Bill Clayton
Looking Toward Tomorrow and the Future of America
Rising for me today: On January 18, 1997, one year, eight months, and ten days after our younger son Bill committed suicide after a bashing based on his sexual orientation, I published an essay “Too Many Kids Like My Bill” which is in part included here: There is so much grief with the death of …
I Didn’t Lose My Temper
A friend posted an image on social media with the words: Someone I don’t know commented with some awful homophobic/transphobic stuff (that I won’t share here) while claiming to be a very polite person with ‘them’ and not at all a hater. You’ll just have to take my word for what he wrote and use …
An Old Article About Our Son Bill, Recovered
In October 2001 an article titled “Bill Clayton” by Olivier Björksäter-Bleylock was published in DNA, a national gay magazine in Australia. An interview with me was done through email, and was the best one I had ever experienced — and the most intense. Olivier asked about some things that were not in Bill’s story on …
Is There a Pacifist Response to Putin’s Invasion of Ukraine?
I’m really looking at this right now as someone who is a Quaker and pacifist. On February 28, 2022 I shared a 2019 post on Facebook with photos of 19-year-old Ukrainian soldiers who have been killed and words, “It hurts… It’s not when your son doesn’t want to do his homework, but when he gives …
Today is (or would have been) Bill Clayton’s 43rd birthday
Bill was born on January 23, 1978 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. And he died by his own hand in Olympia, Washington at 17 years old on May 8, 1995. Not completely by his own hand. His story is far more complicated than that – wonderful and impish early on and then a nightmare storm at the …
Young People In Action, Now and Past
I am so proud of the young people who marched yesterday. I had to work but listened on the radio there. And remembered Bill. This was written on 01/16/91 when he was just under 13 years old: “I have not yet written about what is happening in this world, in this country, and in my …
Dodging Puddles – by Noel Clayton
Our son Noel Clayton wrote and posted this on Facebook on October 31, 2012. I have his permission to share it, and I added the photos of Noel and Bill…————————————————————–I missed it. Somewhere in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, a milestone came and went without comment. Many runners will tell you of …
How would you reply?
I woke up this morning to this email: Subject: about BillDate: Wed, 4 Aug 2010 09:28:47 +0000From: alex smith (email address deleted by Gabi)To: gabi@gabiclayton.com I hope you now see that you’re rebellion against God’s laws led to your son’s death. If you really loved your son, you would not have led him on a …