Catching up on today’s headlines: • PEOPLE: This year’s ‘Sexiest Man Alive’ is totally crushable Ant-Man star Paul Rudd. Hit the link for his reaction. Continue reading “News Round-Up: November 10, 2021”
News Round-Up: November 10, 2021
Trailer: Emotional Story Of Father’s Tribute To Son ‘Joe Bell’
Mark Wahlberg in ‘Joe Bell’ (all photos: Quantrell D. Colbert)
Reid Miller and Mark Wahlberg in ‘Joe Bell’
Sadly, the issue of mental health and bullying is not just a story for a dramatic film. The Trevor Project’s 2021 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health notes that:
• 75% of LGBTQ youth reported that they had experienced discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity at least once in their lifetime.
• 42% of LGBTQ youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year, including more than half of transgender and nonbinary youth.
If you or someone you know is feeling hopeless or suicidal, our trained crisis counselors are available 24/7 at 1-866-488-7386 via chat www.TheTrevorProject.org/Help, or by texting START to 678678. 
Cop Fired For Mocking Gay Teen Suicide Hired By New Police Department
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| Police officer Jeff Graves (screen capture via WHNT) |
A police officer in Alabama who resigned amid controversy after mocking the suicide of a gay teen has been rehired just two months later.
Nigel Shelby, a 15-year-old high school student, took his own life in April after having been the target of homophobic bullying.
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| Nigel Shelby (image via Facebook) |
Jeff Graves, while working as a Madison County Sheriff’s Deputy, commented on a story posted to Facebook about Shelby’s death writing:
“Liberty, Guns, Bible, Trump, BBQ – That’s my kind of LGBTQ movement. I’m seriously offended there is such a thing such as the movement. Society cannot and should not accept this behavior. I have a right to be offended by this fake movement which requires no special attention but by persons with an altered ego and fake agenda.”
Local news station WHNT19 reports Graves was initially suspended, and eventually resigned in early May.
But two months later, Graves has now been hired as an Owens Cross Roads police officer.
When contacted by WHNT, Owens Cross Roads Police Chief Jason Dobbins acknowledged being aware of Graves social media controversy and defended the hiring saying, “Everyone deserves a second chance.”
Declining to speak on camera, Dobbins told WHNT over the phone that Graves had expressed remorse for the controversial Facebook post.
The police chief said that he was “confident” that Graves would be able to serve all citizens in Owens Cross, including the LGBTQ community.
“Officer Graves may not have the same views as everyone else, but that doesn’t prevent him from doing his job as an officer,” Dobbins told NBC affiliate WAFF. “He’s going to make a great addition to our department.”
He added that all of Graves’s interactions with the public would be recorded on police body cameras.
Gay Teen Leaves Behind Heartbreaking Suicide Note
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| (stock photo via Pexels) |
An article no one ever wants to write.
This past Saturday, in a lengthy Twitter thread, Peter Delacroix shared the story of a gay 17-year-old who had committed suicide as a result of bullying and ridicule.
Delacroix woke up to an email from a teen he referred to as “Max” that was clearly a suicide note. Max was one of a group of queer teenagers that Delacroix counsels as a Youth Pastor at his church.
He immediately rushed to Max’s house, but it was too late. Max had hanged himself, and although CPR was administered, paramedics were unable to save him.
This morning, I found myself up much earlier than usual, so I decided to check my email and just generally screw around on my laptop. During this time, I received an email from one of the queer teens I peer counsel as a Youth Pastor at my church.
1/— Peter “Little Doc” Delacroix (@DocPeteyJ) May 5, 2018
It was a suicide note. I got there as quick as I could, but I was too late. Max was already dead. He had hanged himself sometime in the ten minutes it took me to get there. CPR was attempted, but he had been anoxic for far too long.
2/— Peter “Little Doc” Delacroix (@DocPeteyJ) May 5, 2018
Delacroix described young Max as having “the heart of a lion, the soul of a poet and the smile of an angel.” Apparently a budding musician, Delacroix says the 17-year-old’s music could “bring you to tears.”
We have lost an amazing, talented young man, lost his voice amid the howling storm of hatred that finally proved too much even for him.
Max’s grandmother asked Delacroix to share Max’s heartbreaking suicide note with the world. The pastor says he struggled at the request, but eventually shared via Twitter because “I cannot in good conscience silence his last words.”
Repeat – this is being shared by request from Max’s family.
Dear World
You are ugly and dirty and you make me feel ugly and dirty. I have heard all my life that I am a sinner even though I love God and I like to think God loves me too.
I’m sorry Jack that I didn’t kiss you that day. I’m sorry Pastor Pete but please don’t be sad. Mostly I’m sorry Gramma because I know you tried really hard to love me when no one else would. I’m sorry I let you all down. I’m sorry but I’m just tired of all the hate.
I’m tired and want to sleep forever but maybe I will wake up in Heaven and there will be no hate there and only love. No one will call me bad names or hit me or remind me of my accidental place here.
Everyday I watch the news and see the hate against people like me and I realize I have no future. This country I don’t recognize anymore hates me and makes laws to punish me just because I’m gay.
They hate me because I love too much and love too wrong. I learned that my kind of love is bad. I heard it enough to believe it a long time ago.
Everyday someone comes along that tells me that I am worthless and my love, how I love, who I love is an affront to God as if anyone truly knows God’s mind.
I love beautiful things and I cry when they are gone. There is no more beauty left in the world. It has been replaced with this alien thing called hate. Bad people killed all the beautiful things. This is not a world I want to live in.
This is my choice the only choice I was ever given and it is mine alone.
I love you but I won’t miss any of this and I don’t think in the end I will be missed much at all in a world that looks at me like I’m something dirty they found on the bottom of their shoe.
I’m sorry I was weak and that I loved too much.
Max
The pastor did have a final message for Max: “You are wrong about one thing: you *will* be missed, by the entire world, who has been robbed of your beauty.”
And Delacroix had this to say to parents of LGBTQ kids: “Parents, if you have a queer child, hug them and tell them you love them. Do this every day. Tell them they are beautiful and have worth, no matter what anyone else might tell them. Be their armor against hate.”
Max’s grandmother has asked those moved by Max’s loss consider donating to The Trevor Project or to a local homeless shelter dedicated to LGBTQ kids.
IMPORTANT: If you or anyone you know is in emotional distress or having suicidal thoughts, please call The Trevor Project 1-866-488-7386 (thetrevorproject.org) or the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255 (suicidepreventionlifeline.org).