I wish people would think harder about this critical matter. When a gay 12 year old killed himself in Tennessee just before Christmas this year, after being taunted at school on religious grounds, I did a deep dive into the news that he and his peers were exposed to in Tennessee where they lived.

He and his peers who taunted him for being gay were surrounded by a “conversation” in local media they could not have avoided. Politicians and Christian leaders were on and on about how Christians needed to be free to practice their faith by excluding LGBTQ people. Story after story in local media reported on people who had lost their jobs because their Christian bosses didn’t want to employ gay people. Politicians defended those practices. The state legislature passed laws. The environment was so toxic that the subject was in the news most of the time.

Given that environment, it isn’t shocking a bunch of kids at school decided to bully a gay kid on Christian grounds. It’s expected, really.

Sure, people were shocked Eli killed himself, but they shouldn’t have been. Something like that had to happen. And it’s going to happen again.