12-year-old boy commits suicide after being ‘bullied for being gay at school’

“He was supposed to be because he wasn’t necessarily religious, and he said he was gay, that he was going to hell,” Debbey said. WKRN. ‘They tell him that quite often.’

The mother added that her son will paint his nails and wear the same SpongeBob sweater but wash his clothes every day.

“I think maybe because he wears the same clothes every day they use it as a weapon,” Debbey said.

Eli told his parents that he was bullied but they were not aware of the extent of the abuse. Debbey says they never imagined that would lead Eli to commit suicide.

“He didn’t care, or at least we thought he didn’t care, and that was a really hard thing for us because we thought he didn’t care,” she said.

Steve Fritchley, Eli’s father, said his son’s peers were ‘really abusive’.

‘I don’t think it’s ever been physical. I think it’s just words,’ he said. ‘But words hurt. They really hurt. ‘

School district officials said they were ‘shocked’ and ‘devastated’ by Eli’s death and plan to work with the Fritchleys to improve ‘social and emotional learning’ on their campus. surname.

ONE GoFundMe The account was set up to start a fund dedicated to ‘helping other children and families who may be in the same situation as the Fritchleys so this terrible tragedy doesn’t have to happen again’.

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