planet earth.... And I hope that one day, humans would evolve to a point, where we DO NOT BULLY each other...

I hope mr Romney NEVER got any near The white house - at least not in the role of president...

Diclotican

[a la izquierda]

89. K& R

Tragic & Sad

[salin]

90. Weeping

reading through these stories. Tragic.

[myrna minx]

91. I'd like to post this powerful "It gets better" video.

[Wind Dancer]

92. Heartbreaking!

[Stuart G]

93. kick nt

[DallasNE]

94. Where Are The School Administrators?

I'm sure a lot of this is turned in so why is no action taken against the bullies. There should not be a code of silence but if there is then school administators have to work to make communication channels available. Assault and battery is a criminal offense that carries jail time. This should not be a difficult problem to fix. And powerful parents need to be held in check, perhaps by publishing their efforts to fix things. Transparency is sorely missing in these cases and that must change.

[Nostalgic]

95. Very powerful and poignant thread

I have rec'd and bookmarked it. And I hope Mitt Romney gets to read this thread.

[av8rdave]

96. I wish there were a way to send this posting directly to Romney and his campaign

He would probably just laugh at it.

@$$hole.

[sellitman]

97. This wasn't "Bullying".

This was clearly ASSAULT.


Stop repeating the RW talking point.

[HughBeaumont]

101. + 1000.

Really, "bullying" is a cheapening term put in place to lessen the crime AND the punishment for it. We need to start treating it for what it is: ASSAULT.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9323279

[trickyguy]

99. There are many more faces you won't see here.

Because homophobic bullying and the suicides it causes often go unreported.
Lots of gay teens seek suicide as a way out of their tortured lives.

And Mitt Romney's laughing "apology" about his prank as a teen reveals
a frightening element to all of this whether the victim was gay or not.

[whoopingcrone]

100. May honoring these children...

remind us all to be kind while we still have the chance.

[dothemath]

102. Romney's classmates are what, chopped liver?

The classmates are as bad as Romney, maybe worse. Bullying, almost by definition, requires a 'gang', as opposed to a one on one confrontation - which, by definition, makes bullies cowards. Yellow punks. I seriously doubt Romney would have savaged the boy whose hair he cut if others had not been present - and assisted. Romney's classmates now come forward to say "Romney did it - he bullied another boy". They probably are not aware of how much that brands them as at least as bad as Romney, but maybe worse. None came forward to stop the bullying, or even express disapproval. IMO, they are pathetic losers.

I think their identities should be made public. There is something wrong when a pathetic bully can get public recognition for essentially saying "that guy is a bully and I know what I am saying because I am one, too".

[polichick]

103. Great post! I doubt Romney cares about this at all...

He cares about the 1% and corporations being able to rape and pillage this country. Period.

[Iggo]

104. Goddam, that's a lot of pictures.

[Hometown Prophet]

105. The Bully Pulpit - Phillip Parker

I live in Tennessee and read a little about Phillip Parker's case. It's tragic for a lot of reasons. Not only had he been bullied for years at school, he also had to listen to sermons about the evils of homosexuality. The blog I wrote was published in the Tennessean. Here's a link to the blog "Bully Pulpit": http://www.hometownprophetbook.com/the-bully-pulpit/

[drynberg]

106. AND THEN THERE ARE THE WAVES OF LAUGHTER FROM RMONEY AS HE LOOKS BACK

it's the same with the dog on the car for 9 hours...just lots of "prankster" "jokes" that that life of the party Mittens carried on regularly in his isolated, very privileged life. "I like to fire people", or the wife's Cadilacs...How do you spell psychopath? He's also a serial lier, plus as has been pointed out, how is he to remember a specific bully episode when there are so many? It isn't easy being such a gaping flaming asshole, now, is it? This scum bucket must not only be defeated soundly in November, but beaten so badly that he never surfaces again on any ballot. We all need to rally behind our President and drive this sicko away for good.