Hmm.
Firstly, The ‘prank’ was deplorable and I do not condone it in any way.

However, after considering the evidence you provide, the resulting chain of events seem overly drastic and I don't think they can be solely blamed on a single thoughtless action.

His parents would have found out about his loving of teh cock eventually; unless he was thinking of spending the rest of his life living with his folks as a closet gayer (which seems unlikely). This makes their reaction a ticking time bomb and the event that instigates the ‘forced coming out’ slightly less relevant.

As mentioned in replies above, the real issue here is his bigoted parents, but also consider your friend’s reaction. When you say he had support from people such as yourself around him, and was generally accepted by everybody other than his parents, why cut himself off from that support and flee to London? He also could have said that the text was a joke from someone else, denied all knowledge. But then again, what did he have to be so ashamed of? Maybe he was relieved that finally something had brought the issue to the surface. Yet by running away he took away any chance of a possible reconciliation once his parents had a chance to get over their initial shock (which also seems unlikely as his parents would have to be a special kind of ignorant to not have suspected something)

I know I’m summising, but was his ‘spiralling depression’ possibly rooted in the anxiety with the ‘struggle’ you said he was having with his sexuality, and less so in the manner with which he was outed to his parents. Were there other issues? Money or relationship problems?

It is a tragic tale, and as his friend I can understand you wanting the closure of being able to pin the blame of such a senseless waste on a single event. After all, whoever sent the text was a total cunt, but I don’t think that he can be made a scapegoat for what happened – at best it was a catalyst for what seems like an inevitable destiny.

That said, what happened still contravenes the basic, unwritten code of honour between blokes (which applies to gayers too), and for that alone the ‘prankster’ should be strung up by a bollock.
(The Magic Number is neither magic nor a number, Tue 4 Aug 2009, 9:56, Reply)