My friend Greg Giraldo died yesterday. He was an exceptional talent, a hell of a guy, a dad, a genius, and a tortured soul. He was an amazing stand-up, and anytime I asked him to do a benefit for one of my kid's schools, he always said yes. He was so nice to the female comics - he was nice to everyone. Our kids go to the same school, and I keep thinking I'll see him dropping off or picking up his kids at the playground. Addiction is such an awful disease, and I wonder how someone with such a promising future could just end it all - just for that high. He didn't mean to do it, and yet so many lives are changed forever. Whomever gave him those drugs should be thrown in jail. The saddest part is how he brought laughter and joy to so many, and yet he couldn't find a way to find that within himself.
Then there is Tyler Clementi, a Rutgers student who jumped off the George Washington Bridge after his roommate secretly videotaped him with another man and posted it on the internet. He was an accomplished musician, and apparently a very nice person. But he was so humiliated by 2 ignorant, homophobic people, that he thought the only solution was to end his life. I so wish I could have spoken to him. I too was a music student at Rutgers. I know how difficult it is to be living in a dorm surrounded by straight people who don't know that you're gay. I was there in the 80's when people stayed in the closet. It's 2010 and this auspicious young man felt he had no other choice then to end his life? Why is that even an option?
Finally, there is Asher Brown - gay 13 year old boy in Houston, Texas who shot himself in the head after being constantly bullied at school. Why is this kind of bullying overlooked? Why did he think the only solution was to end his life? Wasn't there someone he could talk to? He's 13 years old - which is hard enough - but a gay 13 is even harder. And the kids that bullied him, how are they going to feel when they grow up and realize what they did? What do their parents think? My kids would never bully another child because they are accepting of other people - especially since their family is treated as second class by so many in this country. It's time this country gets with the program. We owe it to our gay teens to let them know they can have it all. That there is nothing wrong with them, and that there are places for them to go, and people for them to talk to. Shame on those bullies and those teachers who knew this was going on and turned a blind eye. Shame on those parents who teach their children that homosexuality is bad or sick. This has got to end already.
These are all major tragedies. Greg, Tyler and Asher all had so much to look forward to, so much to live for, and now so many lives are changed forever.
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