Father says bullying led to son's suicide

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OTTAWA, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- A gay Canadian teenager who committed suicide endured relentless bullying in school for years, his father said Tuesday.

Jamie Hubley, 15, of Ottawa killed himself Saturday, leaving behind a note saying the pain of being bullied and the depression it brought on was "just too hard," the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

Allan Hubley told the CBC the bullying started when his son was in the seventh grade and included students trying to push batteries down his throat on the school bus because he was a figure skater.

"[Jamie] was the kind of boy that loved everybody," Hubley said. "He couldn't understand why everyone would be so cruel to him about something as simple as skating."

"He just wanted someone to love him. That's all. And what's wrong with that? Why do people have to be cruel to our children when all they want to do is be loved?"

Jamie was the only openly gay teenager at A.Y. Jackson Secondary School, an Ottawa public school where he had transferred from a Catholic school.

"I'm tired of life, really. It's so hard, I'm sorry, I can't take it anymore," he posted on his blog before killing himself.

"I don't want my parents to think this is their fault, either. I love my mom and dad. It's just too hard. I don't want to wait three more years, this hurts too much."

The school district's board issued a statement Tuesday expressing its condolences to the Hubley family and addressing the issue of bullying.

"I couldn't agree more about the importance of dealing with these issues," Jennifer Adams, the board's director of education, said. "These are complex issues that we have to deal with as a community."