As the school year starts, so does the bullying.

A middle school student shot himself in the head on Sep. 13, in response to anti-gay bullying at his Houston middle school.

“Asher Brown, his family said, was ‘bullied to death’ — picked on for his small size, his religion and because he did not wear designer clothes and shoes,” the Houston Chronicle reported. “Kids also accused him of being gay, some of them performing mock gay acts on him in his physical education class, his mother and stepfather said.”

Asher’s parents just want the harassment to stop so other students do not suffer like their son did and so another family does not have to endure such a tragedy.

“I hope you’re happy with what you’ve done,” Amy Truong, Asher’s mother, said to the Houston Chronicle. “I hope you got what you wanted and you’re just real satisfied with yourself.”

Sex and love columnist Dan Savage announced in his Sep. 22 column that he created the It Gets Better Project — a response to a southeastern Indiana student who committed suicide because he was relentlessly bullied by classmates who thought he was gay. Savage is calling for adult queer people to make videos explaining to high school students who are the victims of bullying that it really does get better. It’s all about giving people hope.

I plan on making a video. If you plan on participating in the project as well, please send me the link to your video at stuffqueerpeopleneedtoknow@gmail.com.