First off, no matter how you feel about gay people and coming out, this is sad the kid was bullied. It is wrong. I personally deal with same-sex attractions, but was never bullied for that, because no one knew when I was in school...I was bullied for other reasons. Nothing I say after this is to take away the fact that he was bullied, and should not have been.
But there are a couple other sad things in this story:
1) What on earth is a 9 year old doing coming out? Nine is way too young to be thinking of sexuality. The sad thing is though that kids even younger than he are encouraged to experiment with their sexuality. The gay and transgender stuff is shoved on kids constantly via TV, school, and who knows from where else. I don't believe even teens should be coming out and experimenting sexually, but nine is definitely too young.
2) Where on earth did this kid get the idea to kill himself? I was bullied a lot in my teens, and it never, ever entered my mind to kill myself..... so why did it enter this 9 year old boy's mind, and why did he carry it out?
There's a country song that was recorded a few years back titled "Let them be little". It talks about how fast kids grow up, so you should let them be kids and do kid things as long as they can:
I can remember when you fit in the palm of my hand
Felt so good in it, no bigger than a minute
How it amazes me, you're changing with every blink
Faster than a flower blooms, they grow up all too soon
So let them be little 'cause they're only that way for a while
Give them hope, give them praise, give them love every day
Let them cry, let them giggle, let them sleep in the middle
Oh, just let them be little
I've never felt so much in one little tender touch
I live for those kisses, prayers, and your wishes
Now that you're teaching me things only a child can see
Every night while we're on our knees all I ask is please
Let them be little 'cause they're only that way for a while
Give them hope, give them praise, give them love every day
Let them cry, let them giggle, let them sleep in the middle
Oh, just let them be little
So innocent, a precious soul
You turn around
It's time to let them go
So let them be little 'cause they're only that way for a while
Give them hope, give them praise, give them love every day
Let them cry, let them giggle, let them sleep in the middle
Oh, just let them be little
Let them be little
Kids aren't allowed to be kids anymore. They are thrown into all sorts of after school things - sports, band, and other things. A lot of kids don't leave school, go home, and stay there the rest of the day. If they leave school when it ends, they go to little league, football practice, band, and other activities. Throw in homework, and kids have hardly any time to have time of their own to do kid stuff.
I attended a Christian school, which I am thankful for. My parents thankfully didn't send us to public school, where I would have stood out even more than a Christian school, or home schooling...thought it was not the fad back then that it is now. I would have been even more shy and withdrawn than I was.
We went straight home from school, and stayed there. We didn't have teachers that gave us homework all the time so we couldn't leave school at school. We were not in football, little league, band, etc.....We went home and played. We didn't have a TV after I was 11, so we played and I developed a love of books. We had chores, and didn't play 24/7....but we grew up doing kid things, and didn't have things thrown on us that took our time or made us grow up faster than we should have. I didn't know what sex was until I was in 7th grade, and got an education from other kids at school. I barely knew what gay was, and was past my teens before I realized what I had been experiencing since my teen years was attractions to other boys. I didn't know what gay was when I was 9. I didn't even know what sex was when I was 9.
But today, kids know what sex is before they go to school. Kids as young as 5 are being exposed to gay sex, and encouraged to experiment sexually with members of the same sex.....and I am a firm believer this emphasis and constant outpouring of all things gay are causing kids to turn out gay who would not have been otherwise, because they are bombarded with all things gay and encouraged to experiment sexually with the same sex.
My parents were accused by some of having us kids in a green house and trying to shelter us and make us "hot house plants" by a neighbor of ours once, and they likely had similar things said by others. And maybe we were sheltered. We really had no outer influences. We attended a Christian school, church, and hung out at home. We didn't have TV after I was eleven years of age, and I am thankful we didn't have all the influences kids in public schools get from school, TV, and other places.
This may surprise and shock some people, but I had no clue I was attracted to other guys, gay, or whatever label you want to use - until I was the age of 21.....in Bible College. Sound crazy? Yeah, it is. But I was so sheltered and naive that I barely knew what gay was. Yes, I knew....but yet I didn't really. I had tried dating a couple of girls in college, and they went nowhere. Girls were like buddies to me, and I felt comfortable around them. Boys....not so much.
I can still remember the day it hit me. I was doing a report on homosexuality for a class I was in. At one point, it hit me. That has been many years ago, but my reaction was pretty much "crap! That is what is wrong with me!" I think I even cried. I felt hopeless and condemned, for the Bible says people like me were going to hell. Thankfully, I eventually came to the point that I realized it is the act that is sinful, not the attractions and desires.
As I looked back over the last several years up to that point, I could then see this had been going on since at least my teen years. That envy and admiration of boys and their bodies was not what "normal" boys experienced. I had been experiencing the feelings towards boys that I should have had towards girls. That was the reason when I saw a trashy romance book cover, I would find myself looking at the shirtless guy instead of the female with her dress half off her body.
It was a horrifying realization. I was in a very conservative Bible college. I couldn't tell anyone. I'd be kicked out before I could blink. Family wouldn't understand....no one would understand.
Twenty-eight years later, things have changed a lot. Kids might still get kicked out of that Bible college for being attracted to the same sex, but it isn't quite so shocking even to conservative Christians when someone comes out as gay. I finally "outted" myself on this blog a few years ago, and it really hasn't changed much, other than being freeing and causing that part of my life to not have such a hold on me as when I had to hide in fear of someone finding out my dark secret that I worked so hard to hide for so many years. Granted, no one is lining up at my door wanting to hang out, but that never happened before my revelation. The same few people talk to me at church, and these days I am more of a pariah for opposing Donald Trump than I am for being attracted to other guys.
But what if I didn't come out as a Christian dealing with same-sex attractions, but instead as a gay guy living as gay guys do? I am too old to be bullied by those in my life, but I am sure I would face some harsh words from Christians, and be ostracized by many. I honestly don't know. Would I get such harsh reactions that suicide would be an option for me? I honestly don't think so. I have faced urges and temptations to do that many times in my life due to this issue I deal with, and in more recent years at times of deep depression. I know suicide is not the answer, so even if as an adult I faced what this kid faced if I came out in the same way, I cannot see that being an option.
On the flip side, what if I had realized in my teens what was going on, and had been brave or stupid enough to "come out"....or at Bible college? I have no doubts what kind of reactions I would have gotten, and only God knows what would have happened.
There used to be an innocence in kids. Oh, they could be bad and mischievous, but thoughts of sex - even with the opposite sex - didn't come along until at least the teens. Kids around the age of 9 were too busy playing, fishing, and doing other "kid" things.
But that has changed. Our country now murders the most innocent while they are still in the womb, and subjects innocent kids to the most vile crap in their attempts to normalize sin, and expose kids to their agenda as young as they can so kids grow up not opposing sin and things that used to be taboo and not normal.
My nieces are all pretty much adults now, with the youngest being 18. My nephews are 16, 14, and 11. They are still pretty innocent in terms of sex, gay stuff, transgender, and other such things they'd be exposed to and forced to be OK with if they were in a public school and were subjected to the brainwashing of Hollywood.
There was a day when it was taboo for a girl to get pregnant out of wedlock. It was normal to wait til you were married to have sex. Homosexuality was hidden and whispered about. Transgender wasn't even thought about. Now you are considered a freak if you aren't whoring out your body before you graduate from high school. Kids are born out of wedlock as often as in wedlock. Many women have multiple kids by multiple guys, and too many kids don't have their father's last name or presence in their lives. Divorce is all too common, and kid's lives are shattered as they are shuffled back and forth between two (often) selfish people.
Kids in Kindergarten are exposed to homosexuality and encouraged to experiment with others of the same sex. Kids know more about what men and women do sexually and what 2 guys do sexually than they do about the normal things kids used to do.
Kids way too young to be thinking of such things are coming out as gay before they are old enough to even have sex. Others are trying to change their gender before their genitals have even sprouted pubic hairs, encouraged by parents that should be charged with child abuse and lose rights to having their children.
America has kicked God to the curb, and keeps embracing more and more wicked and perverse behaviors. Sadly, I don't think the day is far off when pedophilia will be legalized. We are already sexualizing our kids way too young, and exposing them to every vile and sinful behavior that is out there. Our kids are already in danger from liberal and pro-gay agendas.
These days, if you want to protect your kids from all of this, the best solutions are to not have a TV, have your kids in a good Christian school - or home school if that is not an option, and be careful who your kids hang out with and keep track of where they are and what they are doing.
And if there is access to the internet in any way, carefully monitor all uses, even if it means they have no privacy. Kids way too young are viewing pornography, and meeting adults of the opposite or same sex via the internet or phone apps. The devil is waging war against the family, and he wants children.....your children.
It is tragic that this boy was bullied and that he took his own life. It is also tragic he was raised in an atmosphere that he had already been sexualized and most likely encouraged by his own parents. Being gay is not fun. It is tough to deal with, even today when it is so widely accepted. It isn't something a 9 year old should be dealing with, but something adults should be dealing with.....though it often is teens who are first dealing with it.
I am thankful I didn't completely realize what I was dealing with until I was 21. I can't imagine if I had been exposed to it so early that I felt I was gay at such an early age.
The answer isn't to make gay more accepted and normal. The answer is to let kids be kids instead of exposing them to so much crap that is only going to mess them up and endanger their health and their very lives. Yes, I am thankful it is now easier to come forward and admit you are gay/same sex attracted....but it is still sin...along with a lot of other things. It is sad that it is being winked at by so many churches and Christians, and gay people are patted on the back and told they can be Christians while having sex with the same sex......but it is also sad that teens are having sex before marriage, and that the church has become so used to and accepting of couples shacking up and not marrying.
And all the while, the most vulnerable and innocent among us are being hurt by our immorality, the push to normalize sin, and the push for kids to experiment with everything liberals and gay people want kids to be brainwashed into accepting as normal.
I am not a parent, and never will. I do have 6 nieces and nephews I love more than anything, and I am thankful they have been raised as I was, and for the most part won't face what kids in public schools will face.
It is so tragically sad what happened to this young man, but it could all have been avoided if he had been raised in a different environment and encouraged to be a kid, instead of encouraged to be gay at the age of 9.
