by Shaun Knittel - SGN Associate Editor

Despite recent media attention and a number of video projects encouraging LGBTQ teens to stay resilient in the face of opposition, teen suicides within the Gay community continue at an alarming rate.

The latest teen to fall victim to anti-LGBTQ bullying, Terrel Williams, 17, took his life on October 13 in Lakewood, Washington. Terrel penned a suicide note and then hung himself in the family's home just hours after being attacked by five other high school students who pushed and threw him into a brick wall at Clover Park High School in Lakewood.

Terrel's mother, Cheryl Williams, found her son in his bedroom closet. 'My son meant the world to me, and high school bullies pushed him over the edge. I hope and pray that no other child ever has to go through what he did. Bullying isn't worth it. Why can't people just be nice?' Cheryl wrote in a statement she posted on Terrel's Twitter page.

Terrel's suicide note read:

'I'm sorry to my immediate loved ones, but I feel suicide is the only way out. I felt coming out, and being happy with Daric, was the best thing I could've ever done. But I didn't think it would lead to my death at an early age.

'Today, was the record worst day of my life, some kids at school stole some of my stuff that I got from people I really cared about, and that really pushed me over the top, next to being shoved into a wall, and my ribs being broken.'

Terrel's boyfriend, Daric Rawr, told the online Gay new source LGBTQ Nation that following the October 13 incident, Terrel had to be picked up and brought home from school. Daric says he was unaware of the attack and was on his way to Terrel's home to attend a family dinner when Terrel's mother called to tell him she found her son hanging in his closet.

October 16 would've marked Terrel's 18th birthday, and the seventh anniversary of Terrel and Daric's relationship.

According to Darric - who is now 16 - the boys met and became friends when they were 10 and 9 years old, respectively. 'We began as play dates, like anybody else would, and as we got older into the teen years, his parents allowed us to give dating a shot,' he said.

Daric described Terrel as 'a compassionate, fun-loving, outgoing person who enjoyed life to the fullest. He loved life, but felt the need to take it, because [the bullying] didn't stop & respectful, wholehearted people like Terrel, and the growing number of others, shouldn't have to feel suicide is the answer, because bullies won't stop.'

To date, there has not been any formal action from the school district in regards to the bullying incident.

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