Despite being a senior at Centennial High School, Ryan Eichenauer has a lot to be proud of for his young age. An active participant in speech, he’s already working on an autobiography chronicling major events of his life. He will also be attending Gustavus next year as a first-year.

He has also had someone threaten to kill him.

Last December, Eichenauer posted a coming out video on YouTube, that let friends, family, and the world know he had been keeping a secret from himself. In the video, he made the claim that he doesn’t like labels and people shouldn’t have to justify love. He stated, that although he has always had an attraction to girls, he had been finding safety in other people who were not girls. Most people would label him as bisexual, but Eichenauer made the point very clear that he wasn’t letting himself be defined by sexual labels. In his own words, “I will not accept anyone’s definition of my life. Rather, I will define myself…I don’t like the term ‘coming out’ because I’m not coming out; I’m letting the world in.”

Eichenauer has received a great deal of support for being open about who he is, but there are still many people out there who do not agree with, or accept his lifestyle. In fact, that there are people who would deny him the right to exist.

Last February, Eichenauer received a note during his second period class, it was sitting on the chair of his desk. Deciding to look at it later as he was in the middle of a lecture, Eichenauer put it into his pocket to read later. Between classes, he opened and read the note, simultaneously feeling the blood rush from his face. It was the second death threat he had received in a week telling him to die because he was a ‘fag.’

The contents of the letter told Eichenauer that he did not deserve to live and it made a direct threat against his life. “F***ing faggots like you don’t deserve to live in this world….Someone should do something about that…I will. I am not a coward. I protect the house of god from fags like you.”

It continued to become grislier and more vicious, including the lines “I can’t wait for the day that I get to walk over your grave. And if you don’t put yourself there, I will be glad to….I want to see you suffer….I want to see you weep with pain. I want to see your f***ing blood drain from your lifeless body.” It also made mention that there were others who hated Eichenauer and the writer of the letter was not alone.

Anxious and afraid, Eichenauer decided to show the note to a friend who immediately demanded that Eichenauer report the note to the office. Though reluctant at first because he felt it would reach the ears of the person who wrote the note and potentially provoke an attack, Eichenauer agreed and it has led to an ongoing police investigation with few results.

Eichenauer went on to share a picture of the vicious note on Facebook. Eichenauer stated he posted it so that others would know he’s not crippled by fear and other people facing similar struggles would be inspired to stand up for equality and make the point that a hate crime like this is not alright.

There has been an outpour of support for Eichenauer. He’s received tweets and messages from people all over the country and world including Italy, Germany, the U.K., Japan, Brazil, and even South Africa. FOX9 news did an interview with Eichenauer in which he said that while he is a bit scared, he feels relatively secure knowing he has a good amount of support from his friends and family. He also doesn’t blame the Centennial School District, saying it has been very supportive and understanding.

But not all has been as it should be following this death threat. Eichenauer has lost the support of people he initially thought of as friends or closed loved ones. This is only the latest in a long history of him being bullied, whether it be verbally or physical, regarding his lifestyle, and the stress and anxiety from all of this has taken a great toll on Eichenauer’s health. Eichenauer has even been accused of having written the letters himself, a claim he has denied and officials state is impossible given the evidence.

The religious notion that homosexuals deserve to die is preposterous. The figurehead of Christianity, Jesus Christ, refused no one and spoke only of peace and acceptance. Love thy neighbor as thyself, treat others as you wish to be treated, and judge as you wish to be judged, are lessons we’ve forgotten when it comes to anyone we perceive as different. It is not only a matter of sexuality; it is a matter of being Christ like to anyone who is in need regardless of our stereotypical preconceptions. True, the English Bible states lying with a man as with a woman is an abomination, but one must realize there is strong evidence to state that certain verses like this one were mistranslated from the original Greek and Hebrew (i.e. the verse which claims Moses as being horned being another).

Furthermore, the Bible is an instruction manual created by man from various man written gospels and texts, NOT a God–given edict telling us to label people as saints or sinners based on our bias.

Eichenauer is not a bisexual or queer man. He is a young man who believes he should be able to love whoever he wants and be treated equally like the special and unique person that he is. I applaud him for being brave enough to stand up for himself and who he is, despite the various members of society who will always disagree with him. If we are to accept one another as equals and erase blind hate and bigotry, we have to stop paying attention to labels. It should not be worded as a black or white man, but a man who happens to be black or white. It should not be worded as a gay man, but a man who happens to be gay.

When Eichenauer comes here, I hope he views Gustavus as an open minded and liberating place to learn and live. Given several events this year concerning hate, it’s sad to say Gustavus hasn’t been living up to that sort of image. There will always be bigotry in the world no matter where you go, but standing strong requires knowing that we never cease to all be equally human.