Cody Barker, 17, from Appleton, Wisconsin and Chloe Lacey, 18, from Clovis, California took their lives in September 2010. In addition to Tyler Clementi, 18, Seth Walsh, 13, Billy Lucas, 15, Asher Brown, 13, and Justin Aaberg, 15, Cody Barker and Chloe Lacey bring to seven the reported gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender teen suicides from bullying last month.
“There is an under-reported homophobic epidemic in our nation. It affects vulnerable teens as they try to navigate adolescence and their sexuality,” said Malcolm Lazin, executive director, Equality Forum, a national and international GLBT civil rights organization with an educational focus. “It is not totally accurate to call their loss a suicide. They were battered by homophobia.”
Equality Forum is organizing a vigil Oct. 10 in Philadelphia. Among the scheduled speakers is Susan Wheeler, mother of James Wheeler, who took his life after being surrounded in his high school locker room and urinated on.