
Asher Brown, a 13-year-old eighth-grader at Hamilton Middle School in Houston, shot himself. The morning of his suicide, he came out to his parents. The day before, he was tripped while walking down a staircase at school, then kicked down the remaining stairs when he tried to collect his books, his mother said. His family told the Houston Chronicle that Brown was bullied relentlessly for his small stature, religion, clothes and his homosexuality. There was no suicide note. His stepfather David found his body, lifeless, after coming home from work. "I thought he was laying there reading a book or something," he says. "My son put a gun to his head because he couldn't take what he was hearing and the constant teasing." Asher Brown's worn-out tennis shoes still sit in the living room of his Cypress-area home while his student progress report — filled with straight A's — rests on the coffee table. Asher Brown's uncle told a big gathering of mourners and family supporters on Saturday that school bullies "ripped him up and tore him down everyday." His uncle, a Christian minister, MC'ed the memorial service. "The bullies picked on my nephew because of the way he dressed, how he talked, and the fact he was small. He was a David among Goliaths," Rev. Truong told the large crowd. "But Asher's heart was so big! His heart made him a giant." Asher's school friends, the few who stood by him no matter what, were present and spoke. One of them said there was a "Bully Free Zone" sign at <b>...</b>
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