Parents Of 12-Year-Old Say Son Killed Himself After Being Bullied Over Sexuality

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/ ^ | 3/14/18 | Curtis M. Wong

[BBell]

The parents of a 12-year-old Mississippi boy say he killed himself last week after being subjected to intense bullying.

Andrew Leach of Southaven, Mississippi, was found dead at his family’s home March 6. Leach’s parents believe the sixth-grader had been struggling to come to terms with his sexuality, and killed himself after being bullied by fellow students at Southaven Middle School.

“He finally came out with the information at school that he thought he may be bisexual,” Matt Leach told WREG. “I think that really amped up the bullying.”

Leach said Southaven Middle School students had threatened his son with physical violence. “Kids were telling him, ‘We’re gonna put hands on you. You’re not going to make it out of this bathroom.’ Things of that nature,” he said.

Andrew Leach’s mother, Cheryl Hudson, said she had spoken to school administrators about the bullying her son was experiencing, but that she “didn’t know how to handle it.”

“From what we are hearing, there was a group of kids that would go around calling him fat, ugly and worthless,” Hudson told WREG. In a separate interview with Local Memphis, she added, “These kids are awful. They’re mean. They’re cruel.”

[Maverick68]

This is damn sad.
I love my family regardless of whatever sexual confusion they might be going thru.
My prayers for the family.

[Katya]

children and adults who are mentally stable do not kill
themselves or others, no matter how much they are bullied. Suicide and suicidal thoughts are part of a chronic condition that is often overlooked or missed until the individual acts out.

[LeoTDB69]

“You know what? That’s not the issue, the issue is that the Parent’s let this kid down if he didn’t understand he was a male and that gay sex and attraction are wrong.”

If his parents told a 12 year old he was “likely” bisexual, then I hear ya. But I tend to think it most likely developed from indoctrination at school followed by their usual do-nothing boilerplate “we don’t tolerate bullying” jargon.

[roses of sharon]

Child abuse.

I doubt this kid even knew what homosexuals do for sex. His parents and his school should have told him what anal sex entails.

Probably all he heard was flowery civil rights language, instead of the truth.

[SaraJohnson]

It’s just horribly sad that this happened.

We were not allowed to bully when I was in school and I went to schools all over this country. The parents, teachers and administrators watched and acted. Kids who were mean were seen as maladjusted.