Gay Tennessee 12-Year-Old Kills Himself After Christian Bullying
Grieving parents go public to plead for love and acceptance
This is the most difficult story I’ve written in ages
I spent hours yesterday digging for facts. Nightmares disturbed my sleep last night. That similar horrors often happen in the U.S. should give anyone nightmares. Sadly, this story of a gay child tormented by his Christian schoolmates has not gripped the nation and probably will not. Could I ask you to give this story your attention for a few minutes? Could you think about why LGBTQ adolescents are five time more likely than their peers to attempt suicide? Can you think about how we as a nation can foster love instead of hate?
Eli Fritchley was a 12-year-old at Cascades Middle School in Bedford County, Tennessee. He loved Sponge Bob, playing trombone in the marching band, and painting his nails. He told fellow students he was gay, and they taunted him mercilessly on religious grounds, telling him repeatedly that he was going to hell. Eli’s parents, who knew about the bullying, thought he was okay, thought he was tough enough to shrug it off, which he seemed good at.
Eli’s religious bullies were the daughters and sons of Evangelical Christians, who make up more than 50% of…
