
Originally Posted by
Shol'va
Some here think that the boy had issues, well yeah he did. He was a closeted gay man. When your closeted you carry a lot of baggage around always worrying about what you do where you go am I going to be seen by someone who doesnt know about me. You worry about what you say always thinking before speaking afraid of saying something that will be misconstrued and outing yourself. These things take a toll on a person. When you grow up knowing you are gay and different than the 90% others around you, you are scared of telling anyone about your feelings and all this shit works on your psyche especially in High School. You withdrawal from your family and friends not able to talk about what is going on in your life, fearing that they will reject you if they know who you really are. And for those who think it is a chosen lifestyle, I ask why in the world would someone want to grow up being different from the norm and to put thereselves in a position to be bullied and ridiculed all their life. I knew I was gay when I was 14. Yeah that was fun. You go to church only to be told that you are an abomination worthy of death. That it is a chosen lifestyle and you can just change and be straight. every conversation you overhear on the subject is always negative. If you hang out in a gay area, you put yourself at risk of harassment, beatings and being killed just for who you are. You cant go to the prom cause that would out you if you took a male date. You cant go double dating with your straight friends always having to make excuses. You go out of your way to cover your tracks and always deny who you are as you cant take the sh*t from being outed especially at that age, if you are not emotionally ready for it. Life is tough enough without that added stigma of being different from the accepted norm. If these two students who broadcast this over the net had of just watched it from their dorm and not sent it to the world, I think this would have been a non issue and Tyler would not have taken his life, but by outing him to the world without him being psychologically prepared for the aftermath, I think just pushed him over the edge. Just wanted you all to see this from a gay perspective. As far as the laws and what should be done to the two involved, I think they just used bad judgement and didnt think about possible consequences so to me they shouldnt have their lives destroyed, maybe just a few months of shock time in the slammer. As they will have this death on their conscience for the rest of their lives. (Good call) It just goes to show you that no one knows what is going on in the others lives and that what we all do and say really can affect the others around us.