By Henry Zhu
<[email protected]>

As I was watching the Colts’ game against the Texans a couple of weeks ago, I recalled that the last line of our national anthem states, “O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.” However, I question the extent to which this claim is true today. From Houston to New Jersey to our Hoosier State, there have been a startling number of young students who have taken their own lives.

Even worse is these teens are killing themselves over something they have little control over: society’s reaction to their sexuality. If teenagers are choosing to commit suicide rather than live in our “free” society, I feel that we need to change either that line of the song or the way we act.

Data from the Trevor Project, the leading national suicide prevention organization among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) youth, shows that LGBTQ youth are four times as likely to kill themselves as heterosexuals, with over one-third of such teens reporting that they have attempted suicide. This number does not include those who have considered but never attempted suicide. Considering that suicide is the third-leading cause of death among 15 to 24 year-olds according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, we have a responsibility to treat our fellow students like the human beings they are.

If there is a silver lining in the events of the last few weeks, it is that the public is finally becoming aware of this problem. Journalist Dan Savage founded the “It Gets Better Project” in response to the recent suicides as a way to encourage teens, and many public figures from Ellen DeGeneres to Neil Patrick Harris to Ricky Martin have rallied to the cause. Across the nation, this new movement is beginning to make an impact: a bigoted school board member in Arkansas was forced to resign after actually encouraging homosexuals to commit suicide. Oct. 20 was a “spirit day” to remember those who died and New Jersey introduced an “anti-bullying bill of rights” to prevent such unfortunate events from occurring again.

No one, regardless of gender, race, creed or sexual orientation, should be driven to commit or even attempt such an act. Whether homosexuality is a choice or gay marriage should be legal is irrelevant; far too many are dying because of society’s indifference to bigotry.

Though the majority of us are not the bullies who make life terrible for those with different sexual orientations, apathy to such actions allow those who do bully to continue. Rafiki said in “The Lion King” that “the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” and someone has to be brave enough to take that first step to confront the bullies and tell others to stop using words like “faggot” or “gay.” Change will happen if enough people stand up to fight for what they know is right.

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention has declared tomorrow, Nov. 20, the 12th annual National Survivors of Suicide Day. On this day, I hope that some of us still possess enough humanity to work to prevent another person from going through such an experience.

The next time I hear the national anthem, I will remember that for some this land is not free and the brave ones are those who endure every painful day hoping that maybe, just maybe, the next one will be better.