Requiem for a Small-Town Boy - A Consequence of Anti-gay Legislation

Time magazine has a thoughtful article on gay teen suicide victim Seth Walsh that I hope many ordinary citizens will take the time to read either in their homes, in medical office waiting rooms and other venues. The piece personalizes the victim - who sounds like he was a great and sensitive kid - and makes readers look at the anguish of his family and friends. Unfortunately, the piece fails to lay responsibility for Seth's death in part at the feet of anti-gay politicians and spineless politicians like Barack Obama who allow the foul anti-gay message of DADT and other anti-gay legislation to continue to send the message that gays deserve mistreatment and abuse. Via an executive order, Obama could suspend DADT and send a huge message to bigots and homophobes, but more importantly impressionable youths and teens, both gay and straight. Fortunately, Joe Mirabella has an op-ed that calls such politicians out in the Seattle Post Intelligencer. First, highlights from Time:
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People were not always nice to 13-year-old Seth Walsh. Neither his valiant younger brother Shawn nor the rest of his family could protect him from what they insist was chronic teasing. Even before Seth came out as gay, family and friends say, he was perpetually picked on for his mannerisms and his style of dressing. The bullying turned Seth Walsh to suicide, one of a spate of such deaths across the U.S. in the past two weeks.
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On Sept. 19, his single mother Wendy found him unconscious; he had tried to hang himself from a tree in his backyard after another apparent bullying incident. He lingered on life support for more than a week. His death has since shattered emotions in this rural community 120 miles (190 km) north of Los Angeles.
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The pastor told TIME that the focus of the service was "going to be on Seth and his life, not on the bullying, and not on the homosexuality." But both subjects were clearly in evidence at the service. As part of a photo montage displayed on the white walls behind the altar, Seth was shown happily wearing a plastic tiara on his head. The next frame featured the word bullying with a red slash through it.
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Seth's grandparents insist their grandson knew from an early age that he was gay. "Wendy did everything humanly possible to help him understand his world and to support him," Jim Walsh, a retired school principal, told TIME. "And so did his brothers and sister." But it was something young Seth had trouble accepting.
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The bullying took every form. "It was eye to eye, over the telephone, personal, over the Internet," says Judy. "He spent a lot of his life frightened." Seth's grandparents say the breaking point came after what they believe was a bullying incident in a local park on Sept. 19. After the incident, Seth appeared to be acting normally at home. He then showered and asked to borrow a pen from his mother to write. Then he said he was going to play with the dogs in the backyard. His horrified mother found him later at the tree and fought to save her child even though she suspected it was futile. "Wendy told me, when she put him on the ground, she knew his soul was gone," said Jim. The medical response teams did their best to revive him, heliporting Seth to the county's trauma center, where he remained on life support before dying Sept. 27.
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I hope the foregoing sickened you - it had that effect on me, especially since as a parent I can well image the devastation felt by Seth's mother. The real point is that we need to hold those responsible accountable - and that web of responsibility extends far beyond the bullies who made Seth's life Hell. It includes not only the Christianist gay haters, but also the politicians who do their bidding or who lack the resolve and moral integrity to end legalized forms of anti-gay bigotry. And, yes, the responsibility flows all the way up to the current occupant of the White House, not to mention the current Governor of Virginia. Here are highlights from Joe Mirabella's statement on this point:
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Elected officials are in positions of power. They have an ethical and moral responsibility to behave in ways that do not hurt children. By voting against the equal treatment of the LGBT community politicians like Reichert and Rossi are leading by example. They send a clear message that gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender citizens are "less than" or not as worthy as anyone else.
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Their messages of intolerance permeates throughout our culture. Adults teach children. Children bully other children. Children kill other children. Dino Rossi and Dave Reichert must own part of that responsibility if they are going to be anti-gay politicians.
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I am convinced that if our leadership at all levels of government refused to participate in legislative and political bullying, life would begin to change for gays and lesbians. Our young people will stop killing themselves. It is the job of our leaders to marginalize the intolerant, to protect minorities, and to lead with compassion for their fellow human beings. Until they do, politicians who participate in institutionalized homophobia have blood on their hands.
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I agree completely with Joe. Are you listening President Obama and Governor McDonnell? When are you going to wash the blood from you hands?