The Michigan Messenger's Todd Heywood attended a special vigil in remembrance of suicide victim Corey Jackson last night. Campus Pride previously blogged about the suicide, and issued an action alert.

Continue reading to see photos from the vigil...

Another gay teenager has committed suicide at an American college. Corey Jackson, a 19-year-old student at Oakland University in Rochester, Mich., was found dead in a wooded area near campus. Police say he hanged himself on Tuesday, Oct. 19.

The Michigan Messenger reports that police say bullying was not a factor in Johnson's death. They spoke to Melissa Pope, director of Oakland University's Gender and Sexuality Center, who addressed the larger issue of general treatment toward LGBT people:

We must look beyond the term “bullying” to the overall treatment of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community to begin to grasp the long-standing epidemic of suicide among our LGBT youth.

While the national press has picked up this issue over the last two months, we have been losing high numbers of LGBT youth to suicide for decades. In recent years, we’ve labeled the cause as bullying. But the root cause goes deeper – it goes to the very core of our society that discriminates against the LGBT community on all levels, including the denial of basic human rights that are supposed to belong to every person.

As I sit with the students who regularly visit the Oakland University Gender and Sexuality Center, including the newer members of our community, drawn to the Center for affirmation and support, I am confident that these individuals know they are loved and accepted for who they are. My greater concern is the hundreds of students, faculty and staff who do not come to the Center. Those who are afraid to come out – perhaps even to themselves – for fear of the persecution they will suffer. My greatest hope is that those who feel isolated reach out to resources like the GSC to discover they are not alone. We are here to listen and offer support.

In the nearly two months of sustained, national media coverage on the issue of gay teen suicide, Campus Pride has several times spoken out on issues of campus safety and inclusion for both high schoolers and especially students at institutions of higher education. We've applauded Dan Savage's "It Gets Better" campaign, but have been dismayed by many statements from community members and celebrities alike that life somehow "gets better" once a student travels to college. We have stressed that, many times, life does not magically "get better" on college and university campuses, and tragedies such as Rutgers' Tyler Clementi, Johnson & Wales' Raymond Chase and Oakland's Jackson prove this.

In order for life to get better, we must make it better, and university administrators across the nation must take concrete actions to make their campus learning and living environments safer for students. Sadly, as shown by results from the 2010 State of Higher Education for LGBT People, many colleges and universities have yet to take these actions and many students, faculty and staff continue to feel the sting of anti-LGBT discrimination, prejudice and harassment in their working environments, classrooms, dorms, athletic fields and elsewhere.

Campus Pride encourages administrators at institutions of higher education to learn more about how they can create safer learning environments for their students by participating in the LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index, the most comprehensive review and scale of effective policies, practices and procedures that will ensure inclusive and welcoming campuses and equal opportunity for all students.

Hey everyone! It’s my turn to let you know a little bit about me. Sorry for the delay; it’s the end of the school year where I am and things are a little bit crazy. My name is David and I am a second year student at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI. I am double majoring in Communication Studies & Gender / Women’s Studies, and double minoring in English & Nonprofit Leadership. Believe me, that sounds a lot more impressive than it really is - that’s why I like it! I plan on working in the LGBTA community, hopefully with a national organization doing media work (hint, hint GLAAD! ;). At my school, I’m the new president of our LGBTA student group OUTspoken and for the past year I’ve been their secretary. I have also been involved with our LBGT Student Services office as a panelist and facilitator in our speakers bureau, SpeakOUT. In addition to both of those, I’m a tour guide and “telecounselor” (meaning I call prospective students) as part of WMU’s awesome Student Ambassador Program. I do a LOT of LGBTA “stuff” as I like to call it, and starting in June I’m going to be an intern with Michigan Equality working on the human rights ordinance battle here in Kalamazoo (more info here on that and I guarantee you I’ll rant about it once May comes). I pretty much devote all of my time to LGBTA stuff, my classes, and my job as a Student Ambassador. I’m one of those college students that has NO social life, but I love what I do and that makes up for it. I found out about the Campus Q Team after our LBGT Student Services office selected a group of us to go to the Campus Pride Summer Leadership Camp, and got involved from there. If you want to know more, PLEASE talk to me!

So I want to start out with full disclosure about this post... I am a 2008 graduate of Eastern Michigan University in the Higher Education Student Affairs program which is housed in the same department that the counseling program is housed in. During my time at EMU I was the Acting Graduate Student Body President and championed many issues around equal rights for LGBT students.

Now with that being said here we go.......

You can find a few news articles about this story here:
WorldNetDaily
The Eastern Echo
Ann Arbor News

From the Ann Arbor News:
"The Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom says student Julea Ward was dismissed from her graduate program in March after refusing to affirm a client's homosexual behavior prior to a counseling session, according to a press release from the group.

David French, ADF senior counsel, said the school initiated a disciplinary process against Ward despite the fact that she followed her supervising professor's advice and referred the client to a counselor who did not have a conscience issue with homosexuality.

Ward then allegedly was informed that the only way to stay in her program would be to undergo a remediation process to change her beliefs as they relate to counseling about homosexual relationships, the Defense Fund Center said. When she refused, she was given a formal review hearing, after which she was dismissed from the program. The dismissal was upheld March 26 by the dean of EMU's College of Education, the press release said."

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