NEW JERSEY ANTI-BULLYING LAW RESULT OF ONLY TYPE OF BULLYING THAT COUNTS

Hayle Fentress and Paige Moravetz committed suicide because of alleged bullying, but it wasn't because they were gay. ()

By STEVE MALZBERG
     Garden State Journal Columnist

   Last April, the bodies of two 14-year-old best friends were found following a slumber party by the mother of one of the girls. Hayle Fentress and Paige Moravetz had carried out the suicide pact that they had entered into. They left behind notes letting their families know how much they loved them. The aunt of one of the girls said it appeared that the deaths had been in the planning stages for quite some time. What on earth could have led these eighth graders from Lynd, Minnesota to such an unthinkable ending?  They must have been bullied because of their sexuality, right? Wrong. Both girls were overweight and had red hair, and that was what they were bullied about. Can you believe it? Were you aware of this horror? Probably not.

   In Chadbourn ,North Carolina, 10-year-old Jasmine McClain hanged herself in her bedroom earlier this month. She was found by her mother who said that her daughter took her last breath in her arms. Police say that Facebook posts and  posts on other social media led to the discovery that Jasmine was "bullied-and bullied bad" in school.  Little Jasmine wasn't picked on for being gay, rather she was relentlessly teased about her clothes and her shoes. It can be that simple. What's that, another story you have never heard of? Not surprising at all.

   However, the whole world is well aware of the tragedy that took place in New Jersey centered around  Rutgers University. Last year , 18-year-old freshman Tyler Clementi  took his own life by jumping off of the George Washington Bridge. Just a few days earlier, Clementi's roommate allegedly used a webcam to spy on a homosexual encounter between Tyler and another male. The reaction to this "bullying" death was fast and furious. A bit ironic, because the case, tragic as it was, may have been the case with the least amount of actual bullying of all the examples put forth in this column. But this involved homosexuality, and the media took it and ran with it for all that it was worth. Gay and lesbian groups led the charge and the media treated this suicide as if it were the only bullying related suicide they had ever heard of. As a result of the Clementi case, New Jersey passed the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights. It contains 18 pages of "required components" and many school districts have complained about their ability to enforce it all.

   Let's say Tyler Clementi had been involved in a heterosexual  encounter with the webcam rolling. Let's say he had a girlfriend and was terrified that she would find out about it, so he raced to the GWB and jumped off. Just as tragic, correct? But do you really think this would have been a big deal? Do you believe that New Jersey would today have the anti-bullying bill that we have? Absolutely not! Because the only kind of bullying that matters anywhere, is bullying involving sexual orientation. Want some more examples of why I am right?

   Asher Brown was a straight-A student in Houston, Texas. He was in the eighth grade last year when he decided that it would be easier to shoot himself in the head rather than continue to face the bullying from his fellow middle school students. Was Asher gay? His parents say no, although there was some name calling. But they went after Asher because his of his small size and the fact that he did not wear shoes and clothes that measured up. Asher preferred flip flops and T-shirts and that was apparently unacceptable to those who drove him to his own demise.

   Last February, a brilliant 15-year-old girl, who had also been a star athlete,  jumped in front of a moving train in England. She was not gay. She had been devastated by the divorce of her parents and was hoping for a reconciliation. But some of her fellow students at the snooty private school she attended found it irresistible to tease her about the break up.

Also from the UK, Kelsey Jade Winter was just 13 when she tied a belt around her neck in 2008. She had been bullied , but not because of her sexuality. Her mom says she had been called freckle face and pig nose. She had died her hair to make it darker and wore heavy makeup to hide the freckles but to no avail. They teased her about that too.   

   If there is a way to measure tragedy, this is perhaps the worst story of all. Up in Pickering, Ontario, Canada, 11-year-old Mitchell Wilson took his life last September. He had lost his mother to cancer three years earlier and two years later he would be diagnosed with muscular dystrophy . A year ago, Mitchell was mugged by a 12-year-old who was reportedly out to steal  the iPhone that he used to listen to music while making his therapeutic walks each day. The attacker’s friends soon started following Mitchell home each day, intimidating and taunting him. It all became too much for the youngster to take. Mitchell's dad found his body –a  plastic bag tied around his head – on what would have been his first day in the sixth grade.  

   Answer  this one question: of all of these cases, why have you and the world only heard of Tyler Clementi?

Steve Malzberg is a national talk show host. He can be reached at malzbegtalk@gmail.com  You can follow Steve at www.malzbergtalk.com

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NEW JERSEY ANTI-BULLYING LAW RESULT OF ONLY TYPE OF BULLYING THAT COUNTS