And I watched his video titled It Gets Better: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InWhEIaCFkg&context=C4dc5470ADvjVQa1PpcFMzXLraf2BZxNqSImP4OErv4C6fxyKHbXs=
It made me cry. I don't often cry. The young man in the video is dead. Bullied until he could take no more. Eric was only 19 years old. His suicide came only a month after making this video and posting it. Why did it make me cry and why has this affected me so much ... Like Eric I was bullied throughout junior school and all the way through secondary school where it got progressively worse. Like Eric, I too,was physically, mentally, emotionally and verbally attacked every day for my perceived sexual orientation. It didn't matter what my sexuality was, it was what they wanted it to be, to justify their actions. My name was not Matthew, Matt or any other abbreviation of it ... It was "gayboy banks" and other such derogatory name calling. Name calling was not confined to just inside the school walls - it was on the bus, in town, walking to and from school or going to the cinema or the shops. It was relentless ... I'm not going to even discuss the physical attacks, flesh wounds heal (eventually) the psychological aspect of the attacks remain, hidden under the skin - and I wanted to die - then I would escape my persecutors.
Eric's story was my story and my story was Eric's story (and unfortunately the story of a thousand others) - His words affected me, haunted me and shown me a truth that I had failed to see or realise - His story began decades after mine - He was bullied for being who he was, as I was bullied for being myself.
Eric thought that things would get better ... but something happened in the space of a month that changed that ... Here is an article about how his death has affected the community etc: http://dreamsomething.com/2012/11/13/tulare-kings-counties-gay-lesbian-and-bisexual-youth-still-face-bullying-visalia-times/
On Facebook there was a memorial wall put up in 2012. Many of his friends commented upon it - but there are those whose narrow minds and religious bigotry have shown what many LGBT (and straight) people across the Globe suffer in terms of bullying everyday: This sort of bullying should be classed as a criminal offense and those that perpetrate it should be jailed. That is my opinion. https://www.facebook.com/events/249441528461162/
His life may have been short, but he left his mark. Here is a beautiful film he made called 'Invisible Creatures': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCKrBcPU1PA
I hope that these videos stay there forever. Here are some pictures of Eric ... so people can remember ...
Finally, here is a piece that I wrote whilst I was at University. It was for the autobiographical aspect of my degree ... Though wrapped up in fiction, it is in fact true ...
R.I.P. Eric I hope that you have finally found the peace that you were looking for. I never got the opportunity to know or speak with you - I wish that circumstances were different, but then I would not have 'discovered' you. And so for all of you that are bullied, trampled upon for whatever reason I'll leave the last, profound words from Eric
And it does ....
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