Pensito Review is supporting the National Day of Silence, which seeks to end the out of control bullying and taunting of gay, lesbian, bi, trans, straight but funny-looking, straight but shy, straight but fat or thin, straight but geeky, straight but…you get the idea, that goes on in schools and increasingly ends badly.

This year’s DOS is dedicated to the memory of Carl Walker-Hoover, who would have turned 12 on April 17 if he had not committed suicide after enduring endless name-calling and torment that teachers did nothing to stop.

Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover was 11– hardly old enough to know his sexuality and yet distraught enough to hang himself last week after school bullies repeatedly called him “gay.”

The Springfield, Mass., football player and Boy Scout was ruthlessly teased, despite his mother’s pleas to the New Leadership Charter School to address the problem…

“There was no reason for the mother to believe he was gay,” said Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network spokesman Daryl Presgraves. “It just happens he was someone his peers targeted, calling him, ‘girlie,’ ‘gay’ and ‘fag.’ According to the mother, it was a daily occurrence.”

Nationwide and certainly in my area, high schools and even private colleges have fought to keep out gay, lesbian and straight alliances, claiming they promote gay “lifestyles.” In fact, they seek to promote dialogue and discourage bullying and violence. Ultimately, they work to avoid outcomes like what happened to Carl.