R-JENERATION: Las Vegas Academy students fight bullying

Las Vegas Academy senior Weston Porter was so affected by Jamey Rodemeyer's suicide that he felt he had to do something.

"The fact that a 14-year-old took his life for being himself is absolutely disgusting to me," Porter says. "The people who did this to him are horrible and they make me sick."

Rodemeyer was from Williamsville, a suburb of Buffalo, N.Y. He was bullied for more than a year at school and on the Internet, and on Sept. 19, he took his own life.

The news of Rodemeyer's death spread across the country and the Web. Lady Gaga tweeted days after his death: "The past days I've spent reflecting, crying and yelling. I have so much anger. It is hard to feel love when cruelty takes someone's life. Bullying must become illegal. It is a hate crime. I am meeting with our president. I will not stop fighting. This must end. Our generation has the power to end it."

Porter called his friend, LVA alumnus Yosef Galindo, a few days after learning of Rodemeyer's death. He said he wanted to do something to help stop cyberbullying.

Later that day, Porter wrote a letter to Lady Gaga and Galindo delivered it to her after she dedicated a song to Rodemeyer at the iHeartRadio Music Festival on Sept. 24.

"She was signing tons of autographs outside," Galindo recalls. "She took the letter out of my hand and started to sign it and I told her, 'No Gaga, this is for you.' She looked into my eyes, smiled, and then walked to her limo. The look in her eyes told me that she knew what it was for."

Porter said in the letter: "There is a place, Gaga, there is a school where hate does not have to exist. I keep thinking to myself, if only I could have reached out to Jamey and brought him here or even reached out to him to begin with. My high school, in the extent of the entire student body, supports all LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) rights. Nearly half of the student population is gay, bi or transgender and we accept all people."

Lady Gaga read the letter, in its entirety, to the president the next morning.

Later that week, Porter and Galindo decided to make a video to speak out against cyberbullying. Thus, an event called "Paws Up Forever" was created on Facebook and more than 200 students attended an anti-bullying rally at LVA on Sept. 28.

"Going to LVA was one of the best things I've ever done," Porter says. "The people there are all some of the nicest people I've ever come in contact with."

The video was sent to Ellen DeGeneres and Lady Gaga.

"We want to inspire other schools around the city, state, country and world to take steps in the right direction," Galindo says. "We don't want anyone else to make the same mistake that Jamey did."

Other schools in the district have already started taking steps to oppose bullying.

"Shadow Ridge now has an Anti-Bullying Club because of Jamey and other bullying-related suicides," says Jessie Rankin, a senior at Shadow Ridge High School. "We showed support for Jamey by wearing 'Paws Up Against Bullying' stickers and homemade shirts."

Porter and Galindo sent the video to DeGeneres and Gaga on Oct. 20 via postal service and are awaiting responses. In the meantime, Galindo encourages others to add him or Porter on Facebook and watch their video.

One piece of advice from the twosome: "Keep your paws up against bullying!"