andrew barnett, from the sexual minority youth assistance league and the only group for young people in the gay and lesbian and transgendered community. and we've been reporting this and it's troubling to all of us and we want to reach out to you because it seems now this is a huge uptick in this kind of thing. what is going on and what has been going on for these young people. >> absolutely. it's devastating to see so many young lives being taken from us. and to hear about the bullying and harassment that the young men endured before they took their lives is really troubling. >> there are numbers to sort of back up what we are talking about. i want to get into those before we continue. school harassment, 72% heard homophobic marks, 30% felt unsafe and some missed schools because of fears and 85% were harassed and assaulted. these numbers are troubling. >> yes. >> how do we work to stop this. >> smile created a safe base for youth. we have an after school facility and we have support for use. and we focus on addressing bullying and we have our community education program where we go