9-Year-Old Boy Who Came Out as Gay Died by Suici

Contents:

• CHILD STAR STGGLED TO E OUT AFTER PLAYG ‘THE GAY KID’ ‘SCHOOL OF ROCK’
• WHAT'S LIFE LIKE FOR GAY KIDS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS?
• MATTHEW SHEPARD: THE LEGACY OF A GAY LLEGE STUNT 20 YEARS AFTER HIS BTAL MURR
• COLORADO MOM SAYS 9-YEAR-OLD SON WHO CAME OUT AS GAY DIED BY SUICI AFTER SCHOOL BULLYG
• THE RIGHT TO EXPEL GAY CHILDREN OM SCHOOL ISN'T ABOUT EEDOM; 'S ABOUT CELTY
• AFTER PLAYG THE GAY KID SCHOOL OF ROCK, AN ACTOR ADJTS TO LIFE OFF CAMERA
• ‘SCHOOL OF ROCK’S’ BILLY WR ABOUT BEG LABELED “THE GAY KID”
• AS FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' LAW TAK EFFECT, SCHOOLS ROLL OUT LGBTQ RTRICTNS
• KENNY ORTEGA SAYS RYAN OM HIGH SCHOOL MIL WAS ‘PROBABLY’ GAY
• WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THE GAY KID SCHOOL OF ROCK
• IS YOUR CHILD GAY?

CHILD STAR STGGLED TO E OUT AFTER PLAYG ‘THE GAY KID’ ‘SCHOOL OF ROCK’

Former child actor Brian Falduto says that he wasn’t able to e out until his senr year of llege bee of the stggl he faced after beg dubbed “the gay kid” om “School of Rock. “I was so much nial [about my sexualy growg up], ” he said on the “Cooper and Anthony Show, ” “Thk about : I was the fifth gra when this movie me out and I was lled gay, and then someone told me that’s not ol, so I was jt like, ‘Oh, ok, then I’m not gay’.

WHAT'S LIFE LIKE FOR GAY KIDS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS?

“So by the time I realized I was potentially gay, I was already homophobic towards myself, sentially, ” Falduto, who is now an actor, filmmaker, mician and life ach said. No, but uld be former child actor said he was receivg negative msag surroundg gayns so often that his nial grew before he even unrstood what meant to be homosexual or queer. Each year, seems, we hear the stori of the clash of culture and genr when a high school stunt who is gay is banned om attendg the prom, or pays a price for gog.

This year is no different, om a Mississippi unty school board banng 18-year-old Constance McMillan, who wanted to wear a tux and brg her girliend, to the Miami gay senr who was crowned prom queen -only to be disowned by his own fay.

MATTHEW SHEPARD: THE LEGACY OF A GAY LLEGE STUNT 20 YEARS AFTER HIS BTAL MURR

Today, we hear om a Los Angel school admistrator charge of equy and diversy, and om an advote whose anizatn has helped gui gay kids through the maze of high school life. COX: One of the areas that has been an issue the gay, lbian, transgenr muny, as far as public schools are ncerned, is whether or not to tegrate the stunts to the mastream populatn or to some way segregate them, even if is jt for their safety.

COX: Is possible, Judy, to tablish wh a school settg, let's say, a program that will benef stunts who are lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr - not discrimate agast them but at the same time, allow them to have the fort of beg an area where they n feel fortable? You know, so we would do some kd of supprsn terms of the anti-gay harassment that you experienced and plement that wh tnal terventns bee is through tn that we n really end bias. We are talkg about gay stunts and high school, public high school, and we are talkg wh Judy Chiasson wh the Office of Human Relatns, Diversy and Equy the L.

Those are the clear non-discrimatn and anti-bullyg, anti-harassment polici that explicly clu sexual orientatn and genr exprsn and genr inty as among those tegori of protectn; havg supportive faculty and school staff available to young people to help them when issu arise; the prence of stunt clubs, monly known as gay-straight allianc, or GSAs, and other stunt advocy to improve school climate; and the prence of clive curricular elements that accurately and appropriately pict LGBT people, history and life. I am a queer teacher Columb, and the big thg I've noticed, the big problem that I have had, is I live a state where is still legal to fire someone for beg gay. I thk Judy embodi what I thk is bt all people who go to tn, but I do have to pot out that there are ser stutnal barriers across the untry for teachers, gay or straight, who wish to reach out and help stunts who are havg a hard time.

COLORADO MOM SAYS 9-YEAR-OLD SON WHO CAME OUT AS GAY DIED BY SUICI AFTER SCHOOL BULLYG

And I thk the key thg - thkg about that first email - is that this is about the fact that 90 percent of stunts, gay and straight, report that they hear anti-gay ments, anti-LGBT ments at school every sgle day. Stunts we asked - a natnal sample of sendary school stunts, middle and high school, the - gay and straight - about the most equent bas for bullyg and harassment their schools, and the top three that were listed were physil appearance and body size, actual or perceived sexual orientatn, and whether a stunt was perceived to be, quote-unquote, mascule or feme enough. Primarily, is about rcg the sea of anti-LGBT sentiment that fuels a lot of bullyg that has nothg to do wh a specific personal anim agast a gay dividual.

THE RIGHT TO EXPEL GAY CHILDREN OM SCHOOL ISN'T ABOUT EEDOM; 'S ABOUT CELTY

Sendarily, of urse, is about those stunts an environment who may or may not be gay, maybe thkg about whether or not they are LGBT, and are wnsg the price that they will have to pay. Our guts are Eliza Byard, executive director of the Gay, Lbian and Straight Edutn Network, also known as GLSEN; and Judy Chiasson, wh the Office of Human Relatns, Diversy and Equy, Los Angel Unified School District.

AFTER PLAYG THE GAY KID SCHOOL OF ROCK, AN ACTOR ADJTS TO LIFE OFF CAMERA

Unified School District; Eliza Byard, as - serv as executive director of the Gay, Lbian and Straight Edutn Network; and someone who joed by phone who - Stanley, who was om Massachetts, print of the PFLAG chapter there.

And then there were others the class - and this was so spirg - they said, you know, I never realized when I said "that's so gay" that I was really hurtg somebody. Unified School District; and Eliza Byard, executive director of the Gay, Lbian and Straight Edutn Network - otherwise known as GLSEN - jog om our New York bure.

‘SCHOOL OF ROCK’S’ BILLY WR ABOUT BEG LABELED “THE GAY KID”

Don’t get me wrong – I am lovg all the new and excg sounds that are out there the days, particularly much of what’s g om emergg queer artists who are phg the envelope, ” Falduto said of his work on the upg Gay Country EP.

Twenty years ago, Matthew Shepard was a "smart, funny" 21-year-old, no different than any other young man that was an "ordary kid who wanted to make the world a better place, " his parents October 1998, that all changed, when the openly gay llege stunt was abducted, beaten and tied to a fence life end a few days later, and wh me a wispread awarens of the dangers that members of the LGBTQ muny face every day.

AS FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' LAW TAK EFFECT, SCHOOLS ROLL OUT LGBTQ RTRICTNS

The homophobic btal killg also served as a talyst for progrs Ameri's laws and the two s that have passed, however, remas batable how far the untry has e sce the shock of that crime. (MORE: 'Gay panic' fense still ed vlence s may be banned by new feral bill)McKney h Shepard about 20 tim the head and face wh the end of the pistol, Marsn said, before the two stole Shepard's sho, got their tck and drove back to town.

Agast the gay muny until after he grew up to bee very terted ternatnal human rights, particularly women's rights the Middle East and Asia, and he studied polil science, said Marsn.

Members of the Wtboro Baptist Church protted the funeral, picketg wh anti-gay Fred Phelps and his parishners traveled om Kansas to Laramie for the funeral and trial, prottg wh brightly lored signs and spewg hatred. McKney has cled to speak to ABC News while Henrson did not immediately rpond to a requt for WashgtonShepard's murr shed a light on the spe of feral hate crime laws, which at the time did not clu sexual orientatn or genr gay activists monstrate the streets of North Hollywood to prott agast the ath of Wyomg Universy stunt Mathew Shepard, Oct.

KENNY ORTEGA SAYS RYAN OM HIGH SCHOOL MIL WAS ‘PROBABLY’ GAY

"Beyond the feral hate crime law, the years sce Matthew Shepard's ath, among the most substantive legislative ws for the LGBTQ muny were the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell 2010, so gay ary members n serve openly whout fear of beg dismissed, and the legalizatn of same-sex marriage across the untry 2015. A 9-year-old Colorado boy who died by suici last week had been bullied at school after announcg over the summer that he was gay and exprsg his sire to share the news wh his classmat, his mother said. The revelatn apparently eed Jamel to share the rmatn wh others, his mom said: “He went to school and said he was gonna tell people he’s gay bee he’s proud of himself.

" - UnknownNearly three years ago, and about 14 years after I beme the reluctant recipient of the tle "that gay kid om School of Rock, " I cid to do a figurative flip on the way I was approachg my life.

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THE GAY KID SCHOOL OF ROCK

" In our efforts to jump to the ncln of our story as proud gay men, we want to skip over the chapters that require to reckon wh and nnect to the self we've been disassociated om our whole liv -- and jt don't work that way, unfortunately. “It didn’t need to be labeled as somethg, bee you don’t need to be gay or a certa genr orr to like fashn or to be effemate or to be sassy, ” says Falduto.

IS YOUR CHILD GAY?

And policians llg, pathetilly, for no h laws allowg fah schools to expel gay kids should be mandg the practice ends right now everywhere hymns tell God mov myster ways.

The hullabaloo ed by Wednday’s reports of Ruddock’s fdgs has been an unambiguoly good red before yterday that the law already allowed gay kids to be huiated this way? “That is the existg law, ” clared Stt Morrison, not once but half a dozen tim at a doorstop on the New South Wal central was he fortable wh gay and lbian children beg rejected by schools? That’s eful to know, he’s right: most stat and terrori – all but Queensland and Tasmania – let church schools get rid of gay and lbian kids jt for beg who they NSW ’s absolutely open slather.

“What mak that offensive posn even worse is that MPs haven’t even had the urage to expla why private schools need the ‘right’ to expel gay stunts or sack LGBTI teachers.