Like there is a “no” option for this question?! (Montgomery Advertiser):
The 13-year-old Montgomery stu?dent expected to be bullied for being gay, but didn’t expect his teacher to encourage it.
He said that when a teacher ridi?culed him in class, telling him to “quit acting like a girl and start act?ing like a boy,” he was too stunned to react. When the local junior high school student talked to his mother about it, she hired an attorney who wrote a letter of complaint to the Montgomery school district.
The district’s staff attorney re?sponded in a letter that the teacher’s comment had been misrepresented and taking out of context and was not meant to be offensive.
“We wanted a written apology to my son and myself and we never got it,” said La’Daytra Walker, mother of the boy. “We received the state?ment from the staff attorney at the school, but they didn’t apologize.
And this is why headlines like the above are ridiculous. There are studies bearing out the fact that those in the best position to help bullied teens in many cases only jump in on the bullying.
After the publicity that fol?lowed several well-publi?cized cases of gays who com?mitted suicide after being bullied, research has been re?leased showing that authori?ty figures often either take part in the bullying or allow it:
* A Yale University study published this week found that gay teens are more like?ly than their straight peers to be punished for the same bad behavior. The study reports that gay and lesbian teens suffer at the hands of teach?ers, police and the courts.* In Minnesota, an Anoka-Hennepin School District teacher who was accused of harassing a student he thought was gay is suing the state because the Depart?ment of Human Rights dis?closed his name in a report about the investigation. Walter Filson filed suit against the state of Minneso?ta in late December. Filson was one of two teachers ac?cused of harassing Alex Mer?ritt, who is not gay. Merritt got a ,000 settlement from the school district in 2009.
* A teenage activist noti?fied officials at every school in Arizona that they need to put a stop to the bullying of gay and lesbian students or face a lawsuit, according to the Arizona Republic. Caleb Laieski, 15, e-mailed the let?ter to more than 5,000 school administrators, city-council members and state lawmak?ers demanding improved measures to fight discrimi?nation.
