Noreen Fagan – At
least Lady Gaga listened to what Jamey Rodemeyer had to say.
Rodemeyer, 14, posted an online tribute to the monster queen
last week, thanking her for all she had done for gay rights — then he killed
himself.
Last week, I wrote about how Rodemeyer, after he came out in May,
was targeted by thugs at Williamsville North High School in
Buffalo, New York. He tried to deal with the bullying, but it obviously got too
much for him.
Rodemeyer was buried yesterday. Although it is after the
fact, two things have happened since then that might have made him smile.
First, according to Pink News, Amherst Police Department’s Special Victims Unit is
considering charging three students with harassment or hate crimes.
Police Chief John C Askey said, “We’re looking into it to
see if he was the victim of any crimes, and that’s the bottom line. We’re going
to be speaking to school officials and students and anyone with direct
information about crimes that may have been committed against this individual.”
Nothing may come of it, but at least the students should be
quivering in their boots — and rightly so.
Secondly, Lady Gaga came out
fighting after she heard the news about Rodemeyer, announcing that she wants to meet with
Barack Obama to discuss new legislation to tackle bullying. According to an article in the Guardian, the singer vowed not to stop fighting until
bullying has ended and sent out a Twitter message saying, “our generation has the power to end
it. Trend it #MakeALawForJamey.”
Gaga performed this weekend at the iHeartRadio Music
Festival in Las Vegas, where she paused before performing her
song “Hair” to tell the crowd, “I just wanted to take a moment because we lost
a little monster this week. Jamey, I know you’re looking down on us, and you’re
not a victim; you’re a lesson to all of us.”
Why you can trust Xtra
