Homophobic Bullying Drives Teen To Suicide

The father of a London, Ontario area teenager says his son killed himself because of endless anti-gay taunts that school officials did nothing to stop. "I had to cut my son down from the tree. I told the kids at the funeral that if you don't get together and confront the bullies, it will be your parents cutting you down," John Melo told the London Free Press. "You guys have to stick together, stand up to the bullies, take away their power and they will back down. If you guys don't do it, the system won't. Retaliation is not the answer." Joshua Melo was a Grade 10 student at Strathroy District Collegiate Institute. He was bullied, harassed and forced to endure anti-gay epithets on a daily basis his family say. Shortly before he walked outside his home and hanged himself from a tree he had received an instant message on his computer his aunt, Natalie Moniz told the Free Press. "Nothing was done and it's too late now," said Moniz. Joshua was not gay, his aunt said, but he took the taunts personally. His father said that the pressure on his son had been building for some time. Melo said the family heard of problems a couple of months ago and spoke to Joshua, but said he told them everything was fine. "Joshua was the type of boy to bottle everything up inside and this had been going on for a long time -- a couple of months, maybe longer," he said. "It's more then heartbreaking." Local police have begun an investigation. "What we're looking at is what's going on now at the school," said Sgt. Rich Holmes. "After these types of things happen, everyone starts finger pointing." School principal Ron Newnes told the Free Press that while school officials are "aware of the allegations" about bullying, he wouldn't comment until police and internal probes are complete. He wouldn't say whether students had been suspended or discuss what had happened at the school this week. "We've had police in a number of times this week to help keep the school on an even keel," Newnes told the paper. "This week has been very traumatic and difficult. We've had a lot of upset kids." But, the paper reports some students refused to stand when the school held a moment of silence for Joshua and others said he deserved to die. "All we've got is political stuff from the principal. They say they couldn't control what was happening in the hallways. What kind of a system do we have?" Melo told the paper.