How very sad.
Slightly unrelated but... a couple of people I know who are gay actually used to express frequent homophobic sentiments before they 'came out'. I'm not saying that this is the case here too, I'm just pointing out the levels of ignorance related to the topic. People joke and laugh about things they don't understand, but they also joke and laugh about things which they feel society looks down upon.
People just seem to think that they can say and write whatever they want about other people provided they get some amusement out of it. Earlier I was reading about this in the news:
Facebook troll taunts mum as son, 16, killed | The Sun |News
Cyber-bullying is becoming a real problem yet so little is being done about it. People don't realise the effects their words can have. Facebook likes to tell us that it's against bullying and takes swift action but the reality is that by the time it actually gets round to it, the damage has been done.
I hope people can learn from the story you posted just how damaging words and actions can be and that a light joke to one person can be the final straw to somebody else.
I agree with bcsr I sometimes find it very hard not to dislike certain parts of society.