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Loading ...Hundreds attend funeral for anti-gay bully victim
04.14.2009 9:05am EDT
(Springfield, Massachusetts) Hundreds of people attended a funeral Monday for an 11-year-old boy who hanged himself after enduring months of anti-gay harassment.
Many of those who went to the church never met Carl Walker-Hoover, but his death and the reasons behind it have galvanized the western Massachusetts community.“The name calling must stop; the bullying must stop,” said the Rev. Hugh A. Bair in his eulogy.
Reminders of the grade-six student surrounded the casket – pictures of him in happier days at school and on the football field and a set drums he played at home.
The youth was found last week hanging by an extension cord on the second floor of the family home.
His mother, Sirdeaner L. Walker, said that the New Leadership Charter School did nothing to stop the bullying, despite her repeated complaints to the school.
The 11-year-old did not identify as being gay, but Walker said that he suffered taunts and threats from other students who made fun of him, insulted the way he dressed and called him gay.
It was at least the fourth suicide of a middle-school aged child linked to bullying, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network said Friday.
Earlier this month, the parents of a Mentor, Ohio, high school student filed a federal lawsuit in connection with their son’s suicide.
Eric Mohat, 17, went home from school on March 27, 2007, put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger.
In a federal lawsuit, the parents of Mohat allege that he regularly “was called ‘gay,’ ‘fag,’ ‘queer’ and ‘homo’ among other names” and that the school did nothing to prevent it.
That this can happen in Mass. is a warning that even if we achieve equality within the law, our battle will not be over. In fact, it will only be the beginning of a much bloodier battle.
this is sad that this nation does not look at these things and call it unjust. why does no one see this why is the media nation wide. im so pissed right now how could this happen the children need to learn diversity. i was just opposed of saying anything in the educational system but this draws the line. he was 11 for crying out loud!
I still cannot belive that there are people who have nothing to live for but what happenes in someone elses lives. Playstation may rot their minds but it keeps them from doing harm to innocent people.
I’d say the “charter” school should lose its charter, for starters. And the parents of the thugs involved sued. And harassment in schools becomes grounds for expulsion.
There seems to be cases like this in every city,including mine.They’re should be an anti-bullying rule in schools,where your expelled if you don’t obey it.These kids should be charged and the school sued.Also don’t stay silent,tell everyone that may help your situation,victims….
The pricipal, the teachers involved, should be fired, sued till they are broke and have to start over. At least they will still be alive. The parents of this child will never see him grow up, become something, be happy.
This was very much my experience in public middle school. It was a nightmare that I managed to survive, barely, and this happened over 40 years ago. I still remember my attackers; their names, their friends, what they did to me as well as the hateful words that fell out of their idiotic mouths. I have cursed them repeatedly, including ritually, and do not wish them well. Yet I survived, and am not vengeful or motivated by hate: this stuff runs deep and never really goes away; therapy, analysis, and moving on are all necessary for healing. What persists are the scars, and the bullies, who become executives, police, criminals, born-agains.
I still recoil with inward terror when I think about all the bullying I endured in high school. My freshman year I literally stopped talking to anyone from the moment I entered the school until dismissal. I was labled weird in addition to the names. I tried making friends, but after the bullies got done talking to them, my new found friends wanted nothing to do with me. I was ridiculed and assaulted with twinkies in the lunchroom and had to sit with the outcasts enduring punching, name calling and twinkie attacks. My tormentors even continued the harrassment at the Junior Prom in front of my date insulting my date as well. To this day I still carry the scars and nightmares of this bullying and hatred that has affected every core of my well being and adult life.
In some of the comments below the pain is just overwhelming to read. My heart bleeds for all my lesbian and gay brothers and sisters who have endured such horrible experiences in school. I hope you find some peace in knowing that perfect strangers reading your stories care about you and hope that you can see your way past the way others treated you when you were at your most vulnerable. If it means anything,,, I care.