N.Y. students suspended after gay teen's suicide

Jamey Rodemeyer, in a still from his "It gets better" video. / YouTube

AMHERST, N.Y. - A high school in upstate New York has suspended some students after the suicide of a bullied gay teenager.

Jamey Rodemeyer's suicide at age 14 on Sept. 18 drew national attention, including laments from Lady Gaga over the loss of another promising life to bullying.

Police in the Buffalo suburb of Amherst investigating the death uncovered five bullying episodes at Williamsville North High School, but cited difficulties in prosecuting the case in announcing last month that no charges would be filed.

VIDEO: Teen bullying victim dead in apparent suicide
VIDEO: "It Gets Better" teen bullied to death
VIDEO: Lady Gaga pays tribute to bullied teen
Sister: Bullies said "We're happy Jamey's dead"

The Buffalo News reports that the Williamsville Central School District concluded its own investigation into Rodemeyer's death last week by suspending some North High School students. School officials declined to say how many students were suspended or how long the suspensions will last. Superintendent Scott Martzloff said the students face "a minimum of suspensions," meaning at least short-term suspensions of up to five days, with the possibility of long-term suspensions subject to a hearing. Because of the student's age, expulsion is not an option.

Police previously reported that they had evidence of several bullying incidents including at least four instances when someone made inappropriate comments about Rodemeyer's sexual orientation. A female student was suspended after his death for telling friends of his sister that she was glad Rodemeyer was dead. That same student was involved in two of the bullying cases that the police had been investigating.

[hercsurf1]

Just some priceless comments in here. Whether bullying has been around for ages or not, if a child commits suicide because of it thats a tragedy and anyoe who is a decent human being should be concerned. To say its because of a gay agenda or anything is 100% wrong. Kids are dying now and all you rednecks can do is criticize gays? Sick and most of you are religious nutjobs who pretend to be "christian" but do everything that "jesus" wouldnt do. Pathetic

[taewolf]

Amen, I totally agree!

[dicksgirl]

Yes.This is extremely sad. Gay or straight, bullying NEEDS to stop.

[democracy8]

At least 2 posts that I made failed to come up here and there was nothing in them even vaguely in violation of the TOS.

[mountainstates1]

These "thugs" should be in juvenile detention until their 18th birthday and then transferred to an adult prison. Let the general prison population decide what's right!

[Irby32]

Everybody is weak these days...bullying is NOTHING new and humans have withstood it for centuries

[democracy8]

Your sense of compassion for others is simply astonishing!

[andie52]

it's more prevalent and easier for those who bully because of all the social networking sites- it's out of control

[cozzicon]

I'm glad that people are becoming activists for defending bullied kids.

[democracy8]

summarex: The kid in this story did NOT make homosexual advances on any one. You are thinking of an entirely different story in which a straight kid killed a gay kid for that reason. The straight kid was acquitted, btw.