Suicides prompt a hunger strike to raise awareness about homophobic bullying
http://www.mydesert.com/article/201010030600/NEWS01/10030314?odyssey=mod_related_topix
A Palm Springs man, prompted by the recent suicides of various teenagers across the country, hopes his hunger strike and public protest on Palm Canyon Drive will raise awareness about the irreversible damage homophobic bullying can cause.
Since Friday, Richard Noble, 45, has been sitting at Tahquitz Canyon Way and North Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs.
Beside him is the sign “HOMOPHOBIA AND BULLIES KILL” along with a photo of Asher Brown, a 13-year-old Houston boy who shot himself Sept. 23 after he was bullied by classmates who thought he was gay.
“I just have these echoes in my ear — discrimination, discrimination, discrimination,” Noble said on Saturday of Brown's death, which is part of a trend that has surfaced during the past month.
In September, at least four teens from various parts of the country killed themselves after classmates bullied them because of their supposed sexual orientation. Public outrage over the suicides has continued to grow, and culminated in the denouncements of such intolerance by openly gay celebrities such as comedienne Ellen DeGeneres, singer Lance Bass, and actor Neil Patrick Harris.
The trio of entertainers say they were especially moved to speak out following the Sept. 22 suicide of Tyler Clementi, an 18-year-old Rutgers University freshman who jumped off the George Washington Bridge, which separates New York City and New Jersey, after his roommate and another student broadcast live images on the Internet of Clementi having an intimate encounter with another man.
The encounter was filmed using a hidden camera.
The two students have been charged with invasion of privacy.
Locally, Noble is not the only resident upset by this tragic trend.
“It's sad because they were just kids,” said Palm Springs resident Gilbert Hanks, 40, who walked through Downtown Palm Springs and passed Noble's corner Saturday. “It would've been nice if someone helped them before they decided to kill themselves.”
Noble, who is gay, said he empathizes with the struggles of these teens.
He said when he was a teenager he tried to kill himself twice because he was bullied by his classmates.
He said they would knock his books out of his arms and pick him last when playing sports.
Noble said he was teased for listening to Barry Manilow and The Carpenters, instead of the popular heavy metal bands of that time, he said.
“Music is supposed to bring everyone together, but music separated me from people,” Noble said.
He said he swallowed a bottle of aspirin when he was 14 years old and slit his wrists when he was 17 — an act that has left him with literal and figurative scars.
But Noble said he is glad he survived, since he became a gay rights activist who fights oppression around the country.
The Danville native launched a hunger strike Friday that won't stop, he said, adding that he wants President Barack Obama to end the “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” policy in the military, which he believes discriminates against gays in th military.
Noble, who said he plans to sit at that corner every day for the foreseeable future, will eat if he becomes sick.
Meanwhile, on Monday, local teenagers plan to march to Palm Springs High School with a gay pride flag in the hopes of convincing the principal to hang it at half staff outside the school, Noble said.
They'll ask that the flag hang one day for each of the teenagers who killed themselves, he said. Noble said parents are at the center of helping children who are gay or lesbian.
“They need to let them know they're loved,” he said.
A Palm Springs man, prompted by the recent suicides of various teenagers across the country, hopes his hunger strike and public protest on Palm Canyon Drive will raise awareness about the irreversible damage homophobic bullying can cause.
Since Friday, Richard Noble, 45, has been sitting at Tahquitz Canyon Way and North Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs.
Beside him is the sign “HOMOPHOBIA AND BULLIES KILL” along with a photo of Asher Brown, a 13-year-old Houston boy who shot himself Sept. 23 after he was bullied by classmates who thought he was gay.
“I just have these echoes in my ear — discrimination, discrimination, discrimination,” Noble said on Saturday of Brown's death, which is part of a trend that has surfaced during the past month.
In September, at least four teens from various parts of the country killed themselves after classmates bullied them because of their supposed sexual orientation. Public outrage over the suicides has continued to grow, and culminated in the denouncements of such intolerance by openly gay celebrities such as comedienne Ellen DeGeneres, singer Lance Bass, and actor Neil Patrick Harris.
The trio of entertainers say they were especially moved to speak out following the Sept. 22 suicide of Tyler Clementi, an 18-year-old Rutgers University freshman who jumped off the George Washington Bridge, which separates New York City and New Jersey, after his roommate and another student broadcast live images on the Internet of Clementi having an intimate encounter with another man.
The encounter was filmed using a hidden camera.
The two students have been charged with invasion of privacy.
Locally, Noble is not the only resident upset by this tragic trend.
“It's sad because they were just kids,” said Palm Springs resident Gilbert Hanks, 40, who walked through Downtown Palm Springs and passed Noble's corner Saturday. “It would've been nice if someone helped them before they decided to kill themselves.”
Noble, who is gay, said he empathizes with the struggles of these teens.
He said they would knock his books out of his arms and pick him last when playing sports.
Noble said he was teased for listening to Barry Manilow and The Carpenters, instead of the popular heavy metal bands of that time, he said.
“Music is supposed to bring everyone together, but music separated me from people,” Noble said.
He said he swallowed a bottle of aspirin when he was 14 years old and slit his wrists when he was 17 — an act that has left him with literal and figurative scars.
But Noble said he is glad he survived, since he became a gay rights activist who fights oppression around the country.
The Danville native launched a hunger strike Friday that won't stop, he said, adding that he wants President Barack Obama to end the “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” policy in the military, which he believes discriminates against gays in th military.
Noble, who said he plans to sit at that corner every day for the foreseeable future, will eat if he becomes sick.
Meanwhile, on Monday, local teenagers plan to march to Palm Springs High School with a gay pride flag in the hopes of convincing the principal to hang it at half staff outside the school, Noble said.
They'll ask that the flag hang one day for each of the teenagers who killed themselves, he said. Noble said parents are at the center of helping children who are gay or lesbian.
“They need to let them know they're loved,” he said.
