Spectrum, officials draw attention to bullying, teens.
from San Rafael Patch
By Nancy Isles Nation
October 11, 2010
The Spectrum LGBT Center held a rally Monday to celebrate National Coming Out Day with a focus on young people and the bullying that has caused teens to commit suicide across the country.
Paula Pilecki, Spectrum executive director, read the names and circumstances of recent suicide victims who killed themselves after bullying.
"Gay kids are not the only ones to take their lives to suicide but they are three times more likely to," Pilecki said. "Gay teens have been struggling for quite a while."
Pilecki said she hopes to reach young people from throughout the county.
"It's time for us to come out of the closet and stand together," Pilecki said at the rally on the steps of San Rafael City Hall.
Mary Jane Burke, superintendent of Marin County schools, said it is time for everyone regardless of sexual orientation to be treated with dignity.
She said young people should be looking at dreams and toward their futures.
Vice Mayor Damon Connolly said he has two daughters at Terra Linda High and he has been talking with them about a recent suicide at their school and Proposition 8, the ban on gay marriage in California.
"There's a ray of hope here," Connolly said. We are seeing young people here and their generation gets it."
Connolly referred to two recent suicides at Terra Linda High School and Miller Creek Middle School, saying this is a problem on a larger level.
The Terra Linda incident involved a 15-year-old girl. Monday, the body of a 13-year-old Miller Creek Middle School was found by another child. Neither appeared to be related to sexual orientation but they were both reminders of the vulnerability of teenagers.
"We need to teach the right values and prevent bullying," Connolly said.
