Being Super.

Queridos Mechistas,

You've probably heard about the six recent instances of suicide amongst kids who were queer (or were perceived to be queer). In spite of the tragic nature of these suicides, the reaction from public figures and everyday people alike has astounded me. I am forever grateful to these people who instill hope in me. They are my religion.

Here's sex columnist Dan Savage's "It Gets Better Project" (the premise is to get queer people to make videos telling the teenage versions of themselves that it gets better, in spite all the bullying):

Here are some Broadway stars who sang a song about it:

Here's a councilman from Florida urging that political action be taken:

Lastly, here is me telling you that I am writing a screenplay based on the true story of one of the youth who committed suicide. His name was Tyler Clementi. He was a Rutgers freshman who loved music. One day his roommate broadcasted over the Internet Tyler's intimate sexual encounter with another guy. Tyler left a facebook status that read: "Jumping off the gw bridge, sorry."

In my screenplay, Tyler (whom I renamed Zach) turns into a superhero when he tries to kill himself. His enemies are homophobic cyberbullies, his roommate, and most importantly, himself.

So here are some questions (I love lists). Feel free to answer as many or as few as you'd like.

1) What super powers would you endow Zach with?

2) How would you have him confront himself?

3) What/who REALLY killed Tyler Clementi?

4) What super powers would you have if you were a gay superhero?

5) What would you tell your 13 year old self? (You don't have to be queer to answer this question....I'm thinking a lot of us went through rough times when we were kids....so I'm really asking you to do an "It Gets Better" video yourself)

6) Who gives you hope?

7) How does this affect us as Mechistas?

Okay, and as a PS....

here's a video of me in high school when I joined a media youth group called SUPAFRIENDS. ....you guessed it, a group for queer youth who invented a superhero identity. My name was flower.CH!Ld and my weapons were flowers/vines that are used like lassos, and daily roses for your average homophobe. My weakness was returning books to the library on time.