Jamel, a 9-year-old in fourth grade at an Elementary School in Denver, Colorado killed himself last week, only four days after coming out to his classmates. He told his mom during a summer car ride that he was gay. “He looked so scared when he told me. He was like, ‘Mom I’m gay.’ And I thought he was playing, so I looked back because I was driving, and he was all curled up, so scared. And I said, ‘I still love you,’”
His mother said Jamel also told her he’d rather dress as a girl than a boy. She told a local news channel that Jamel was being bullied: “Four days is all it took at school. I could just imagine what they said to him. My son told my oldest daughter the kids at school told him to kill himself. I’m just sad he didn’t come to me. I’m so upset that he thought that was his option.”
Denver Public Schools said it is providing crisis counselling to students and support to Jamel’s family. According to research, 40% of queer teens seriously considered suicide at least once in their life.