Florida Agenda

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – An openly gay student who was expelled this year after defending himself by firing a stun gun, has filed suit claiming that school officials failed to protect him from “relentless, severe harassment.”

Darnell “Dynasty” Young and his mother, Chelisa Grimes, are seeking unspecified damages. Young became the target of bullies after transferring last year to Arsenal Technical High School. The openly gay 17 year old was harassed by classmates who followed him home, spread rumors about his sexual activities, and threw bottles at him.

Young’s mother reported the harassment to school officials several times, but was told that administrators were powerless to act because her son wasn’t able to identify his tormentors. School principal Larry Yarrell is reported to have said, “If you wear female apparel, then kids are kids and they’re going to say whatever it is that they want to say. Because you want to be different and because you choose to wear female apparel, it may happen.”

Grimes gave him the stun gun for his protection. On April 16, after a group of students threatened to attack him, Young, frightened for his life, fired the weapon into the air, drawing the attention of school security personnel, who arrested him. In May, an arbitrator ruled in favor of expulsion, effective through January 2013. The district later reduced the penalty to allow Young to start classes in the fall, which must be attended at an alternative school.

The suit claims that the Indianapolis Public Schools discriminated against Young because, despite repeated complaints, they failed to protect him from bullies, who taunted him because of his sexual identity. “Rather than take effective measures to protect him, school staff told him that he was to blame for the harassment because of his appearance, and told him to change his dress and behavior to conform to stereotypical ideas of masculinity and to be less ‘flamboyant,’” the suit states.

Cliff Dunn

One of my earliest childhood memories is being chased by three kids at summer camp, circa 1972, and being locked in a gym storage room while the trio stood on the other side of a glass window, congratulating themselves on their heroic efforts against a lone sevenyear- old menace.

That’s the set up. The actual memory part of this memory is of me putting my fist through the glass window, necessitating 17 stitches and having the pleasure of seeing those clowns scatter, even if it was through the haze of a throbbing hand. (What do you want from me? I’m Irish-Italian from Queens, New York: it was embedded in my DNA.) Then as now, I’ve never much cared for bullies.

In the early 1990s, I had the dubious “pleasure” of interviewing Fred Phelps on my WFTL radio talk show. This was about five years before the tragic murder of Matthew Shepard, so Phelps hadn’t quite reached his vitriolic stride (the proto-meme “God Hates Fates,” for instance, had not yet entered the cultural lexicon). He merely came across as a vulgar and offensive (and possible inbred)—but essentially harmless—clod. How wrong I was.

When the Founders established protections for religious freedom, they did so at a time when intolerance and bigotry directed at religious minorities were rife, and in order to protect community churches from governmental interference on behalf of a religious institution (as in the case of the crown-sponsored Church of England), or religious doctrine (such as occurred during the English Civil War and in pre-Restoration England, when powerful practitioners of an intolerant brand of Calvinism essentially criminalized all outward public displays of joy).

Much as during the 1990s, when every news report began with accusations of rape against a professional athlete, the headlines today are replete with stories of collared bullies who use the Sunday pulpit to spew a particularly loathsome form of Biblical scholarship at undereducated congregations who either don’t know or don’t care to learn the scriptural bases for the raw villainy being encouraged by men— and women—of the cloth.

Take the now-viral case of Sean Harris, the North Carolina pastor who advised, “Dads, the second you see your son dropping the limp wrist, you walk over there and crack that wrist. Man up. Give him a good punch. Ok?” adding, “The next thing you know, this dude, this kid is acting out childhood fantasies that should have been squashed.” Although Harris later said that he “misspoke,” and wrote that “I do NOT believe physical force is capable of fixing effeminate behavior or homosexual behavior,” he essentially repudiated his retraction when he added, cutely, that “we must not be hateful toward those whose behavior is an abomination to God,” effectively letting the congregation know exactly where he really stands on “all sexual perversions and immorality.”

Another North Carolina pastor, Ron Baity of the Berean Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, used his Sunday sermon to refer to homosexuality as a “perverted lifestyle,” and that gays should be criminally prosecuted, as in days of yore. “For 300 years, we had laws that would prosecute that lifestyle,” quoth the minister. His and Harris’s Tar Heel State colleague, Tim Rabon of the Beacon Baptist Church in Raleigh— what’s up with these Baptists?  offered aloud to his own churchgoing audience, “What is stopping them from redefining marriage for a person and a beast? We’re not far from that.” With soul-enriching sermons and religious “larnin’” such as this, is it any wonder that these bigoted yokels have pinned their political hopes on such blatantly un-American legislation as the Defense of Marriage Act, California’s Proposition 8, and Amendment 1 in North Carolina.

There’s no question in my mind that these offensive laws will one day be overturned, and that the antiquated ideology of a hate-filled and intolerant segment of our society will be entombed in the dust of its own nothingness, along with its proponents.

Until that time, we must live with the offensive ideas of small-minded men, protected by the same body of laws that they seek to use to deny civil rights to their fellow countrymen. (This is just as the Founders intended, when they established the First Amendment protections for speech and religion.)

These bullies who hide behind their pulpits may accuse progressives and LGBT rights activists of attacking religion, through efforts to legalize marriage equality, but what they portray as an attack on religion by gays is really an attack on gays from the pulpit.

  By CLIFF DUNN

The jury’s verdict last Friday in State of New Jersey vs. Dharun Ravi was foundational in many important ways, and gave me reason, for a change, to be grateful for the rational system of jury trials that was established under our Constitution. Having lived through the 1995 O.J. Simpson verdict, I know that this isn’t always a sure thing.

Having spent much of the past three weeks thinking my way through this case from all sides, my conclusion is that the right decision was handed down by a panel of honest citizens who, to their eternal credit, agonized over the ultimate fate of an emotionally-tortured Tyler Clementi.

Clementi was a mere 18 years old when he decided on his own that life was so not-worth-living that he would deprive his parents, family, and people who cared about him the privilege of knowing what kind of man he would grow up to become.

But the jury’s decision will resonate forever on the way in which we as a society look at bullying. These honorable men and women had to weigh the horrible consequences of Clementi’s roommate’s boorish, churlish, seemingly-incorrigible teenaged behavior with the type of man he, too, will ultimately become.

Dharun Ravi is by accounts not a bad kid, just one who is endowed with a casual homophobia that is to be heard in high school and college locker rooms as often, frankly, as it is to be heard on the streets and in the taverns of South Florida’s own gay village. “Oh my God, did you see who ‘she’ took home last night,” is a familiar refrain that may be heard to be regurgitated from one end of the Drive to the other end of Dixie on any given. Not all churlish, boorish behavior originates with the straights.

Ravi’s behavior has been chronicled so often that I need not recount his demonization of a gay roommate’s intimate encounter with a trick the latter had met online. “Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went into molly’s room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with another dude. Yay,” he tweeted, and then again later, “Anyone with iChat, I dare you to video chat me between the hours of 9:30 p.m. and 12. Yes it’s happening again.” Someone, somehow, had a problem with the gays.

Whatever was going through Clementi’s tortured psyche at the moment he posted on Facebook, “Jumping off the gw [George Washington] bridge sorry,” we know the end result.

Time stamps show that Clementi posted his suicide note at 8:42 p.m. on Sept. 22, 2010, four minutes before Ravi sent a 266-word apology to Clementi, at 8:46 p.m. It read in part: “I want to explain what happened Sunday night when you requested to have someone over. I didn’t realize you wanted the room in private.” Ravi attests to a lack of homophobia and a tolerance for Clementi’s sexuality: “I’ve known you were gay and I have no problem with it,” he texted Clementi. “In fact one of my closest friends is gay and he and I have a very open relationship. I just suspected you were shy about it which is why I never broached the topic. I don’t want your freshman year to be ruined because of a petty misunderstanding, its adding to my guilt.”

We don’t know if Clementi ever read Ravi’s apology, or whether it would have had—or did in fact have—any effect on the tragedy to come. We do know that Ravi, who was 18 years old at the time, was acting like any teen I’ve ever met when he deleted 86 text messages he had sent to his high school friends in the days after Clementi’s suicide, clearly an attempt to cover his tracks.

As the jury found, “boys will be boys” (and “girls will be girls”) is no longer a legal justification for inflicting mental harm and infringing upon someone’s privacy because of whom they identity as. This is foundational, and will resonate, Butterfly Effect-like, in schoolyards and in classrooms— secular and religious—until they turn the lights out.

My boyfriend has a much younger, younger brother. By the time he turns the age I now am, I will have been playing pinochle with John Adams, Dorothy Parker, and Liberace for at least half a decade. His children— regardless of whether he turns out gay or straight—will have no concept of the degree of bullying with which men of a certain age or even younger had to contend. That is seminal.

“The embarrassment of ridicule is always painful. The sting is greater when someone you hold close inflicts it. Shouldn’t the consequences be unforgiving?” asked Dean Trantalis, a local attorney and gay rights activist and advocate following the verdict.

The estimable former Vice Mayor of Fort Lauderdale was echoing the sentiments of numerous Americans, LGBT and straight, who see this as an object lesson to bullies and victims everywhere, but most especially in a nation where the rule of law prevails, rather than the rule of men, and I agree.

But Dharun Ravi, now 20 and by the reckoning of our base-10 numbering system very much a teenager, deserves, if not our sympathy, then certainly a chance at his life. He may yet turn it into something that honors what Clementi, his first victim, may have become. There are two victims of the teenaged Dharun Ravi’s bad, bad judgment. I hope the judge recommends deportation.

COON RAPIDS, MN  – Dennis Carlson, the Superintendent of the Anoka-Hennepin School District, apologized last week to those who were offended by statements he made in 2010 concerning a series of student suicides which occurred during his tenure. Over a two year period, authorities reported the suicides of six students who attended the Anoka-Hennepin School District, the largest in Minnesota.

LGBT rights organizations, along with family members of the victims, drew a relationship between some of the suicides and episodes of bullying. In December 2010, Carlson said there was no evidence linking bullying to any of the suicides. On Feb. 21, Carlson clarified his comments in a statement posted on the district’s website. He said the remarks were “widely quoted, misquoted and stated out of context.” His statement reads in part:

”I made the original statement for two reasons. In trying to gain an understanding of the student suicides, we had dozens of conversations with staff from multiple buildings. We brought in professional help for grieving students and staff. During those conversations, we did not hear or receive evidence that bullying was the main reason for the suicide. We did hear of other causes – ongoing mental health issues, a break–up of a significant relationship, and other unique and difficult family issues. The second reason I made the statement was to encourage people to come forward if they did have evidence of bullying because we had heard the rumor that staff had witnessed it and done nothing. Four people origin-ally came forward – two ultimately would not speak to us and the other two did not have evidence of bullying in the suicides.”

Although no one can ever be absolutely certain of the specific event that leads to a student’s suicide, there can be no doubt that in many situations bullying is one of the contributing factors. Gay students are especially vulnerable to anti-gay bullying and so are other students that are unique in some way that leads to verbal attacks by students. These are often students with features or attributes that seem to make them a target. Students that have a visible disability, students that are overweight/underweight, very tall/small, gay or wearing non-conforming gender clothes, and students of color are often repeatedly targeted. I tell students as often as I can that they must speak up if we ever expect to end bullying in schools. We – the adults in school – know our role clearly is to foster an environment where students feel it’s safe to voice their concerns.
”I have learned a lot in this process, particularly from talking to some of the mothers of our students who died. If my December 2010 statement was perceived as dismissive or insensitive to victims of bullying or suicide, I deeply and sincerely apologize. I absolutely meant no disrespect to any of our students and the adults who care about them and love them.”

By Rory Barbarossa

The star of the blockbuster “Harry Potter” films is solidifying his credentials as an LGBT hero. Actor Daniel Radcliffe has long been a supporter of anti-bullying efforts and, for the past two years, an unofficial spokesperson for the Trevor Project, the not-for-profit organization which provides crisis and counseling services for LGBT youth.

Now Radcliffe is starring in a new antibullying public service announcement for the group, which awarded the actor its Hero Award last year in New York. The campaign made its first U.S. airing on Feb. 21, in which Radcliffe urges kids to seek help if they are being victimized by bullies. In the PSA, the actor says, “I’m Daniel Radcliffe, and I believe that reaching out for help is the bravest thing a person can do. If you are struggling and need support, call the Trevor Lifeline. It’s free and confidential, and trained counselors are there to listen 24/7 without judgment.”

Photo: MAX ADLER plays Dave Karofsky on FOX’s
‘GLEE’, a teenager struggling with his identity.

Rory Barbarossa

Last week’s episode of the hit series “Glee” (Tuesday, 8 p.m. ET, WSVN-7) drew attention to the national epidemic of gay teen suicides, with the outing of character Dave Karofsky (Max Adler), a jock and bully who had previously tormented the openly-gay Kurt (Chris Colfer). After Karofsky’s football teammates haze him with Facebook posts (“Go back into the closet.”) and vandalize his locker with the word “fag,” the teen attempts suicide, after which his father finds him and rushes him to the hospital.

“I was incredibly happy that the writers and producers chose to go there, and I said that to them, ‘It’s so brave and honest, and you’re really treating this character with the integrity that he deserves,’” Adler told “E!” The actor explained his choices in depicting the character’s struggles of self-acceptance. “I felt like to not show the struggle and to have him just kind of flip over and be nice and be happy, I just felt like it wouldn’t have done it the proper justice and it wouldn’t have been treated with the honesty that it deserves,” Adler described. He also believes that from near-tragedy springs a positive note. “I feel like the message that results out of that in the end is one of hope and optimism,” he offered.

The stage for the teaching moment had been set during the hit series’ 2010 season, during a show-shocker when Adler’s Karofsky character planted a wet one on nemesis Kurt in the episode “Never Been Kissed.”

Prior to this, Karofsky had treated Kurt with only scorn and disdain. The openly-gay virgin Kurt was widely believed by fans to be getting his first kiss in that episode, but they were stunned to find out by whom it would be delivered. Producers had lulled viewers with a red-herring: a gay rival glee-clubber named Blaine.

Kurt was smitten with Blaine after the latter’s glee club performed Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream.” Sparks flew. Having led the audience down the garden path, the writers then locked Karofsky’s lips with Kurt’s, although it took more bullying and a near-death-experience to resolve things for the characters, at least up until this point. Views should settle in and ready themselves for a few months of wondering: “Glee’s” next new episode airs April 10

By Rory Barbarossa

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A gay teen from California has committed suicide just a month after he made an anti-suicide video urging others to “never give up.” Eric James Borges made the video in December for the “It Gets Better” campaign, which features inspiring videos targeting LGBT teens to help them get through difficult times.

In the video, Borges, 19, describes his own personal experiences as a gay youth, discussing the bullying he was subjected to from kindergarten through high school. “I know it is hard and I know what it feels like to be rejected and abused for your biological sexual orientation,” he offered. “I was physically, mentally, emotionally and verbally assaulted on a day-to-day basis for my perceived sexual orientation,” Borges added. “I was stalked, spit on, ostracized and physically assaulted.”

He also described an assault upon himself by students during high school while a teacher was present. This motivated Borges to leave formal school and finish his high school equivalency.

Borges was also open about his coming out experiences at home, describing it as an “extremist Christian household.”

“My mother knew I was gay and performed an exorcism on me in an attempt to cure me,” Borges said on the video. “My anxiety, depression, self-loathing and suicidal thoughts spiked. I had nowhere safe to go, either at home or school.” He was forced by his parents to leave home at the end of September.

Things seemed to have changed for the teen after he began working for the Trevor project to help bullied gay teens. “I have met and befriended the most incredible and authentic people since I’ve come out,” Borges noted.

He then offered assurances that reiterated the theme of the anti-suicide campaign:  “You will love and be loved and I love you. You have an entire life, fit to burst with opportunities ahead of you. Don’t ever give up and don’t ever for one second think that you’re not a valuable and beautiful contribution to this world. It gets better.”

Distraught friends say that Borges gave no indication in recent days that he was planning to end his own life. “He seemed like the normal old Eric the last time I saw him,” friend James Criss told ABC News. “He was fine. I couldn’t tell anything was wrong with him,” Criss added.

A Michigan woman has brought suit in federal court against her son’s school district along with the high school teacher she claims expelled the boy from class

because his religious beliefs are inconsistent with accepting homosexuality.

Last week, the Thomas More Law Center filed the lawsuit on behalf of the mother, Sandra Glowacki, who charges the Howell, Michigan Public School District and an economics teacher, Johnson McDowell with violating her son’s constitutional rights, specifically his First Amendment right to free expression of his religion. Glowacki and her son, Daniel are Roman Catholic.

The suit says the teacher expelled Daniel Glowacki, 16, from class on October 20, 2010, while the students in the school district were observing anti-bullying commemorations and Spirit Day. On that day, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) encourages Americans to wear purple in support of LGBT youth who may feel bullied or threatened because of their sexual orientation.

The lawsuit states that the school district encouraged teachers to sell “Tyler’s Army” shirts in support of Tyler Clementi, the Rutgers University freshman who killed himself in 2010 after his roommate streamed an Internet video that showed Clementi kissing another male student. The teacher, McDowell, devoted his classes to promoting homosexuality, and wore one of the purple T-shirts around students all day, according to the suit. It further claims that McDowell told another student to take off a Confederate flag belt buckle that he found offensive.

The lawsuit claims that when Daniel Glowacki asked the teacher why he thought it was allowable to display a rainbow flag, McDowell asked the student if he supported gays. Glowacki told him that his Catholic religion wouldn’t permit him, at which time the suit says that Glowacki and another, similarly-minded student were told to leave class. Although officials suspended McDowell for one day without pay for violating school district policy, they later erased the penalties in order to settle a grievance he had filed.

The Ann Arbor-based Thomas More Law Center represents, mostly through litigation, issues which are most usually in line with modern American social conservative positions: they oppose same-sex marriage; support pro-life positions and initiatives; and oppose, among other things, the removal of the Ten Commandments and other religious monuments from municipal and school buildings.

ST. PAUL, MN – Mark Dayton, governor of Minnesota issued an executive order establishing a task force to study bullying in Minnesota’s public schools.

The task force will study reports of bullying and come up with the best practices and examine current laws concerning bullying and make their findings and recommendations to the governor.

FISHERS, IN – The mother of a high school freshman who killed himself last year has filed a lawsuit in federal court against Hamilton Southeastern Schools accusing the district and its employees of not doing enough to stop bullying incidents which, she says, led to her son’s suicide, reported the Indianapolis Star.

Natalie Moore alleges teachers and administrators ignored reports that her son, Jamarcus Bell, suffered racially-based bullying and harassment for perceived homosexuality and emotional disability.

According to the lawsuit filed November 21 in the US District Court in Indianapolis, the African-American student was the victim of “constant and ruthless harassment and bullying from other students” who allegedly threw pieces of metal at him during a welding class, stole his shoes, his clothing, had his book bag dumped and was physically assaulted in hallways and classrooms.