(PRIMGHAR, IA) "Be buddies, not bullies." This was a favorite quote of 14–year–old Kenneth Weishuhn, who committed suicide this past weekend. Now his speaking out to make sure his life – and death – are not soon forgotten. They say bullying about his sexual orientation caused Kenneth to take his own life, and that school officials in the South O'Brien School District did little to stop the harassment.
"He always held his head high, but something happened, this bullying's got to stop. Enough's enough. They pushed him too far, and he took his life," said Chris Barrows, Kenneth's uncle.
A life they feel was taken too soon. Family members have dyed their hair pink - Kenneth's favorite color - in honor of his memory.
"He was an all around typical teenage boy. His smile, is what got everyone going," said Kenneth's sister Kayla.
His family says the bullying started when Kenneth came out of the closet.
"People started shouting names at him in the hallway, just the sophomore boys, 'cause there's a certain part in the hallway where we'd walk by, they'd shout names at him and everything," said Kayla. "My brother would ignore it, he'd say they are going to accept me for who I am or they don't, you know, I'm still going to be myself."
According to Kayla, a counselor at South O'Brien warned the boys to stop the bullying, but it got worse instead, with gay jokes on Facebook that they knew Kenneth would see.
"They would comment on his pictures, his statuses, on his wall, and anything that he had put on there, they'd comment on it, saying that, you're like a faggot, you're a queer, and no one likes you, and God hates gays. That was one of the biggest ones, God hates gays," Kayla said.
The harassment escalated again on Saturday, when one of the bullies created a Facebook page called "People Against Gays" and added all of Kenneth's friends. Although none of his friends had joined the group, Kenneth misunderstood the invites, thinking his friends were turning on him.
And it didn't stop there. Kenneth's family says he received nearly twenty threatening voicemails from a private number.
"Saying they were going to come kill him, if he didn't kill himself, and that God hated gays and that he deserved to die, he didn't need to live," Kayla said.
This past Sunday, Kenneth took his own life.
Kayla says she has trouble understanding the motivation of the bullies who tormented her brother.
"To make someone feel so horrible about themselves, to feel worthless, to make them hate themselves like they did to my brother... it's just sickening, it makes me sick," she said.
South O'Brien School District officials say they have a zero tolerance policy for bullying.
Students have had two assemblies about bullying this school year alone.
The superintendent says South O'Brien faculty and staff take bullying very seriously.
"Bad mouthing somebody, running somebody down is not acceptable and it needs to be made clear it's not acceptable in our society no matter where it occurs," said Superintendent Dan Moore.
Kenneth's family says they don't feel like the school did enough to help the situation and they hope to make the policy better in the future. School officials declined to talk specifically about any punishments handed out in Kenneth's case.
Funeral services for Kenneth will be held this Friday, and a 5k run/walk, scheduled for April 27th, is being organized in his memory.
