David Phan’s Suicide Sparks Grief, Anger, And A Call For Justice

As reported in The Salt Lake Tribune, on the day David committed suicide, Bennion alerted his mother, Phuong Tran, to let her know that her son had been suspended. When Tran rushed to the school, she was told by the principal that the reason for David’s suspension was because they found a condom in his backpack. When asked why a condom should justify suspension, she was told that they would discuss it further the following Tuesday.

Apparently, Bennion exists in a universe where the search of an Asian-Pacific Islander American (APIA) student’s body and personal property is warranted, and where a condom on campus is seen as a sign of criminal behavior rather than mature responsibility (not to mention that many public schools freely give out condoms to students to encourage safe-sex practices). Whereas David’s Vietnamese family unconditionally embraced him when he came out as gay, Bennion and Granite turned its back on David as he endured anti-gay bullying–and used the condom to punitively construct David’s sexuality as a threat to the school.

David Phan at age fourteen. Courtesy of the Phan family.

Many Asian Americans around the country turned to social media to express a range of responses–shock, anger, sadness–in response to David’s suicide, the reports of anti-gay bullying, and the statements issued by Bennion Junior High and the Granite School Distrct. Pahole Sookkasikon, a PhD student in American Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and an organizer in the Thai American community, posted on his Facebook wall, “I am outraged for David Phan. His suicide could have been prevented…it may get better in the future, but what about it being better NOW.”

Dennis Chin, member of the Gay Asian Pacific Islander Men of New York (GAPIMNY), posted on his Facebook wall, “Really triggering for me. Been thinking a lot about what the right response to this would look like. And how deep our wounds run, and persist, despite ‘getting better.’ And…how I even made it here alive…”

Local groups in Utah, led by Ha, are already in the process of coordinating a response. Ha, a member of Utah’s small but growing 8,000 plus Vietnamese American community as well as first vice-chairman of the Utah Vietnamese American Chamber of Commerce, is leading a coalition of local Asian American and LGBT civil liberties organizations, namely the Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA) and the Utah Pride Center, to pursue a path of legislative changes through the Utah State Senate to combat bullying as well as legal redress for the Phan family. To that end, according to Ha, the Phan family currently has several options to pursue multiple complaints and lawsuits. Complaints will be filed by the ACLU to the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice and the US Department of Education. The Phan family has also accepted pro bono services from the Salt Lake City firm of Ford and Huff, who will assist in deciding if national law firms may be more suitable. A separate suit for defamation and wrongful death is being considered as well. Ha hopes that national Asian-Pacific Islander (API) organizations and individuals will support these legislative and legal efforts to prevent more tragedies like David’s suicide from happening again.

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