Say It Ain't So Already

Bullied and Rejected to Death

January 31, 2012 at 12:25 PM Leave a comment

One of my brothers committed suicide in 1988 at the age of 32, so stories about suicide tend to catch my eye.  This one is particularly dreadful:

A gay teenager who committed suicide earlier this month claimed he had an exorcism performed on him by his Christian parents before they kicked him out of the house.

Eric James Borges, 19, took his own life on January 14 after suffering years of physical and verbal abuse at school and rejection from his ‘extremist’ family who made him leave home for being gay.

A friend read from the suicide note he left at one of several memorial services held for the young man in San Joaquin Valley, California last week. In it, he thanked friends for their love and support and mentioned Lady Gaga for being ‘a fearless, relentless, proud LGBT advocate’.

San Diego Gay & Lesbian News writer Melanie Nathan read from the teenager’s note, which said: ‘My pain is not caused because I am gay. My pain was caused by how I was treated because I am gay.’

He explained: ‘I was raised in an extremist Christian household. My earliest recollections of my experience with the relentless and ongoing bullying was in kindergarten, but of course to a lesser degree.

‘Throughout elementary, junior high and high school it got progressively worse. I was physically, mentally, emotionally and verbally assaulted on a day-to-day basis for my perceived sexual orientation.

”I had nowhere safe to go, either at home or school… My parents told me that, among other things, I was disgusting, perverted, unnatural and damned to Hell. About two months ago they officially kicked me out of my house.

‘My name was not Eric but “Faggot”.

‘And I know what it feels like to live in a world of government-sanctioned homophobia. But I refuse to be treated as a second-class citizen.’

(My emphasis.)

Go here to read more and to see an “It Gets Better” video Mr. Borges made, as well as his short film titled, Invisible Creatures.

What a sad, sad story.

Eric James Borges, you sound like an amazing guy.

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