“@ladygaga bye mother monster, thank you for all you have done, paws up forever,” was the last tweet ever from 14-year-old Jamey Rodemeyer (@hausofjamey), who then killed himself a few hours later. He was bullied constantly for his sexuality and often turned to the message that Lady Gaga is known to give out.
Apparently that wasn’t enough.
When Gaga heard of the news, she made a stance that she was going to make bullying illegal in the United States.
“Bullying must become be (SIC) illegal. It’s a hate crime,” she tweeted.
Really now?
Although there are many laws based in morality that infringe on human rights, there’s really no way a law could make bullying completely illegal. First of all, what do you define as bullying? It’s subjective. Second of all, are you going to start carting 13-year-old pimply teens off to prison for calling Bertha fat?
As much as I love how strongly Gaga feels about her young, gay fans, it rubs me the wrong way that she only gets fired up for a certain group within her extremely large fan base. What about the little Hispanic or African-American or Asian kids who get bullied because of their race? What about the straight boys who love her music (believe me they exist) who get taunted all the time?
The hash tag Gaga created on Twitter, #MakeALawForJamey, caused quite a stir and trended worldwide. Do you just want to make a law for one depressed and bullied kid or all the kids who felt they couldn’t live a single more day?
My problem isn’t with the whole anti-bullying regime at all. My problem is the hypocrisy that comes along with it. People only care about making something illegal when a tragedy occurs. Where were those supporters when Jamey needed them the most?
For 14 hours, most of the “little monsters” on Twitter were making fun of Jamey, not believing he actually killed himself, thinking he just wanted to gain the attention of his favorite pop star. Suicide hoaxes have happened before.
I feel so terrible for Jamey’s family that he left behind and the fact that he didn’t think he had anyone to talk to. Middle school and high school are hard enough, even harder for gay kids. But this kind of awareness should be heard all the time, not just every once in a while when someone kills himself or herself, and certainly not just because one pop singer, who has millions of fans that seek her approval, wants to rant about it.
