Homophobic Alabama cop mocks the death of 15-year-old boy who killed himself after he was bullied for being gay
An Alabama deputy was suspended and placed on leave after posting a homophobic comment on Facebook about a gay 15-year-old who took his life after being bullied in school.
According to reports, Madison County Deputy Jeff Graves took to social media on Sunday to post a homophobic comment on a WZDX-TV Facebook post about the suicide of Nigel Shelby. Shelby's family had revealed that the young and vulnerable teenager had resorted to take his own life last week after he was constantly bullied in school for his sexuality.
In his comment, Graves had written, "Liberty Guns Bible Trump BBQ That's my kind of LGBTQ movement. Society cannot and should not except [sic] this behavior. I have a right to be offended and will always be offended by this fake movement which requires no special attention but by persons with an altered ego and fake agenda."
He had also shared that LGBTQ people are offensive and should not be accepted at all. Since posting his nasty comments, Graves has deleted all of them, as reported by AI.com.
The Madison County Sheriff Kevin Turner took to Facebook to release a statement which confirmed that deputy Graves had been put on administrative leave while the result and outcome of an internal investigation into his conduct continued. The Sheriff also offered his condolences to the friends and family of Shelby and condemned the bullying.
The statement read, "The Sheriff’s Office holds all its employees to a high standard, and the public can be assured that a thorough and complete audit will be conducted and appropriate action will be taken."
Shelby was a freshman at Huntsville High School and committed suicide last Thursday. His family revealed that he was often bullied for being gay. A GoFundMe campaign to help Shelby's family has been able to raise more than $27,500.
This report comes after a a barbeque truck located in northern Kentucky sparked outrage and shock with its line of homophobic t-shirts. Belle's Smokin' BBQ was reported as promoting itself through t-shirts that said: "I support LGBTQ: Liberty, Guns, Bible, Trump, BBQ."
Eventually, the owner of the barbeque truck had to issue an apology for misusing the LGBTQ acronym but went on accepting orders for the t-shirts.