JAKARTA - A boy from Tennessee aged 12, Eli Fritchley died of suicide. Eli Fritchley is often bullied by classmates who tease him that he will go to hell for being gay.
Eli Fritchley, committed suicide on 28 November. His mother, Debbey Fritchley, found her son's lifeless body in her room.
Eli, who attended Cascade Middle School, plays trombone in a marching band, paints his nails, and happens to like wearing pink. He also wears the same SpongeBob sweater to class almost every day.
His mother did not know that her son was often persecuted at school. But every time he was asked, Eli gave the impression that he didn't care about the ridicule.
"He doesn't care, or at least we think he doesn't, and that's what's really hard for us because we think he doesn't care," Debbey said.
"I think maybe it's because he wears the same clothes every day that they use him as a weapon," said Debbey Fritchley.
In fact, his son likes to wash his sweater every day so he can wear it to school the next day.
Eli's classmates teased and bullied him for his style choices, according to his mother.
"Her friends told her she was gay that she was going to Hell. They told her that quite often," says Debbey Fritchley.
"I thought it was just words, but words hurt," continued his father, Steve Fritchley.
After their son died, the Fritchleys devoted themselves to fighting child bullying. The owners of Penalties Sports Bar & Grill in Shelbyville have helped the Fritchley family by setting up a GoFundMe.
Proceeds from the sale will be donated to a newly established foundation dedicated to 'helping other children and families who may be in the same situation as the Fritchleys so that this terrible tragedy doesn't have to happen again.'
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