9-year-old commits suicide after coming out as gay to his classmates
A nine-year-old boy in Denver, Colorado took his own life last week after being bullied by classmates for coming out as gay.
Leia Pierce found her son, Jamel Myles, in their home on Thursday, just four days after he had come out as gay
to his classmates at the beginning of the new school year, Denver-based
KDVR reports.
Jamel reportedly told Pierce’s older daughter that his
classmates had reacted to his disclosure with cruelty, telling him to
“kill himself.”
“My child died because of bullying. My baby killed himself,” said Pierce, The Denver Post on Monday. “He didn’t deserve this.”
Pierce
said that her son had recently come out as gay to family members over
the summer. “He went to school and said he was gonna tell people he’s
gay because he’s proud of himself,” Pierce told KDVR.
Grief
counselors were made available to students, teachers, and staff at Joe
Shoemaker Elementary School, where Jamel was a fourth grader, the Post
reports, while principle Christine Fleming sent letters to families
addressing the tragedy. On Monday, Fleming held a classroom meeting with
parents to discuss the incident.
“It’s
always tough when a little one takes his life,” Denver Public Schools
spokesperson Will Jones said. “We have our crisis team there.”
According to a recent study published in Pediatrics, the number of American children hospitalized for contemplating or attempting suicide has doubled in less than a decade, with the most significant jump among adolescents and during the school year.
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