A 14-year-old Iowa student took his own life April 15, after he came out as a gay only to be targeted by bullies at school, according to multiple reports.
Kenneth James Weishuhn Jr., a student at South O’Brien High School in Paulina, came out last month, according to the Associated Press, and faced taunts and threats as a result.
KTIV reported that the high school freshman masked his pain with smiles, but that his sister Kayla saw her peers picking on her brother.
The teen’s death has provoked mass response in Weishuhn’s community and from LGBT groups across the country. A Facebook page dedicated to his memory had more than 5,000 followers as of April 23.
The Sioux City Journal dedicated an entire front page to an editorial against bullying in the wake of Weishuhn’s death. Editor Mitch Pugh told the Des Moines Register that it is the first time in the paper’s history that an entire front-page had been given to an editorial.