From Reconciling Ministries Network:

We have had some difficult weeks as the news of teenage suicides keeps getting worse. Suicides of lgbt young people are over twice what they are for their straight counterparts. These recent suicides of 13-18 year old kids resulted from anti-gay bullying at school including using video on the Internet.

We hope you will pray. Pray for the families who have lost these kids. Pray for the bullies and their families whose actions caused such harm. Pray for our pastors and church that they see the connection between bad policies and bad action and step up for healing and for justice.

And more than pray, we hope you will take action and use the resources in this Flashnet and share them with your contact list. Please view the video plea from Ellen DeGeneres, look at the faces of these young people that we have lost, and take action in your home, church, and community.

This coming Monday is National Coming Out Day and more than ever we know the power of being visible to give hope to those for whom it isn’t safe to be out yet for fear of being ejected from their homes, or the recipients of violence. We know it doesn’t automatically get better just because you graduate from high school. LGBT folk still face much discrimination. For those of us who can help give hope, come out! Share the survival skills that helped you make it. But first, come out!

In hopes of wholeness,

Troy