West Virginia Moves to Protect LGBT Students - Model for Other States

The great state of West Virginia has led the way in ending bullying against almost every group habitually discriminated against with the passage of new language by the W. Virginia Board of Education. These new regulations, enforceable across the state, very clearly state that:

"Acts of harassment, intimidation, or bullying that are reasonably perceived as being motivated by any actual or perceived differentiating characteristic, or by association with a person who has or is perceived to have one or more of these characteristics, shall be reported using the following list: race; color; religion; ancestry; national origin; gender; socioeconomic status; academic status; gender identity or expression; physical appearance; sexual orientation; mental/physical/developmental/ sensory disability; or other characteristic."

This appears to be, on the outside, a model that other states can follow if they choose that will hopefully transform the current social non-acceptance of LGBT students, as well as those who fall under the categories specified in the new rules.

All I can say is...it's about time someone got the message!

 

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Bullied Gay Teen Fights Ariz. School District

After Merik Castro, a gay Arizona teen who was bullied so relentlessly he once considered suicide, collected more than 3,000 online petition signatures and generated publicity, the school board updated its bullying guidelines at a packed public meeting last month, adding "sexual preference" under its harassment policy.

The problem is that the wording still needs to be changed to be effective according to Castro. The word "preference" implies that orientation is a choice, he says, assigning blame to victims. Nothing new there.

"It basically says you’re choosing this lifestyle," Castro told EDGE. "You’re choosing to be bullied."

According to EDGE, "Castro said he was called names, pushed into lockers and taunted so severely by his classmates at Wigwam Creek Middle School that he wrote a suicide letter. He eventually reached out to Caleb Laieski, a 16-year-old activist for bullied LGBT youth.


After Laieski sent in an anonymous tip about a student being bullied for his sexual orientation, the school focused on Castro and launched an investigation. Three students were eventually suspended and Castro transferred schools.


'I feel like they expelled me out to get rid of the problem,' he said. 'They got rid of the victim, but not the bullying.'.

Ann Donahue, community liaison for the Litchfield Elementary School District, said Castro chose to transfer. She could not confirm allegations that the superintendent pulled aside Castro and his mother, a school district employee, and pressed them with questions about his sexual orientation.

"She told me, ’Well now that you’re choosing this alternative lifestyle, there come consequences and you’re going to get bullied,’" recalled Castro.

This is the same story we hear over and over as bullied students are either forced to change schools, commit suicide, or end up being home schooled. School Districts across the country must come to the realization that ignoring bullying does not make it better in any sense of the word.

Laieski (the 16 year-old activist) is helping Castro look into legal options and the process of recalling school board members.

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Psychologist: McInerney Had Well of Rage | News | The Advocate

As the defense trial of Brandon McInerney drew to a close Friday, a defense expert testified that Brandon had suffered severe mental and emotional abuse since the age of seven and had developed a wall around him that effectively shut off his emotions and allowed him to not "feel" anything when he purportedly shot Lawrence King, a classmate who was known to be gay. The psychologist testified that by being abused at such an early age by his father he was incapable of feeling anything emotionally and was, most likely, not capable of feeling remorse for shooting King. Donald Hoagland, a clinical and forensic psychologist who evaluated the defendant, according to the Ventura County Star testified, “You can’t go through life feeling like hell every moment, so you learn to shut off your feelings.”

However, if this was true, then I wonder how he could feel hatred against anyone if he had a lack of emotional responses to outside situations.

McInerney, 14 at the time of the shooting,  is being tried as an adult and could face life in prison if convicted. This case could also set some precedents for future cases of hate crimes and violence towards others, in addition to LGBTQ students, and could lead to a forced change of laws regarding how administrators and teachers handle school bullying and anti-gay incidents.

We certainly hope so!

Small NY School Board Tackles Bullying Issues Head On!

BENNINGTON BANNER, October 6, 2010 ZEKE WRIGHT Staff Writer CAMBRIDGE, N.Y. -- During a recent Board of Education meeting, board members took up the issue of bullying at Cambridge Central School. [Secondary Principal] Chris [Signor] and I dealt with some bullying this week," said Tammy Silvernell, assistant principal for grades 7-12. Signor told the board that the high school now has an informal policy in place, in which there is a record created and follow-up action on every instance of bullying, including cyberbullying through text message, Facebook, or e-mail. An incident of bullying among students, Signor said, began online and continued to the parking lot of the school on Monday, Sept. 27. Students Interviewed Signer said school administrators interviewed every student involved in an incident of bullying and met with parents, either in the office of by conference call. He said administration spoke to 13 separate students while in the process of investigating the incident. We're ahead of the curve, Signor said, regarding the school's efforts to curb bullying. Silvernell said that students involved in the most recent incident were surprised to be sat down and confronted by school officials with records of the exchange that took place on Facebook, both before Monday and then afterward.>br>

Most school districts are not currently taking action over acts of cyberbullying off school grounds, Signor said. Board member Deb Blanchfield said it was an issue not only in the high school but schoolwide. Blanchfield raised the issue of a don't tattle response by teachers of young children who report bullying. Board member Jan Woodcock called bullying a learned behavior that starts in the elementary. A woman in the audience said that teachers had to respond to bullying correctly. Signor reiterated that the school policy was for every instance to be reported and followed up on by administration. The same follow-up and recording of any instance of bullying takes place at the elementary school as well, Elementary Principal Colleen Lester assured the board. Lester said that bullying in the elementary school often involved a lot of "back and forth" between children, which administrators had to work through. Board President Tom Woliski asked if there were any plans to quantify the school's response to bullying. Signor said that results were subjective now, but that they might develop a way of creating hard data over time.