Report: Facebook bullying leads high school freshman to commit suicide

MONROE, N.Y. — Sadly, another teen suicide to report.

Kameron Jacobsen, a 14-year-old freshman at Monroe-Woodbury High School in Central Valley, N.Y., died Tuesday after taking his own life. Sources report that Kameron was was tormented by Facebook bullies who taunted him because they thought he was gay.

Kameron’s death is the second teen suicide in less than 2 weeks by a Monroe-Woodbury student. On Jan. 9, 16-year-old Justin Dimino also took his life, although there have been no reports of bullying related to Justin’s death.

At the high school they both attended, students tried to make sense of the incomprehensible — that two teens with everything ahead of them seemed to find life too painful.

Full report here from WNYW-TV:

Sources: Teenager Kills Himself After Facebook Taunts: MyFoxNY.com

“Our hearts go out to the families,” said Principal David Bernsley. “We’re devastated as a community.”

Facebook issued this statement about the incidents, according to WNYW:

“We are deeply saddened by the tragic deaths of these students, and our hearts go out to their family and friends. These cases serve as a painful reminder of how people can help others who are either bullied or show signs of distress on Facebook. We encourage them to notify us, and we work with third party support groups including the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline to reach out to people who may need help.”

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Stop the Silence Op-Ed: Response to Bullying and Teen Suicide

by Kasandra Brown


Kasandra Brown is a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and a student employee at the LGBT Campus Center.


I walked into a conversation this afternoon about the latest LGBT bullying related suicide. I quickly found out that it was a Minnesota teen who died on Saturday morning. With these basic facts, my mind immediately went on high alert. I grew up in Minnesota -- I know plenty of young people who live there.

Then the conversation got more specific--it was a boy from Jefferson High School. What? I graduated from Jefferson High School. What if I knew this boy? Passed him in the hallway when he was a freshman? What if his locker was near my old one? Could he have known my favorite teacher? I started to wonder--what does it mean for me to be spending so much of my energy on Stop the Silence, an LGBT anti-bullying campaign, and spending so much of my time planning Break the Silence, Wisconsin, a statewide march addressing homophobia and transphobia, when a young man that I easily could have known took his own life because the level of intolerance that he faced on a daily basis became too much?

Stop the Silence was started in response to a string of LGBTQ suicides that took place in September and October of 2010. We are now passing quickly through January and once again, a boy's body is being buried. His family will never again be able to give him a hug. Friends unable to tell him a funny story or ask for his advice. He will never have the chance to hold his diploma, have dinner with a significant other or pursue his dreams. Lance Lundsten, with his beautiful and welcoming smile, will never be able to see it get better.

After reading the article about his death I realized that the Jefferson High School this boy went to was not the same as the one I graduated from. Well that's a relief, right? He's not connected to me in any way, not a friend of one of my friends, nor is he the brother of someone in my graduating class. For a split second, those thoughts danced through my brain. I soon realized, however, that his connection to me is far deeper than any high school alumni or six degrees of separation could ever wish to form.

The word "my" becomes shockingly insignificant when thinking about the reasons for this boy's death. Homophobia and transphobia have an extremely powerful effect on communities all around the world. They may play out in unique ways, but one thing remains the same wherever or whoever you are--hatred directed toward a salient aspect of one's identity is always experienced in negative ways.

For this boy, and the countless others who saw death as their only escape from a world that is so cold and unable to accept them for who they are, bullying was not a minor part of their day. The people who picked on them, called them names, tripped them in the hallway, and made their lives miserable in countless other ways, may not have seen their actions as anything major. They may have enjoyed causing pain but thought it only temporary and fun. Unfortunately, as this situation and the countless others like it demonstrate, one person's fun can all too easily come at the price of another's life.

I am tired of reading about suicides. I am sick of thinking about the loss of a young person's life because of other people's ignorance. Please stop the silence. Please speak up. It doesn't matter if you identify as LGBT or not. It doesn't matter if you've never experienced bullying in your personal life. Speak up for those whose voices are silenced. Bullying affects each and every one of us because it is the manifestation of hatred. It needs to end.

Think about ways you can make it better. Write your school administrators and tell them why policies need to be put in place that prevent bullying. Stand up for people whenever you feel safe doing so. If you're in Wisconsin, show solidarity with thousands of others by attending Break the Silence, Wisconsin on April 15th. Use facebook and other online networking sites as advocacy tools letting your friends know that you do not support anti-LGBTQ attitudes and behaviors or harassment of any kind. Think about your actions, the words you use, and the messages you send. 

Peace be with the friends and family of Lance as well as anyone who must deal with the effects of living in a culture that actively supports homophobia and transphobia. There are so many issues and problems plaguing our world, why does this have to be one of them? Love the people around you for who they are--that's one of the most important things we can all be doing on a daily basis.

I posed the question in my first paragraph asking what this boy's death means for me as one of the founding members of an LGBTQ anti-bullying campaign and primary organizers of Break the Silence, Wisconsin. So what does it mean? It means that our work is more important now than ever before. It means that bullying may have fallen out of the public eye, but the problems clearly persist. And most of all, it reminds me that the sadness associated with this news goes hand in hand with the power and unity that will radiate from the state of Wisconsin on April 15, 2011. There should not be one individual in the world who ever feels like taking their own life is the answer--help us end the fear. Help us remove homophobia and transphobia from their comfortable spot in our culture. Help us stop the silence.

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Franken Responds to Latest Teen Suicide

By Advocate.com Editors

U.S. senator Al Franken of Minnesota, sponsor of legislation that would call for antibullying measures in public schools, expressed his condolences to the family of Lance Lundsten, an 18-year-old from Miltona, Minn., who died in an apparent suicide.
KSAX TV reports that authorities believe Lundsten’s death was a suicide. Police officers responded to an emergency call at his family’s residence in Miltona around 10 p.m. Saturday, and he was taken to Douglas County Hospital, where he died. Friends of Lundsten said the 18-year-old was the target of bullying for his sexual orientation.

"My heart goes out to Lance's family and friends and loved ones. It's a tragic event not only for them, but for the school and the [community] and really for all of us," Franken said.

Last year Franken introduced a Senate bill explicitly addressing antigay bullying in public schools. Of the legislation, he told The Advocate in October, "It’s clear that we need to do more to protect our students from bullying and harassment, and it’s time that we extend equal rights to LGBT students. No student should be subjected to discrimination and harassment in school, and we must tackle this problem at every level — local, state, and federal."

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Bullied gay teen in Minnesota commits suicide

By Eric Ethington

MILTONA, Minn. — We’ve lost another beautiful life to bullying. Lance Lundsten, 18, an openly gay student at Jefferson High School, took his life over the weekend. Friends say that Lance suffered extreme bullying and harassment for years.

Around 10 p.m. Saturday, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office responded to an emergency call at the Lundsten’s residence in Miltona, Minnesota.

When officers arrived, they discovered Lance needing emergency medical care. Lance was transported to the Douglas County Hospital where he later died.

The Sheriff’s Office confirmed to KSAX-TV that they believed Lundsten’s death was a suicide. The Sheriff would not confirm the nature of the medical emergency.

According to KSAX, Lundsten had revealed on Facebook that he was openly gay, and some students at his high school said he was bullied for his sexual orientation.

Lance’s friends have created a new facebook group after the news of his death, called the “Jefferson Anti-Bully Coalition.”

Even if his school didn’t help Lance survive the bullying, the heroic group of friends are pushing to do their part. The page reads “Here to stand up for everyone who needs defending. The school’s staff isn’t protecting us, it’s up to the students to help each other.”

Friends have also set up a memorial page for Lance on Facebook.

No word yet from Jefferson High School.

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News Stories of the Year

By Advocate.com Editors

From marriage celebrations in D.C. to beleaguered youths taking drastic action to a prominent activist succumbing to pressure, 2010 was as dramatic as they come. But the good news outweighed the bad, with happy endings for people like Constance McMillen, Dan Choi, and the students in Arkansas's Midland School District. Here's our list of the most riveting news events of the year.
 
 Annise Parker Takes Office
Somewhere Harvey Milk smiled on January 2: Lesbian Annise Parker began her first day as mayor of Houston, the nation’s fourth-largest city. Even though her city is on relatively stable financial ground, Parker still had to deal with an economy that has yet to fully recover. City council members showed how much faith they have in Parker’s leadership that they voted unanimously in December to give her the ability to order mandatory furloughs.


HIV Travel Ban Lifted
The teens started off with some good news — on January 4, the 22-year-old ban on HIV-positive visitors to the U.S. was finally ended. A gay man from the Netherlands became the first HIV-positive tourist to freely enter the country when he landed at New York’s JFK airport. With the travel ban ended, the U.S. is now planning on hosting a biannual global HIV/AIDS summit in 2012.


D.C. Marriage Kicks Off
“Don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal was the year’s big gay achievement, but marriage equality also advanced in 2010. Washington, D.C., opened the doors to same-sex marriage, with the first ceremonies being held March 9. Media reports of the first marriages showed a racially diverse mix of couples — a big change from gay marriages showcased in states like Vermont and Iowa.


First Lesbian Episcopal Bishop Named
Too bad her surname wasn’t Glassceiling — Mary Glasspool certainly broke a barrier when she was consecrated on May 15 as the first openly lesbian bishop in the Episcopal Church. The partnered Glasspool is now a bishop suffragan in the church's Los Angeles diocese. In an interview with The Advocate, the pioneer shared her favorite Bible verse: For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39).

 ACLU Investigates Fake Prom
When 18-year-old Constance McMillen invited another young woman at her prom at Itawamba Agricultural High School in Fulton, Miss., she had no idea the nation would be riveted by her actions. Last spring, school officials told McMillen she couldn’t bring a same-sex date to the prom, then canceled the event altogether when she resisted their decision. The ACLU sued the district on McMillen’s behalf, and then a group of parents set up an outside prom — and sent McMillen and her date to a sparsely attended fake prom. The school district later settled with McMillen for $35,000, paid her attorneys’ fees, and enacted a nondiscrimination policy.
 

Target Controversy
As opposed to a retailer like Wal-Mart, Target has enjoyed a positive reputation among many gay and lesbian shoppers. But that all changed this summer when news broke of a $150,000 corporate donation from Target to a group supporting antigay Republican Tom Emmer, who ran unsuccessfully for governor of Minnesota, where Target is based. Boycotts followed, then an apology from Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel, and then the news in December that Target continued to contribute to antigay causes — months after Steinhafel’s “sorry.”

 Youth Suicides
Tyler Clementi, Raymond Chase, Seth Walsh — these are just some of the names of the young people who took their lives this year after enduring bullying for being gay, or being perceived as such. But these young people didn’t die in vain; their stories brought attention to an epidemic that has endured for decades, if not centuries. Celebrities and politicians, from Kim Kardashian to President Obama, filmed “It Gets Better” videos, while states and cities enacted or considered antibullying legislation.



Arkansas School Board Member Thinks "Fags Should Die"

While teachers and students across the nation wore purple this fall to highlight the epidemic of antigay bullying, the vice-president of the Midland School District board in Arkansas went in another direction. Posting on Facebook, Clint McCance took umbrage with people dressing in purple, and then, responding to comments on his page, said he hoped gay people would kill themselves, dropped the f word repeatedly, and said he relished "the fact that [gay people] give each other AIDS and die." After The Advocate broke the story, reaction was swift: A Facebook page called for his firing, and national media ran with the story. McCance offered a pseudo-apology and resigned from his post in late October.


Lesbian Students Prevented from Graduating
Girlfriends Kelsey Hicks (pictured) and Melissa McKenzie, both 18, were told by administrators at Del City High School in Oklahoma that maybe they should finish out their education at another school. Hicks put it this way while talking to a local TV station in November: “The principal will say 'Well, you're gay. You're not going to do anything with your life. You might as well just drop out now.' It's stuff to put you down that makes you want to drop out.” A statement from school officials said they don’t discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or age — sexual orientation was notably absent from their list.

Dan Choi's Breakdown
In mid December, the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” looked like it slipped through Congress’s fingers (thankfully, lawmakers would get it together before Christmas). Dan Choi, a lieutenant in the Army facing discharge for coming out, had been one of the most public gay personalities in the battle to end DADT — he came out on The Rachel Maddow Show, chained himself to the White House wall, endured hunger strikes, and traveled the country to tell his story at rallies and protests. The assumed defeat of the repeal hit Choi hard, and he was hospitalized at a mental facility following the news. But the resilient activist wasn’t down for long — he attended the signing ceremony for DADT’s repeal December 22. At the event, Senate majority leader Harry Reid returned a West Point ring belonging to Choi, which he had given to Reid five months earlier with the request to have it back when the law was repealed.

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