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Jadin Robert Joseph Bell (June 4, 1997 – February 3, 2013) was an American teenager known for his suicide which raised the national profile on youth bullying and the targeted harassment of gay individuals.
Bell, a 15-year-old gay youth, was intensely bullied both in person and on the internet because he was gay. He was a member of the La Grande High School cheerleading team in La Grande, Oregon, where he was a sophomore. On January 19, 2013, Bell went to a local elementary school and hanged himself from the play structure. He did not immediately die from the strangulation and was rushed to the emergency department, where he was kept on life support.The Associated Press reported that a spokesman for the OHSU Hospital in Portland announced that after being taken off life support, Bell died on February 3, 2013.Bell's death was widely reported in the media, starting discussions about bullying, the effect it has on youth, and gay bullying. The Huffington Post, Salon, Oregon Public Broadcasting, The Raw Story, GLAAD, PQ Monthly, PinkNews and many other media outlets reported on Bell's death. The media reported his suicide stemmed from being bullied for being gay, which Bell's father fully believed, stating: "He was hurting so bad. Just the bullying at school. Yeah there were other issues, but ultimately it was all due to the bullying, for not being accepted for being gay."