Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Another Bullied Teen takes his Life


Billy Lucas took his own life last Thursday, by hanging himself in his family's barn.

He did it because he was being bullied and harassed as school:
The 15-year-old never told anyone he was gay but students at Greensburg High School thought he was and so they picked on him.

"People would call him 'fag' and stuff like that, just make fun of him because he's different basically," said student Dillen Swango.

Students told Fox59 News it was common knowledge that children bullied Billy and from what they said, it was getting worse. Last Thursday, Billy's mother found him dead inside their barn. He had hung himself.

Students said on that same day, some students told Billy to kill himself.

"They said stuff like 'you're like a piece of crap' and 'you don't deserve to live.' Different things like that. Talked about how he was gay or whatever," said Swango.

Principal Phil Chapple doesn't deny that students are bullied in the high school, but he said he didn't know Billy was one of the victims.

"We were not aware of that situation," said Chapple.

It's clear though, on a memorial page created in Billy's honor that many people knew students bullied him. We found comments like "everyone made fun of him"

It's a wake up call to a serious problem the school can't ignore.

According to many students, past and present, bullying has been an issue Greensburg High School for years. Hopefully, this will make the faculty wake up and take notice.

My heart goes out to the family of Billy Lucas.

source

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Another sad story. I hope this doesn't turn out to be another year of young guys taking their lives for being bullied. Most of us have been to that point of wanting all the pain to go away, but suicide is not the answer.

Anonymous said...

when i went to school- mid 80's - i was picked on for a little while, until i stood up and took the point and broke some heads. no one ever called me fag, homo, queer again. yes i know many of the kids being bullied are small and weaker but if they stand for themselves and show some courage, many of the bullies will back down.
you done have to fight fair, you fight crazy and use what you can, be it a bat, stone, or garbage can you hit the bully with.

The Stuff

My photo
Viktor is a small town southern boy living in Los Angeles. You can find him on Twitter, writing about pop culture, politics, and comics. He’s the creator of the graphic novel StrangeLore and currently getting back into screenwriting.