A transgender teenager took their own life on Tuesday in a small Ohio town after allegations of bullying.
Sam Diaz, 14, who was assigned female at birth and identified as male, was found dead in Washington Court House. He was an 8th grader and attended Washington Middle School. The town has a population of 14,000 and is about an hour south of Columbus.
Officials are remaining tight-lipped about the death. The local police chief, Jeff Funari said the death was “under investigation” and that no information would be released.
Messages were left with the county coroner, Dr. Lenora Fitton, who was busy seeing patients at her full-time pediatrics practice Wednesday afternoon, according to her staff. Fitton responded to the scene on Tuesday and ruled the time of death. She had Diaz’s body transported to the Franklin County Coroner’s Office for an autopsy. While the preliminary cause of death is a suicide, the manner in which it was carried out has not been released. Official autopsy findings are expected to take 6-to-8 weeks.
Social media postings by friends and family swirled online Tuesday and into Wednesday. Many alleged that Diaz was bullied at school by his peers and that was why he took his own life. The Guardian has not been able to independently verify the claims.
Diaz’s mother, Nikita Hall posted on social media Tuesday evening. She said that her son was starting high school in the fall.
“Trans lives matter,” she said. “Sam Diaz was a bright 14-year-old female-to-male transgender that was loving and caring and was loved. Bullying led to heartbreak. He loved humanity and wanted so much in life. I lost my child and my youngest lost his brother.”
Dr. Tom Bailey, the superintendent of Washington City Schools told the Guardian Wednesday morning that he was concerned about the allegations after hearing the news.
“As you can imagine, my heart breaks for this student’s family as they cope with the loss of a child way too soon,” Bailey said. “Right now, the only information I have is what has been provided on Facebook through posts …. please know that I am saddened by this death and take seriously what I am seeing on Facebook. However, I need to investigate the facts of the situation, which I plan to do.”
Equality Ohio is a statewide organization that advocates for policy reform for LGBTQ+ throughout the Buckeye State. The group released a statement saying that transgender youth are at a higher risk for suicide.
“We know that policy impacts real people’s lives. According to the CDC, LGBTQ+ youth are almost five times as likely to have attempted suicide compared to their peers,” Gwen Stembridge, Statewide Civic Engagement Director with Equality Ohio said. “Putting a child’s identity up for debate puts lives at risk. Ohio legislators should see this as a direct impact of their introduction of anti-LGBTQ and anti-trans bills that imply they don’t want LGBTQ+ people in our state. We need to act now to shut down these bills so that not one more LGBTQ+ Ohioan questions whether they would rather live in Ohio or not live at all.”
Funeral arrangements for Diaz have not been publicly announced at this time, pending the release of his body from the coroner. His mother shared this GoFundMe link to help with final expenses.
If you are thinking about suicide and in need of immediate support, please call TrevorLifeline at 1-866-488-7386.
This article was published in The Scioto Valley Guardian. It appears here through an information share agreement. To see the original article, please click here.