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Jul 16, 2021 · The Joe Bell true story reveals that while the school district did have anti-bullying policies, it appears it failed to enforce them in time to help. Jadin and his father had alerted the school's administration of the torment Jadin was enduring, and similar to the Joe Bell movie, they arranged an appointment for Jadin to see a guidance counselor.
- Overview
- ‘A very special human being’
- 'I know that you're with me on this walk'
In April 2013, Joe Bell left his home in La Grande, a small town in the northeast corner of Oregon, to walk across the country in honor of his 15-year-old son, Jadin, who had died in February a few weeks after attempting suicide.
Bell and his wife, Lola Lathrop, told local and national news outlets at the time that Jadin was bullied for being gay, both online and at school. After his son’s death in a hospital in Portland, Oregon, Bell and family friends started Faces for Change, an anti-bullying organization. He planned to walk across the country to New York City — where Jadin had talked about living — and speak to students, school administrators and others about the effects of bullying.
Six months into his planned two-year journey by foot, however, Bell was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer on U.S. 40, a two-lane highway in eastern Colorado.
The family’s tragic story inspired “Joe Bell,” a movie debuting Friday starring Mark Wahlberg as Bell, Connie Britton as Lathrop and Reid Miller as Jadin.
The true story behind the film is complicated, and “Joe Bell” attempts to portray the real-life nuances. Miller, 21, said that while Bell accepted his son, he didn’t really understand him, and he struggled to support him.
Bell told the outlet Salon after Jadin’s death that he felt somewhat responsible for not doing more to support his son and noted that he had yelled at Jadin for smoking the night before he tried to kill himself.
Jadin stood out in his small town of about 13,000. He was the only out gay student at La Grande High School. He told his father that he wanted to move to New York City one day to study fashion or photography, according to The New York Times.
Jadin’s older brother, Dustin, told NBC News that he was “a very special human being.”
“I feel like no matter where he was or what room he walked into, he just lit it up,” Dustin said. “He was just very outgoing and just very much himself.”
Dustin, 32, says one memory he has of Jadin is from February 2008, the day before the older sibling shipped out to the military. The Bell family had a Super Bowl party to watch the New York Giants play the New England Patriots, who were heavily favored to win.
“My brother used to love teasing me,” Dustin said. “He’s very antagonistic, and because he was the younger child, he always got his way.”
During the fourth quarter, Jadin was playing with the remote, “and I kept telling him to ‘set down the remote, set down the remote,’ and he never did,” he recalled.
Bell told Salon in 2013 that he and Jadin went to the school about the bullying, but he said that the school didn’t suspend one of the main bullies until three weeks after Jadin’s death, and only after the student started bullying someone else.
The La Grande School District has not responded to a request for comment regarding that incident, but in response to the movie’s upcoming release, the district issued an in-depth statement about the resources it offers to students who are in crisis and LGBTQ students seeking support, such as counseling.
“Our district’s commitment is to ensure we have a positive and inclusive school experience in which all students can thrive academically within an affirming school community,” part of the district’s statement read. “Furthermore, it is our responsibility as professionals to provide a safe and caring setting for every student.”
In addition, a La Grande senior started the school’s first club for LGBTQ students in the spring of 2013, just a few months after Jadin’s death.
Jadin’s death was one of multiple suicides among LGBTQ young people that made national news around that time. On Sept. 19, 2010, Seth Walsh, a gay 13-year-old living in Southern California, died by suicide after being bullied. Three days later, Tyler Clementi, a gay student at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, killed himself after being recorded on a webcam kissing another man. Two more teens, 14-year-old Kenneth Weishuhn and 17-year old Josh Pacheco also died by suicide in similar circumstances.
Bell resigned from his job and began his walk in April 2013. He documented his journey on Facebook, where he wrote in May 2013, “I miss my son Jadin with all my heart and soul ... I know that you’re with me on this walk.”
- Jo Yurcaba
- Reporter, NBC Out
Suicide of Jadin Bell. Jadin Robert Joseph Bell (June 4, 1997 – February 3, 2013) was an American teenager known for his suicide, which raised the national profile of 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.
Sep 8, 2013 · On the afternoon of Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013, Jadin Bell—the only openly gay student at La Grande High School, in La Grande, Ore.—left his home, on foot, in 20-degree weather. He walked down ...
- Pauls Toutonghi
Jul 24, 2021 · In the years before his 2013 suicide, Jadin Bell, who was the only openly gay student at La Grande High School in La Grande, Oregon, was constantly bullied and ridiculed by his classmates, but the ...
- Philip Sledge
Jul 29, 2021 · Knowing the tragic true story of Jadin Bell going into the filming of the fact-based story "Joe Bell" was heartbreaking enough for actor Reid Miller; but recreating the crucial time in Jadin's ...
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Jul 26, 2021 · Actor Reid Miller was around 13 years old when he first heard about the death of Jadin Bell. The Oregon teenager who died by suicide in 2013 inspired a national conversation about bullying and its effects on LGBTQ youth. It never occurred to Miller, now 21, that in less than a decade he would get the opportunity to portray Jadin in a feature film. Doing so, he said, was "an honor. "
